Hollywood custody war aims at Israel

Hollywood celebrity Tyrese Gibson is bringing his custody battle to Israel.

The former actor and R&B singer is trying to stop his ex-wife from bringing their daughter to Israel over Passover.

Norma Mitchell Gibson, who divorced Gibson in 2009 after they were married for ten months, is the mother of their only child, seven-year-old Shayla. The two were together for seven years prior to marrying, and have had a contentious divorce and custody battle.

Norma Mitchell Gibson is reportedly an Israeli citizen, according to TMZ.com.

On her Facebook page, which features a photo of her daughter, Mitchell Gibson writes about cooking healthy food — including buffalo steak with a sprinkle of blue cheese. She also updated her status with a “Shabbat Shalom” in February, and received comments from Israeli friends in Hebrew, in return.

But most of all, it seems, Mitchell Gibson misses her mother, Shulamit Mitchell, who appears to live in Israel.

Mitchell Gibson has made it clear that she has strong ties to Los Angeles, where she lives and that there’s no reason to consider her a flight risk. She is being permitted by the courts to take Shayla to Israel, and has agreed to share their itinerary with her ex-husband.

The former modeling agent and her daughter will return to Los Angeles in two weeks, toward the end of the eight-day Passover holiday.

Tyrese Gibson and his ex-wife met in 2003, when Mitchell Gibson was living in London with her mother, according to Daily Entertainment News.

Gibson, who was raised in Los Angeles’ notorious Watts neighborhood, was discovered on a city bus and started out as a model before becoming a Grammy-nominated R&B singer-songwriter, actor, author and producer. He is best known for his roles as Joseph “Jody” Summers in “Baby Boy” and as Roman Pearce in the “The Fast and the Furious” series.