28 dec 2010
Male childbirth instructor arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting dozens of pregnant patients
The investigation revealed that the man is an attorney who had begun working as a doula, an individual who gives non-medical support to women in labor.
A 43-year-old Rehovot man who works as a childbirth instructor was arrested Sunday for sexually abusing dozens of women in his care. One of the women recently posted an accusation on an Internet forum for pregnant women that the man had sexually abused her.
Other women responded with similar stories about the man, who claims to have developed a painless method for childbirth, leading to the launching of an undercover police investigation. The investigation revealed that the man is an attorney who had begun working as a doula, an individual who gives non-medical support to women in labor.
The suspect trained in a school in Kfar Sava, established a clinic in his living room and eventually had a large clientele. He is believed to have acted as a doula for some 60 births.
The suspect turned himself in to the Rehovot police station last Wednesday. He said he was aware of the complaints against him and asked police to interrogate him.
The police released the man without questioning him and told him that if a complaint was lodged, he would be summoned.
On Sunday, after collecting evidence, investigators from the police decided to arrest the suspect. The man told the police that he had invented a special method so that women would feel no pain during labor, and was writing a book about it. He said he had done nothing of a sexual nature.
Police contacted the women who had posted complaints on the forum and summoned them for questioning, as well as professionals in the field, to determine the parameters of appropriate treatment. By yesterday afternoon, dozens of women who had been the man's clients had lodged complaints. Most were of the same nature, and police said they realized the suspect had allegedly taken advantage of the women sexually.
According to the testimony, the man would ask the women not to come with their husbands to some of the sessions, and during treatment he would propose a method of avoiding hemorrhoids during birth. He would then allegedly sexually abuse them, including perineal massage, which is reportedly not the function of a doula.
His attorney, Ssasi Gez, told the Petah Tikva Magistrate's Court at the man's remand hearing that the police had acted too hastily in arresting his client and had only done so because of his gender.
Gez said there are no rules about the work of a doula and that it cannot be determined that the suspect exceeded the bounds of the profession. Police said according to the complainants the man had committed "shocking acts" and therefore his name be released.
The court agreed, but following Gez's objection, the court gave the defense two more days during which the man's name and picture could not be released.
In an interview with a Rehovot magazine in 2009, the man, who is unmarried and lives alone in Rehovot, said of his studies: "I came to the first class with my jacket and tie and people thought I was from another planet. But after two or three classes, I was like one of the girls."
He said the instructor had conditioned his participation in the course on accompanying a birth, "because she didn't know if I was up to it."
Doula schools operating in Israel are under no supervision, with training usually lasting between six months and a year of once-weekly classes. Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv is the only hospital that opposes doulas in the labor room outright, although most hospitals do not support the practice.
It is believed that some 1,000 doulas are working in Israel, charging between NIS 1,700 to NIS 2,500 per birth.
Male doulas are rare. Gila Ronel, a doula and director of the Dyada parenting center says she has taught 500 doulas over 14 years, five of whom are male; two of them are working in the field.
The Health Ministry said in response that Doulas brought by the patient are the hospital's responsibility. "There is nothing to prevent a doula's presence in the labor room, like relatives, but as a rule the profession is not supervised or recognized by the ministry," the ministry said in a statement.
Deputy Minister Gila Gamliel said she told deputy health minister Yaakov Litzman that she would be initiating legislation to regulate the profession if the matter is not dealt with immediately.
"It is inconceivable that such a sensitive issue should be completely unregulated and anyone can do it," Gamliel said.
http://bit.ly/gu9gmP
Male childbirth instructor arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting dozens of pregnant patients
The investigation revealed that the man is an attorney who had begun working as a doula, an individual who gives non-medical support to women in labor.
A 43-year-old Rehovot man who works as a childbirth instructor was arrested Sunday for sexually abusing dozens of women in his care. One of the women recently posted an accusation on an Internet forum for pregnant women that the man had sexually abused her.
Other women responded with similar stories about the man, who claims to have developed a painless method for childbirth, leading to the launching of an undercover police investigation. The investigation revealed that the man is an attorney who had begun working as a doula, an individual who gives non-medical support to women in labor.
The suspect trained in a school in Kfar Sava, established a clinic in his living room and eventually had a large clientele. He is believed to have acted as a doula for some 60 births.
The suspect turned himself in to the Rehovot police station last Wednesday. He said he was aware of the complaints against him and asked police to interrogate him.
The police released the man without questioning him and told him that if a complaint was lodged, he would be summoned.
On Sunday, after collecting evidence, investigators from the police decided to arrest the suspect. The man told the police that he had invented a special method so that women would feel no pain during labor, and was writing a book about it. He said he had done nothing of a sexual nature.
Police contacted the women who had posted complaints on the forum and summoned them for questioning, as well as professionals in the field, to determine the parameters of appropriate treatment. By yesterday afternoon, dozens of women who had been the man's clients had lodged complaints. Most were of the same nature, and police said they realized the suspect had allegedly taken advantage of the women sexually.
According to the testimony, the man would ask the women not to come with their husbands to some of the sessions, and during treatment he would propose a method of avoiding hemorrhoids during birth. He would then allegedly sexually abuse them, including perineal massage, which is reportedly not the function of a doula.
His attorney, Ssasi Gez, told the Petah Tikva Magistrate's Court at the man's remand hearing that the police had acted too hastily in arresting his client and had only done so because of his gender.
Gez said there are no rules about the work of a doula and that it cannot be determined that the suspect exceeded the bounds of the profession. Police said according to the complainants the man had committed "shocking acts" and therefore his name be released.
The court agreed, but following Gez's objection, the court gave the defense two more days during which the man's name and picture could not be released.
In an interview with a Rehovot magazine in 2009, the man, who is unmarried and lives alone in Rehovot, said of his studies: "I came to the first class with my jacket and tie and people thought I was from another planet. But after two or three classes, I was like one of the girls."
He said the instructor had conditioned his participation in the course on accompanying a birth, "because she didn't know if I was up to it."
Doula schools operating in Israel are under no supervision, with training usually lasting between six months and a year of once-weekly classes. Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv is the only hospital that opposes doulas in the labor room outright, although most hospitals do not support the practice.
It is believed that some 1,000 doulas are working in Israel, charging between NIS 1,700 to NIS 2,500 per birth.
Male doulas are rare. Gila Ronel, a doula and director of the Dyada parenting center says she has taught 500 doulas over 14 years, five of whom are male; two of them are working in the field.
The Health Ministry said in response that Doulas brought by the patient are the hospital's responsibility. "There is nothing to prevent a doula's presence in the labor room, like relatives, but as a rule the profession is not supervised or recognized by the ministry," the ministry said in a statement.
Deputy Minister Gila Gamliel said she told deputy health minister Yaakov Litzman that she would be initiating legislation to regulate the profession if the matter is not dealt with immediately.
"It is inconceivable that such a sensitive issue should be completely unregulated and anyone can do it," Gamliel said.
http://bit.ly/gu9gmP
20 jan 2011
IDF officer convicted for sex offenses
Eyal Nahum, a 25-year-old IDF officer from Holon, was convicted in a plea bargain for committing a sequence of sex offenses against girls he met on the Internet, including indecent acts and consensual sodomy.
Nahum, who serves in an IDF unit that develops software, was arrested following a months-long covert investigation, after pretending to be a teenager online in order to convince young women and minors to meet him.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4016691,00.html
Childbirth instructor suspected of raping pregnant women will not be charged
Government prosecutors feel that the evidence against Michael Hoffman, one of very few male doulas in Israel, does not amount to an indictment.
Government prosecutors announced to the police on Thursday that they have no intention of submitting criminal charges against Michael Hoffman, the male childbirth instructor that was suspected of raping and sexually assaulting several pregnant women in his care.
Israel police released Hoffman on Wednesday, even before government prosecutors announced their final decision. Hoffman had been held since December after it was discovered that several complaints had been made against him in an online forum for pregnant women, claiming that he committed inappropriate acts with them.
Hoffman's lawyer has claimed that he could not have strayed from acceptable standards of behavior for doulas because no such professional standards exist for the birthing assistants whose task it is to make the childbirth experience easier for pregnant women.
The police realized that the case was problematic when they received evidence of the same acts that Hoffman is being accused of, being perpetrated by other doulas who are women.
Hoffman, a 43-year-old lawyer, was released under the condition that he not work as a doula for 30 days, and that he not make contact with the women who accused him of improper behavior.
Doula schools operating in Israel are under no supervision, with training usually lasting between six months and a year of once-weekly classes. Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv is the only hospital that opposes doulas in the labor room outright, although most hospitals do not support the practice.
Male doulas are rare. Gila Ronel, a doula and director of the Dyada parenting center says she has taught 500 doulas over 14 years, five of whom are male; two of them are working in the field.
Deputy Minister Gila Gamliel said she told deputy health minister Yaakov Litzman that she would be initiating legislation to regulate the profession if the matter is not dealt with immediately. "It is inconceivable that such a sensitive issue should be completely unregulated and anyone can do it," Gamliel said.
http://bit.ly/dZJPRn
9 febr 2011
Tourist forced to work as prostitute in TA
Ecuadorian woman who came to volunteer at a kibbutz taken by taxi from airport to Diamond Exchange compound, forced to sell her body in Tel Aviv hotel room after two suspects threaten her. Woman freed by police, suspects arrested.
A 23-year-old tourist from Ecuador who came to Israel to volunteer at a kibbutz was forced to work as a prostitute by criminals. After a week in a Tel Aviv hotel room, police managed to rescue her and arrest two main suspects.
The two suspects allegedly forced the tourist to take male clients in her room and have sexual relations with them. The money she received was handed over to the suspects.
The woman booked a hotel room in Tel Aviv in advance and planned to volunteer at a kibbutz later on. When she landed in Israel her nightmare began: The taxi that was supposed to take her to her hotel dropped her off in Diamond Exchange compound in Ramat Gan where she fell prey to criminals. They escorted her to her hotel room and began threatening and humiliating her.
The suspects apparently told the naïve woman she must not leave her hotel as there were rapists and murderers out on the street. The day after she arrived they showed up at her hotel room with a man who tried to rape her.
The following day they visited her again and demanded that she see clients. At this stage the woman broke down and was forced to sleep with men for money which went directly to the suspects' hands.
Police trick suspects
Police were then informed of the matter and came to rescue her. "When we came, she couldn't believe we were there to rescue her," one officer said. She eventually broke down in tears after a translator arrived at the scene. "You saved me. They forced me to work as a prostitute. I was scared of them," she said.
Police later arrested the two suspects after tricking them into believing they were clients.
In their interrogation, one of the suspects linked himself to the case and the other denied the allegations.
"We've been dealing with human trafficking for many years but we have yet to encounter such a case," one of the detectives said. "They literally took a tourist who came to Israel to have fun, took advantage of the fact that she was alone, frightened her and just sold her body."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4026107,00.html
14 febr 2011
12-year-old raped in Jerusalem café
Girl with Down's syndrome allegedly attacked by city resident in Aroma bathroom; clients hear her crying and try to break down door, but suspect escapes. Man arrested while trying to assault another girl.
The clients of the Aroma coffee shop on Jerusalem's Street will never forget their visit to the café about 10 days ago. As they were sipping their hot cups of coffee, they suddenly heard someone crying on the other side of the room. It was a 12-year-old girl, who forcibly dragged into the bathroom and allegedly raped by a 20-year-old city resident.
The incident was cleared for publication on Monday afternoon. Nissim Pines Zada was arrested on suspicion of raping the 12-year-old girl, who has Down's syndrome, and trying to rape another girl.
About 10 days ago, a Jerusalem resident left his house with her daughter in the early morning hours. When they arrived at the Kahal Hadisim synagogue in the city center, the father left the girl alone and went in to pray.
According to suspicions, the young man grabbed the girl into a passage between several stores and began raping and sodomizing her. He was disrupted by two cleaners passing by. Undeterred, the man dragged the girl into the bathroom of a nearby café, locked the door and continued raping her.
Suspect: I'm mentally ill
The coffee shop's clients tried to open the door, but were unsuccessful and the attacker managed to escape. Police forces arrived at the café only 40 minutes later and began searching for the suspect.
A special investigation team reviewed the footage from the café's surveillance cameras and the nearby area and was able to come up with an image of the suspect, which was distributed to all police stations in Israel.
But the man was only arrested several days later, after resident called the police and reported seeing a man trying to molest a girl on the street.
A police force dispatched to the area arrested the young man, who was later identified as the person who raped the girl at the Aroma café. He was caught wearing the same clothes he wore during the first rape.
He denied the allegations, but the investigators are looking into suspicions that he committed additional acts of sexual harassment and indecent assault.
The suspect refused to take part in a police line-up, claiming that his clothes were immodest. The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court on Monday extended his remand by five days. He was handcuffed and kept mumbling to the cameras, "I am mentally ill."
He is suspected of assaulting a minor, committing sodomy and taking advantage of a mental illness.
Chief Inspector Yedidia, head of the investigation team, said that the suspect "committed extremely serious offenses on a disabled 12-year-old girl. These are shocking acts, and this is definitely the most serious incident I have ever encountered. We have clear evidence linking him to the incident."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4028470,00.html
27 apr 2011
Russia sentences Israeli to 18 years for sex trafficking
According to the court, from 1999 to 2007, Avi Yanai and his accomplices sold hundreds of women for prostitution to Israel, Italy, Spain, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates and other countries.
An Israeli citizen was sentenced yesterday to 18 years in prison by the Moscow military court, for organizing a vast network of sex trafficking. According to the court, from 1999 to 2007, when most of the network's agents were arrested, Avi Yanai and his accomplices sold hundreds of women for prostitution to Israel, Italy, Spain, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates and other countries. The minimal official estimate stands at 129 women, but some of the states still investigating the network put the number at several hundred. The women were lured from Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Uzbekistan.
Aside from Yanai, 83 people were arrested across Europe, 14 of them in Russia. The network is suspected to have produced tens of millions of dollars in profits for its operators, and some of the women trafficked may have been murdered by the Albanian mafia.
"Some people, using false documents, registered fictitious companies in Russia promising people legal work abroad, mostly in Western Europe," a senior Russian Federal Security Service investigator, Vitaliy Danilov, told the Izvestia newspaper. "They put out advertisements and people came in, bringing documents and pictures. By the time they came back to pick up their documents, work permits and Schengen-zone visas, the companies would be gone. Nobody, including the police, had any clue about why these documents were stolen." Some 2,500 passports were stolen in all. The man in charge of the passports and visas for the network was an officer, Lieutenant Colonel Dmitri Strikanov, who was sentenced by the same military court to 12 years in prison, after prosecution did not manage to prove he knew the forged documents would be used for women trafficking.
The network then recruited women with promises of legitimate work as dancers or waitresses. The women paid 3 to 5 thousand Euros, and received the passports stolen earlier with their pictures. In some cases, fake stamps were used.
"Once they got abroad, the women would end up in real slavery," Danilov said. "Sexual slavery. They didn't get any money, their passports were usually taken and there was no way home. The Albanian pimps were particularly cruel, beating them bloody for any attempted escape. From what we've heard they may have killed at least one woman."
Russian media reported Yanai was the brains behind most of the operation. Yanai, who moved to Russia in 2001, was arrested in May 2007, over a month after the rest of the group. His attorney, Karen Nersisyan, insists that his client was completely engrossed in running a legitimate business - a small filters factory - and had not broken any law.
The court refused Yanai's request to be released on a million dollar bail. The Russian media coverage was not without anti-Semitic undertones: "The Israeli Avi Yanai marched down the hall, concealing the face of a Jewish patriarch and clutching a Torah," website vesti.ru reported at one stage. The Israeli has previously been arrested in Israel on suspicions of trafficking in women. He was released under bail and had his passport confiscated, but in May 2001 managed to get the passport back under a bail of 30,000 shekels. In the six months since his arrest the Israeli prosecutors did not produce an indictment or even an indictment deadline.
His lawyer and family, however, protest his innocence. Nersisyan said that if Yanay was an organized crime boss he would have vanished in the month and a half that elapsed between the arrests of the other operatives and his own. Yanai's daughter, Limor Yanai, alleged "absurd" behavior on the part of the prosecution and accused the court of censorship. The Russian prosecutors said that Yanay would frequently accompany the women he sold to Israel, to personally present them to local mobsters. They said he would use a foreign passport on these trips.
http://fwd4.me/00MI
Israeli jailed for female trafficking
A military court in Russia has sentenced an Israeli citizen to 18 years in prison for running a vast network of female trafficking in the Middle East and Europe.
According to court documents, Avi Yanai and his accomplices were engaged in the business of kidnapping and smuggling hundreds of women, mostly from the former Soviet Union countries, to Israel, Italy, Spain, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates from 1999 to 2007 to work as prostitutes.
The criminal ring is also suspected of being involved in the murder of several of the women while smuggling them.
The international sex trafficking network recruited women with promises of placing them in legitimate work as dancers or waitresses in European countries for a fee of three to five thousand euros.
According to court papers, the women were smuggled by using forged passports stolen from Russian citizens.
"Some people, using false documents, registered fictitious companies in Russia promising people legal work abroad, mostly in Western Europe," a senior Russian Federal Security Service investigator, Vitaliy Danilov, told Izvestia newspaper.
"They put out advertisements and people came in, bringing documents and pictures. By the time they came back to pick up their documents, work permits and Schengen-zone visas, the companies would be gone. Some 2,500 passports were stolen in all."
"Once they got abroad, the women would end up in real slavery, sexual slavery. They didn't get any money, their passports were usually taken and there was no way home," Danilov added.
According to the Prosecutor General's Office, the Albania-based network has made a huge profit of tens of millions of dollars for its operators.
So far, 83 members of the women trafficking ring have been identified and arrested across Europe, 14 of them in Russia. Those arrested in Russia have received jail terms ranging from five to 18 years.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/177016.html
9 juni 2011
Another reality TV star accused of assault
Police launch investigation against reality show participant over suspicions of sodomy. Suspect says this is case of 'personal vengeance'.
Less than a week after the arrest of a reality star over suspicions that he committed severe sex-offenses, Tel Aviv District police has launched an investigation against another reality show star.
The suspect was detained for questioning last week following a complaint from a woman who claimed he sodomized her. While police believe that in this case the acts were consensual they are investigating claims of an attack.
In a complaint filed last month, M. told of how she met the suspect two years ago and recently renewed the relationship with him after he began to woo her. "He used his smooth tongue and managed to capture me in his web," she told Ynet.
According to M. the attack occurred on their first date. She said they had planned on meeting each other near his apartment but when she called he said he wasn't ready yet and that she should come up. M. refused at first but after he chided her she complied and went upstairs.
When M. went into his apartment she found that he hadn't gotten dressed and when asked why he wasn't ready, the suspect started kissing her. At first she responded, but when she said they should leave he started pushing her towards the bed, continued kissing her and even slapped her.
According to M.'s testimony, the suspect became more violent and aggressive – slapping and biting her. She tried to fight back but he continued, committing severe sexual acts against her. M. said she was shocked by the degradation claiming "I'm not some groupie, we met two years ago, and he wasn't some random stranger."
'Police incompetent'
The very next day M. turned to the center for victims of sexual assault, and one week later lodged a complaint with the police. The police launched an investigation but only detained the suspect for questioning last week.
The suspect was released under restrictions and told to stay away from the complainant.
The Tel Aviv District police's spokesman said that "after the testimony was taken from the complainant a decision was made to charge the suspect with assault and not indecent acts. The investigation revealed that the sexual intercourse was consensual."
Yet the complainant and her representatives are alleging police incompetence on the issue. "There are suspicions of grievous offenses and the police are managing the investigation into the case in a careless manner," attorney Gal Wolf claimed.
Meanwhile, the reality star made a statement in which he said: "The background for the case was suspicions of assault but there was no sexual aspect to the suspicions in the investigation. The woman involved is someone I dated in the past who most likely no longer interested me – this is a case of personal vengeance."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4079851,00.html
16 juni 2011
Major League footballer suspected of sexual assault
Soccer player denies allegations, says relations were consensual; placed under house arrest.
An Israeli Major League soccer player was arrested this week on suspicion of sexual assault, Ynet learned Thursday.
According to available details, the footballer denied the allegations against him, saying the relations he had with the complainant were consensual.
The event took place several weeks ago. The woman alleges that the soccer player used what was described as her "unconscious state" to have sex with her without her consent. She also claimed she was sodomized.
Ynet has learned that the police are inclined to accept the footballer's version of the events. The man has yet to be arraigned, but was questioned under advisement for seven hours.
He was released on his own recognizance and placed under house arrest for five days.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4083053,00.html
23 juni 2011
Army chief's ex-bodyguard: I mistook woman I sexually assaulted for terrorist
Efrati was convicted in a plea bargain of attempted sodomy, assault and causing bodily harm for attacking the complainant after a stag party at the Tel Aviv Port last November.
Erez Efrati, a former bodyguard to the Israel Defense Forces chief of staff, presented a new version of what happened during the incident for which he was convicted of attempted sodomy during a hearing yesterday on his appeal. He also expressed regret for his actions.
A district court sentenced him to eight years in prison, but he has asked the Supreme Court to reduce the sentence.
At yesterday's hearing, Efrati claimed he had thought the complainant was a terrorist and acted in accordance with his professional training.
"I passed a shadowy figure and I felt my pulse in my throat as the figure moved to my side," he said. "The figure entered the car and I flew at this figure, pulling the keys out of the ignition as in my military training, fearfully. I behaved as if she were a terrorist."
Efrati was convicted in a plea bargain of attempted sodomy, assault and causing bodily harm for attacking the complainant after a stag party at the Tel Aviv Port last November. In addition to his jail term, he was fined NIS 20,000 and ordered to pay his victim NIS 150,000 in compensation.
The maximum sentence for attempted sodomy is 16 years in prison.
"I take responsibility for the damage and pain I have caused," he said. "I think about this every day, I know she experienced something terrible. Four or five months ago, I began psychological treatment as part of taking responsibility, in order to understand how I reached this state. My life was completely overturned. Her pain is what is most important, and I am trying to comprehend."
Justice Edmond Levy, who headed the panel hearing the appeal, told Efrati, "You are trying to rebuild your life. But there is someone whose life was destroyed, and it is uncertain whether she can be healed."
http://fwd4.me/04jb
29 juni 2011
Man suspected of giving girls alcohol, assaulting them
A 50-year-old man from Rishon Lezion was arrested on suspicion of committing indecent assault on girls aged 13-15. As per the allegations, the man would host the girls at his home, give them alcohol and smoke drugs next to them.
The suspect is to be brought before the Rishon Lezion Magistrate's Court for the extension of his remand.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4088722,00.html
13 july 2011
Haredi entertainer convicted of indecent acts
David Bruckner
Jerusalem court convicts David Bruckner after he offers boy free CD, money to come with him then committed sexual assault.
The Jerusalem Magistrates Court on Tuesday convicted haredi entertainer David Bruckner of indecent acts against a 12-year-old boy.
Bruckner was arrested in January 2010 over suspicions that he committed indecent acts against a 12-year-old. At the end of the investigation into the case he was indicted for four counts of indecent acts.
The indictment reveals that Bruckner took advantage of his status and popularity: Offering the 12-year-old to accompany him to synagogue and promising him that when they got there he would give the child a free CD. When in fact they arrived at their destination Bruckner committed the indecent acts. He then sexually assaulted the child three more times at his apartment.
After committing the acts he gave the child a CD and NIS 20 ($6) – and warned him not to tell anyone what occurred between them. The next day the child once again came to Bruckner's apartment and received NIS 200 ($60) from him as hush money.
Bruckner admitted to meeting the child and admitted that the child visited his home but denied the charges and claimed that there was no sexual contact involved.
Judge Gad Ernberg rejected his version of the events and convicted him. Bruckner's sentence will be given later in the trial.
http://fwd4.me/06W2
14 july 2011
Did Israeli hacker abuse 100 US girls?
American-Israeli cooperation leads to arrest of central Israel man on suspicion of harassing some 100 US girls; suspect allegedly forced victims to perform indecent acts on their webcams.
A central Israel resident in his 20s was detained on suspicion of hacking the computers of US girls and threatening to circulate their intimate photos, unless they perform indecent acts on their webcam.
The story was cleared for publication Thursday.
Almost 100 girls aged 12 to 17 were allegedly victimized by the suspect. He is believed to have hacked their computers, seeking embarrassing photographs and later approaching them on online social networks and threatening them.
The man allegedly told the girls that should they fail to comply with his requests, he would circulate the photos among their acquaintances and relatives, and at their schools.
The girls, who were alarmed by the threats, complied with the suspect's demands.
US may seek extradition
A complaint about the man's actions was relayed several weeks ago by US authorities to the office of Itzik Shopen, who heads the computer crimes department in the elite Lahav 433 unit of the Israel Police.
The Americans had no information about the suspect's identity or the number of victims, but Israeli investigators used the details handed over from the US to launch an investigation and were able to trace the man.
The suspect was arrested at the beginning of the week and his remand was extended until Friday. Israeli officials are now awaiting instructions from the US Administration, which may seek the man's extradition in order to indict him in America. Police officials say that the Americans intend to indict him as though he physically committed the indecent acts, even though there was no physical contact between him and the victims.
http://fwd4.me/06cu
Israeli man arrested on suspicion of involvement in international crime ring
An Israeli citizen was arrested on suspicion of involvement in an international ring whose members are charged with sexual offences and extortion of young woman, mainly in the United States.
The police's National Fraud Unit, Lahav 443, arrested the suspect on the behest of the Federal authorities in the US, which arrested the other ring members.
http://fwd4.me/06ck
IDF officer convicted for sex offenses
Eyal Nahum, a 25-year-old IDF officer from Holon, was convicted in a plea bargain for committing a sequence of sex offenses against girls he met on the Internet, including indecent acts and consensual sodomy.
Nahum, who serves in an IDF unit that develops software, was arrested following a months-long covert investigation, after pretending to be a teenager online in order to convince young women and minors to meet him.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4016691,00.html
Childbirth instructor suspected of raping pregnant women will not be charged
Government prosecutors feel that the evidence against Michael Hoffman, one of very few male doulas in Israel, does not amount to an indictment.
Government prosecutors announced to the police on Thursday that they have no intention of submitting criminal charges against Michael Hoffman, the male childbirth instructor that was suspected of raping and sexually assaulting several pregnant women in his care.
Israel police released Hoffman on Wednesday, even before government prosecutors announced their final decision. Hoffman had been held since December after it was discovered that several complaints had been made against him in an online forum for pregnant women, claiming that he committed inappropriate acts with them.
Hoffman's lawyer has claimed that he could not have strayed from acceptable standards of behavior for doulas because no such professional standards exist for the birthing assistants whose task it is to make the childbirth experience easier for pregnant women.
The police realized that the case was problematic when they received evidence of the same acts that Hoffman is being accused of, being perpetrated by other doulas who are women.
Hoffman, a 43-year-old lawyer, was released under the condition that he not work as a doula for 30 days, and that he not make contact with the women who accused him of improper behavior.
Doula schools operating in Israel are under no supervision, with training usually lasting between six months and a year of once-weekly classes. Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv is the only hospital that opposes doulas in the labor room outright, although most hospitals do not support the practice.
Male doulas are rare. Gila Ronel, a doula and director of the Dyada parenting center says she has taught 500 doulas over 14 years, five of whom are male; two of them are working in the field.
Deputy Minister Gila Gamliel said she told deputy health minister Yaakov Litzman that she would be initiating legislation to regulate the profession if the matter is not dealt with immediately. "It is inconceivable that such a sensitive issue should be completely unregulated and anyone can do it," Gamliel said.
http://bit.ly/dZJPRn
9 febr 2011
Tourist forced to work as prostitute in TA
Ecuadorian woman who came to volunteer at a kibbutz taken by taxi from airport to Diamond Exchange compound, forced to sell her body in Tel Aviv hotel room after two suspects threaten her. Woman freed by police, suspects arrested.
A 23-year-old tourist from Ecuador who came to Israel to volunteer at a kibbutz was forced to work as a prostitute by criminals. After a week in a Tel Aviv hotel room, police managed to rescue her and arrest two main suspects.
The two suspects allegedly forced the tourist to take male clients in her room and have sexual relations with them. The money she received was handed over to the suspects.
The woman booked a hotel room in Tel Aviv in advance and planned to volunteer at a kibbutz later on. When she landed in Israel her nightmare began: The taxi that was supposed to take her to her hotel dropped her off in Diamond Exchange compound in Ramat Gan where she fell prey to criminals. They escorted her to her hotel room and began threatening and humiliating her.
The suspects apparently told the naïve woman she must not leave her hotel as there were rapists and murderers out on the street. The day after she arrived they showed up at her hotel room with a man who tried to rape her.
The following day they visited her again and demanded that she see clients. At this stage the woman broke down and was forced to sleep with men for money which went directly to the suspects' hands.
Police trick suspects
Police were then informed of the matter and came to rescue her. "When we came, she couldn't believe we were there to rescue her," one officer said. She eventually broke down in tears after a translator arrived at the scene. "You saved me. They forced me to work as a prostitute. I was scared of them," she said.
Police later arrested the two suspects after tricking them into believing they were clients.
In their interrogation, one of the suspects linked himself to the case and the other denied the allegations.
"We've been dealing with human trafficking for many years but we have yet to encounter such a case," one of the detectives said. "They literally took a tourist who came to Israel to have fun, took advantage of the fact that she was alone, frightened her and just sold her body."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4026107,00.html
14 febr 2011
12-year-old raped in Jerusalem café
Girl with Down's syndrome allegedly attacked by city resident in Aroma bathroom; clients hear her crying and try to break down door, but suspect escapes. Man arrested while trying to assault another girl.
The clients of the Aroma coffee shop on Jerusalem's Street will never forget their visit to the café about 10 days ago. As they were sipping their hot cups of coffee, they suddenly heard someone crying on the other side of the room. It was a 12-year-old girl, who forcibly dragged into the bathroom and allegedly raped by a 20-year-old city resident.
The incident was cleared for publication on Monday afternoon. Nissim Pines Zada was arrested on suspicion of raping the 12-year-old girl, who has Down's syndrome, and trying to rape another girl.
About 10 days ago, a Jerusalem resident left his house with her daughter in the early morning hours. When they arrived at the Kahal Hadisim synagogue in the city center, the father left the girl alone and went in to pray.
According to suspicions, the young man grabbed the girl into a passage between several stores and began raping and sodomizing her. He was disrupted by two cleaners passing by. Undeterred, the man dragged the girl into the bathroom of a nearby café, locked the door and continued raping her.
Suspect: I'm mentally ill
The coffee shop's clients tried to open the door, but were unsuccessful and the attacker managed to escape. Police forces arrived at the café only 40 minutes later and began searching for the suspect.
A special investigation team reviewed the footage from the café's surveillance cameras and the nearby area and was able to come up with an image of the suspect, which was distributed to all police stations in Israel.
But the man was only arrested several days later, after resident called the police and reported seeing a man trying to molest a girl on the street.
A police force dispatched to the area arrested the young man, who was later identified as the person who raped the girl at the Aroma café. He was caught wearing the same clothes he wore during the first rape.
He denied the allegations, but the investigators are looking into suspicions that he committed additional acts of sexual harassment and indecent assault.
The suspect refused to take part in a police line-up, claiming that his clothes were immodest. The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court on Monday extended his remand by five days. He was handcuffed and kept mumbling to the cameras, "I am mentally ill."
He is suspected of assaulting a minor, committing sodomy and taking advantage of a mental illness.
Chief Inspector Yedidia, head of the investigation team, said that the suspect "committed extremely serious offenses on a disabled 12-year-old girl. These are shocking acts, and this is definitely the most serious incident I have ever encountered. We have clear evidence linking him to the incident."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4028470,00.html
27 apr 2011
Russia sentences Israeli to 18 years for sex trafficking
According to the court, from 1999 to 2007, Avi Yanai and his accomplices sold hundreds of women for prostitution to Israel, Italy, Spain, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates and other countries.
An Israeli citizen was sentenced yesterday to 18 years in prison by the Moscow military court, for organizing a vast network of sex trafficking. According to the court, from 1999 to 2007, when most of the network's agents were arrested, Avi Yanai and his accomplices sold hundreds of women for prostitution to Israel, Italy, Spain, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates and other countries. The minimal official estimate stands at 129 women, but some of the states still investigating the network put the number at several hundred. The women were lured from Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Uzbekistan.
Aside from Yanai, 83 people were arrested across Europe, 14 of them in Russia. The network is suspected to have produced tens of millions of dollars in profits for its operators, and some of the women trafficked may have been murdered by the Albanian mafia.
"Some people, using false documents, registered fictitious companies in Russia promising people legal work abroad, mostly in Western Europe," a senior Russian Federal Security Service investigator, Vitaliy Danilov, told the Izvestia newspaper. "They put out advertisements and people came in, bringing documents and pictures. By the time they came back to pick up their documents, work permits and Schengen-zone visas, the companies would be gone. Nobody, including the police, had any clue about why these documents were stolen." Some 2,500 passports were stolen in all. The man in charge of the passports and visas for the network was an officer, Lieutenant Colonel Dmitri Strikanov, who was sentenced by the same military court to 12 years in prison, after prosecution did not manage to prove he knew the forged documents would be used for women trafficking.
The network then recruited women with promises of legitimate work as dancers or waitresses. The women paid 3 to 5 thousand Euros, and received the passports stolen earlier with their pictures. In some cases, fake stamps were used.
"Once they got abroad, the women would end up in real slavery," Danilov said. "Sexual slavery. They didn't get any money, their passports were usually taken and there was no way home. The Albanian pimps were particularly cruel, beating them bloody for any attempted escape. From what we've heard they may have killed at least one woman."
Russian media reported Yanai was the brains behind most of the operation. Yanai, who moved to Russia in 2001, was arrested in May 2007, over a month after the rest of the group. His attorney, Karen Nersisyan, insists that his client was completely engrossed in running a legitimate business - a small filters factory - and had not broken any law.
The court refused Yanai's request to be released on a million dollar bail. The Russian media coverage was not without anti-Semitic undertones: "The Israeli Avi Yanai marched down the hall, concealing the face of a Jewish patriarch and clutching a Torah," website vesti.ru reported at one stage. The Israeli has previously been arrested in Israel on suspicions of trafficking in women. He was released under bail and had his passport confiscated, but in May 2001 managed to get the passport back under a bail of 30,000 shekels. In the six months since his arrest the Israeli prosecutors did not produce an indictment or even an indictment deadline.
His lawyer and family, however, protest his innocence. Nersisyan said that if Yanay was an organized crime boss he would have vanished in the month and a half that elapsed between the arrests of the other operatives and his own. Yanai's daughter, Limor Yanai, alleged "absurd" behavior on the part of the prosecution and accused the court of censorship. The Russian prosecutors said that Yanay would frequently accompany the women he sold to Israel, to personally present them to local mobsters. They said he would use a foreign passport on these trips.
http://fwd4.me/00MI
Israeli jailed for female trafficking
A military court in Russia has sentenced an Israeli citizen to 18 years in prison for running a vast network of female trafficking in the Middle East and Europe.
According to court documents, Avi Yanai and his accomplices were engaged in the business of kidnapping and smuggling hundreds of women, mostly from the former Soviet Union countries, to Israel, Italy, Spain, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates from 1999 to 2007 to work as prostitutes.
The criminal ring is also suspected of being involved in the murder of several of the women while smuggling them.
The international sex trafficking network recruited women with promises of placing them in legitimate work as dancers or waitresses in European countries for a fee of three to five thousand euros.
According to court papers, the women were smuggled by using forged passports stolen from Russian citizens.
"Some people, using false documents, registered fictitious companies in Russia promising people legal work abroad, mostly in Western Europe," a senior Russian Federal Security Service investigator, Vitaliy Danilov, told Izvestia newspaper.
"They put out advertisements and people came in, bringing documents and pictures. By the time they came back to pick up their documents, work permits and Schengen-zone visas, the companies would be gone. Some 2,500 passports were stolen in all."
"Once they got abroad, the women would end up in real slavery, sexual slavery. They didn't get any money, their passports were usually taken and there was no way home," Danilov added.
According to the Prosecutor General's Office, the Albania-based network has made a huge profit of tens of millions of dollars for its operators.
So far, 83 members of the women trafficking ring have been identified and arrested across Europe, 14 of them in Russia. Those arrested in Russia have received jail terms ranging from five to 18 years.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/177016.html
9 juni 2011
Another reality TV star accused of assault
Police launch investigation against reality show participant over suspicions of sodomy. Suspect says this is case of 'personal vengeance'.
Less than a week after the arrest of a reality star over suspicions that he committed severe sex-offenses, Tel Aviv District police has launched an investigation against another reality show star.
The suspect was detained for questioning last week following a complaint from a woman who claimed he sodomized her. While police believe that in this case the acts were consensual they are investigating claims of an attack.
In a complaint filed last month, M. told of how she met the suspect two years ago and recently renewed the relationship with him after he began to woo her. "He used his smooth tongue and managed to capture me in his web," she told Ynet.
According to M. the attack occurred on their first date. She said they had planned on meeting each other near his apartment but when she called he said he wasn't ready yet and that she should come up. M. refused at first but after he chided her she complied and went upstairs.
When M. went into his apartment she found that he hadn't gotten dressed and when asked why he wasn't ready, the suspect started kissing her. At first she responded, but when she said they should leave he started pushing her towards the bed, continued kissing her and even slapped her.
According to M.'s testimony, the suspect became more violent and aggressive – slapping and biting her. She tried to fight back but he continued, committing severe sexual acts against her. M. said she was shocked by the degradation claiming "I'm not some groupie, we met two years ago, and he wasn't some random stranger."
'Police incompetent'
The very next day M. turned to the center for victims of sexual assault, and one week later lodged a complaint with the police. The police launched an investigation but only detained the suspect for questioning last week.
The suspect was released under restrictions and told to stay away from the complainant.
The Tel Aviv District police's spokesman said that "after the testimony was taken from the complainant a decision was made to charge the suspect with assault and not indecent acts. The investigation revealed that the sexual intercourse was consensual."
Yet the complainant and her representatives are alleging police incompetence on the issue. "There are suspicions of grievous offenses and the police are managing the investigation into the case in a careless manner," attorney Gal Wolf claimed.
Meanwhile, the reality star made a statement in which he said: "The background for the case was suspicions of assault but there was no sexual aspect to the suspicions in the investigation. The woman involved is someone I dated in the past who most likely no longer interested me – this is a case of personal vengeance."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4079851,00.html
16 juni 2011
Major League footballer suspected of sexual assault
Soccer player denies allegations, says relations were consensual; placed under house arrest.
An Israeli Major League soccer player was arrested this week on suspicion of sexual assault, Ynet learned Thursday.
According to available details, the footballer denied the allegations against him, saying the relations he had with the complainant were consensual.
The event took place several weeks ago. The woman alleges that the soccer player used what was described as her "unconscious state" to have sex with her without her consent. She also claimed she was sodomized.
Ynet has learned that the police are inclined to accept the footballer's version of the events. The man has yet to be arraigned, but was questioned under advisement for seven hours.
He was released on his own recognizance and placed under house arrest for five days.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4083053,00.html
23 juni 2011
Army chief's ex-bodyguard: I mistook woman I sexually assaulted for terrorist
Efrati was convicted in a plea bargain of attempted sodomy, assault and causing bodily harm for attacking the complainant after a stag party at the Tel Aviv Port last November.
Erez Efrati, a former bodyguard to the Israel Defense Forces chief of staff, presented a new version of what happened during the incident for which he was convicted of attempted sodomy during a hearing yesterday on his appeal. He also expressed regret for his actions.
A district court sentenced him to eight years in prison, but he has asked the Supreme Court to reduce the sentence.
At yesterday's hearing, Efrati claimed he had thought the complainant was a terrorist and acted in accordance with his professional training.
"I passed a shadowy figure and I felt my pulse in my throat as the figure moved to my side," he said. "The figure entered the car and I flew at this figure, pulling the keys out of the ignition as in my military training, fearfully. I behaved as if she were a terrorist."
Efrati was convicted in a plea bargain of attempted sodomy, assault and causing bodily harm for attacking the complainant after a stag party at the Tel Aviv Port last November. In addition to his jail term, he was fined NIS 20,000 and ordered to pay his victim NIS 150,000 in compensation.
The maximum sentence for attempted sodomy is 16 years in prison.
"I take responsibility for the damage and pain I have caused," he said. "I think about this every day, I know she experienced something terrible. Four or five months ago, I began psychological treatment as part of taking responsibility, in order to understand how I reached this state. My life was completely overturned. Her pain is what is most important, and I am trying to comprehend."
Justice Edmond Levy, who headed the panel hearing the appeal, told Efrati, "You are trying to rebuild your life. But there is someone whose life was destroyed, and it is uncertain whether she can be healed."
http://fwd4.me/04jb
29 juni 2011
Man suspected of giving girls alcohol, assaulting them
A 50-year-old man from Rishon Lezion was arrested on suspicion of committing indecent assault on girls aged 13-15. As per the allegations, the man would host the girls at his home, give them alcohol and smoke drugs next to them.
The suspect is to be brought before the Rishon Lezion Magistrate's Court for the extension of his remand.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4088722,00.html
13 july 2011
Haredi entertainer convicted of indecent acts
David Bruckner
Jerusalem court convicts David Bruckner after he offers boy free CD, money to come with him then committed sexual assault.
The Jerusalem Magistrates Court on Tuesday convicted haredi entertainer David Bruckner of indecent acts against a 12-year-old boy.
Bruckner was arrested in January 2010 over suspicions that he committed indecent acts against a 12-year-old. At the end of the investigation into the case he was indicted for four counts of indecent acts.
The indictment reveals that Bruckner took advantage of his status and popularity: Offering the 12-year-old to accompany him to synagogue and promising him that when they got there he would give the child a free CD. When in fact they arrived at their destination Bruckner committed the indecent acts. He then sexually assaulted the child three more times at his apartment.
After committing the acts he gave the child a CD and NIS 20 ($6) – and warned him not to tell anyone what occurred between them. The next day the child once again came to Bruckner's apartment and received NIS 200 ($60) from him as hush money.
Bruckner admitted to meeting the child and admitted that the child visited his home but denied the charges and claimed that there was no sexual contact involved.
Judge Gad Ernberg rejected his version of the events and convicted him. Bruckner's sentence will be given later in the trial.
http://fwd4.me/06W2
14 july 2011
Did Israeli hacker abuse 100 US girls?
American-Israeli cooperation leads to arrest of central Israel man on suspicion of harassing some 100 US girls; suspect allegedly forced victims to perform indecent acts on their webcams.
A central Israel resident in his 20s was detained on suspicion of hacking the computers of US girls and threatening to circulate their intimate photos, unless they perform indecent acts on their webcam.
The story was cleared for publication Thursday.
Almost 100 girls aged 12 to 17 were allegedly victimized by the suspect. He is believed to have hacked their computers, seeking embarrassing photographs and later approaching them on online social networks and threatening them.
The man allegedly told the girls that should they fail to comply with his requests, he would circulate the photos among their acquaintances and relatives, and at their schools.
The girls, who were alarmed by the threats, complied with the suspect's demands.
US may seek extradition
A complaint about the man's actions was relayed several weeks ago by US authorities to the office of Itzik Shopen, who heads the computer crimes department in the elite Lahav 433 unit of the Israel Police.
The Americans had no information about the suspect's identity or the number of victims, but Israeli investigators used the details handed over from the US to launch an investigation and were able to trace the man.
The suspect was arrested at the beginning of the week and his remand was extended until Friday. Israeli officials are now awaiting instructions from the US Administration, which may seek the man's extradition in order to indict him in America. Police officials say that the Americans intend to indict him as though he physically committed the indecent acts, even though there was no physical contact between him and the victims.
http://fwd4.me/06cu
Israeli man arrested on suspicion of involvement in international crime ring
An Israeli citizen was arrested on suspicion of involvement in an international ring whose members are charged with sexual offences and extortion of young woman, mainly in the United States.
The police's National Fraud Unit, Lahav 443, arrested the suspect on the behest of the Federal authorities in the US, which arrested the other ring members.
http://fwd4.me/06ck
- Maria (13:05) circumcision; a jew pedifile's rationalization, in his own words
- 25 oct 2011
Monsey NY: Rabbi Moishe Turner Aressted On Child Molestation Charges
(2:23) Monsey NY: Rabbi Moishe Turner Aressted On Child Molestation Charges 1 x viewed
Police want victims molested by Turner to come forward
Anyone with Information about this molester is asked to call Ramapo Police
I wonder how many Rabbonim in Monsey knew about this monster and kept it quiet. Why are they obsessed with Tznius issues of women, but will protect a man that sexually abuses hundreds of victims. How many innocent children have to die before the Rabbonim start condemning these gangsters?
Read the following and weep!
A 58-year-old Monsey man has been charged with sexually molesting a 14-year-old boy.
Ramapo police accused Moishe Turner of 5 Dana Road of having anal and oral sex on seven occasions throughout Ramapo and Spring Valley.
The police investigation led to Turner's arrest last week on seven felony counts of second-degree criminal sex act and one misdemeanor count of endangering the welfare of a child.
Ramapo Police Detective Sgt. Brian Corbett said Monday that the investigation found the sexual activities occurred across Ramapo and in Spring Valley.
He said Ramapo detectives kept the case because the alleged crimes started in the town's jurisdiction.
"At this point in our investigation, we think there may have been more victims," Corbett said.
Turner was ordered held in the county jail in New City on $75,000 bail set during his arraignment on the charges in Spring Valley Justice Court. He is to return to court on Thursday, according to his attorney, Kenneth Gribetz.
Gribetz on Monday evening maintained his client's innocence.
"We want to state, without commenting further, that Mr. Turner intends to enter a plea of not guilty and that we intend to litigate this matter in court," Gribetz said.
A felony hearing will be held on the charges and on the setting of bail. The hearing could be adjourned and the case moved to criminal court in New City if the case is presented to a Rockland grand jury and an indictment is returned this week.
While Turner calls himself a rabbi, Corbett said police have no definitive information on his rabbinical status.
Rabbi Noson Leiter said Turner might have been educated in yeshiva but he doesn't lead a congregation and isn't a religious leader in the community. Leiter is a member of Torah Jews for Decency in Monsey.
Leiter said Turner has "misused the term rabbi to cover himself for unspeakable, egregious acts."
"The Orthodox and Hasidic community response to his arrest was very positive," Leiter said, adding Turner has been in the community for some time and religious leaders were helpful.
"We're obliged to uproot these people in our midst," Leiter said, "and make sure they don't harm others in the community or outside the community."
http://fwd4.me/0hAE
Rabbi Moishe Turner Enters Not Guilty Plea
(1:33) Rabbi Moishe Turner Enters Not Guilty Plea 1 x viewed
A self-proclaimed Rockland County rabbi pleaded not guilty in a Spring Valley court this morning to repeatedly molesting a 14-year-old boy.
Moishe Turner, 58, of Monsey, said he was innocent of charges that he sexually molested the boy on at least seven occasions throughout Ramapo and Spring Valley.
Turner was arrested last week and charged with seven counts of committing a criminal sexual act and child endangerment.
Police and the district attorney are investigating the possibility Turner molested other boys as well.
Turner is due back in court on Nov. 17.
- 3 nov 2011
Senior rabbi indicted for sexual abuse
One of the most prominent Israeli rabbis in the religious Zionist community has been indicted over sexual assault against two teenagers.
The al-Quds (Jerusalem) Magistrate's Court filed the indictment on Wednesday, accusing Rabbi Mordechai (Moti) Elon of assaulting one of his students and another youth in 2003 and 2005, the Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported on its website.
The offenses took place when Elon headed Yeshivat Hakotel in the Old City.
In January 2003, a student and an admirer of Elon, was invited by the rabbi for a private talk after the 17-year-old lost a close friend. The student was then molested by Elon.
The teen was later enticed the youth to spend a night at his house, Elon pursued his sexual advancements for about 15 minutes, after which the rabbi left the student alone to sleep.
Another case of a similar harassment occurred during a private consultation session with the same victim.
Elon's second charge involves another 17-year-old, who was not a student of his, but came to consult him about a personal problem in 2005. The two met in the al-Quds offices of an organization called Mibereshit, which Elon headed at the time.
The teenager underwent another ordeal after he attended a lecture at Hakotel, not knowing that Elon headed the yeshiva. After the lecture, the rabbi went over to the boy asked him to accompany him to the study hall, where he was once again assaulted.
At a pre-indictment hearing, Elon flatly denied any sexual offenses, and his lawyer claimed that the students had misinterpreted 'innocent gestures of affection from a teacher'.
The indictment is one of the most embarrassing revelations since the launch of probe in February 2010, in response to earlier reports by a religious forum called Takana, mandated to deal with allegations of sexual harassment in the religious Zionist community.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/208232.html
- 14 jan 2012
Did rabbi downplay incest rape?
Brothers molest kid sister for years, after rabbi advises parents against involving police, telling them such abuse is common.
The State Prosecutor's Office has filed an indictment this week against two brothers who molested their younger sister, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Friday.
The abuse continued for years after a rabbi advised the parents against involving to the police, saying that such incidents "happen in many families."
The girl,14, was only 10 years old when her older brothers began sexually assaulting her. The eldest brother, 20, used to rape his sister regularly, while the younger of the two, 19, touched her inappropriately.
When the parents discovered the horrifying abuse they consulted their rabbi, who advised them to deal with the issue at home.
The parents claimed the rabbi told them they shouldn’t "make a big deal of it" because it is a common occurrence. The family kept the episodes secret for two years; meanwhile, the abuse continued.
The case was uncovered when the minor told her psychologist about what her siblings had done. The therapist then informed the police.
The older brother has been charged with rape, indecent acts and sodomy, while the younger one has been charged with indecent acts and attempted rape.
"The accusations filed by the prosecution don't reflect the truth," the defendants' attorneys, Yehuda Fried and Tal Gabay, said. "In any case, our clients chose many years ago to pursue a path of rehabilitation and treatment, and we believe that the court will choose this path as well."
http://fwd4.me/0teZ
- 1 mrt 2012
Israeli rabbi arrested for repeat rape
An Israeli rabbi has been charged with repeated sexual assault on students in a girls’ school in a city north of Tel Aviv where he used to work as principal.
Rabbi Yigal Krispel, 47, was arrested last week after two former students at a school for Haredi (Orthodox Jewish) girls filed complaints against him saying he had sexually assaulted them.
The Kfar Saba Magistrate's Court has extended the remand of the Netanya rabbi, who has also been accused of raping a young teacher.
The family of the 20-year-old teacher complained that Krispel had abused his power to have sexual relations with her.
Israeli authorities said the prominent Netanya figure was now suspected of indecent acts, sodomy, sexual misconduct, nonconsensual sex and rape, involving both minor and adult victims.
Despite the rabbi’s denial, Judge Miri Ben Ari said the evidence yielded reasonable suspicion and sufficient grounds for arrest.
Some details of the affair surfaced last year when a Netanya resident who helps Haredi girls filed a police complaint based on what the girls told her of the abuse.
Israeli police, however, decided to arrest her for impersonating a psychologist and later dismissed one of the cases.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/229451.html