Every mother's nightmare: 3-year-old Ari escaped from kindergarten and ran into the road — "They sent a picture of my child on WhatsApp"

Ari, a three-year-old toddler from Ramle, left his kindergarten alone on the first day of the year and ran into the road. In the footage we published today (Wednesday) in our daily edition, the toddler is seen running into the road and nearly being struck by a vehicle.

His mother, Linoy Cohen, discovered the incident only after receiving a message in the kindergarten parents' WhatsApp group stating that one of the new children had escaped. Little Ari had arrived for an adaptation day, and his mother stayed with him for about an hour before leaving at the staff's request. Twenty minutes later, she received the alarming message.

"I couldn't believe it was my child," recalled Cohen. "This shouldn't happen. I sent a picture of my child and realized it was him. My trust has been broken; there is no authorized person giving me answers. I entrusted them with my treasure."

According to Cohen's testimony, Ari was on the road for about a minute and a half. A teenager passing by with a backpack heard the toddler shouting "mom, mom, mom" and picked him up. Another mother who recognized the child approached the teenager and then alerted the assistant.

Cohen claims that when she arrived at the kindergarten, no one from the staff updated her on the magnitude of the incident. Furthermore, the staff did not disclose that her child had reached the busy road, telling her instead that he was just standing by the gate. She only discovered the truth that evening after watching the security footage.

"I received an apology, but the answers are still not satisfactory," said Cohen. "There is no authorized person giving me answers." The worried mother decided not to send her son to kindergarten today and does not intend to send him tomorrow either.