- 30 nov 2010
Elior Chen convicted of abusing 8 children
Jerusalem District Court convicts self-proclaimed rabbi of abusing, assaulting helpless minors as well as counts of mental abuse. 'There was no due process,' he said after hearing.
A week after three of his followers were sentenced to 17-20 years in prison, self-proclaimed rabbi Elior Chen was convicted of the charges against him by the Jerusalem District Court. "There was no due process. The judge prevented me from studying the material and cross-examining witnesses," he said.
Chen was convicted of abusing and assaulting helpless minors as well as charges of physical and mental abuse.
Judge Yoram Noam stated in the verdict: "The testimonies of the mother and children were reliable and faithfully described the events%u2026a rough reality was depicted, indicating the children lived under a violent and cruel regime led by Chen and were constantly beaten, abused and humiliated."
In November 2009, an indictment was filed against Chen which detailed unimaginable abuse committed by Chen and his followers. Chen was charged with abusing eight brothers from Jerusalem. The abuse involved the burning of organs and the use of hammers. One of the victims is in a vegetated state as a result of the abuse.
Chen escaped to Brazil when the affair was first made public and was eventually arrested and extradited to Israel. His trial opened earlier this year after repeated delays.
After the reading of the verdict, Yaakov, Chen's father said he was not surprised by the ruling but that he is confident his son is innocent. "He only taught Torah. The whole thing was fixed. The police are corrupt. We believe in him," he said.
Chen's mother noted that the media judged her son even before the trial started. "He didn't escape to Brazil, he meant to come back," she added.
The mother of the children, who was found guilty of handing her daughter over to the "abusive rabbi," was sentenced six months ago to five years behind bars.
Last week after Chen's followers were sentenced to prison the children's father told Ynet that no prison sentence could heal the scars - 4 dec 2010
NY rabbi, sons accused of sexual abuse
Victims range in age from 8 to 19
Police say man, 58, and his 21-year-old son fled to Israel, wanted for alleged abuse of at least four female relatives.
A Hasidic rabbi and three of his sons are suspected of sexually abusing at least four female relatives after the rabbi's eldest victim his daughter confided in a co-worker at a Jewish school, police said Friday.
The 58-year-old father and his 21-year-old son fled to Israel two days ago and are wanted for questioning in the case, police said. They were apparently driven to the airport by the mother.
Two other sons, a 24-year-old and a 15-year-old, were arrested on sexual abuse and rape charges. It was unclear whether they had attorneys, and a message left at the home wasn't immediately returned.
The suspects' names are being withheld by The Associated Press to avoid identification of victims.
Police say the abuse came to light after the oldest victim, now 20, who worked as a teacher's aide at a Jewish school in Brooklyn, told a teacher there she had been abused. Authorities believe she was assaulted by her father repeatedly for 15 years. The other victims range in age from 8 to 19, and investigators believe the abuse was also repeated.
Police say the father is suspected of abusing at least two of his daughters. The brothers were accused of rape and other crimes for abusing their sisters. The youngest suspect was accused of sexually assaulting the 8-year-old.
Hasidism, a form of mystical ultra-Orthodox Judaism, traces its roots to 18th-century Eastern Europe. Followers live in tight-knit communities nearly closed off to modern society and wear traditional dress for men, dark clothing that includes a long coat and a fedora-type hat. Men often have long beards and ear locks.
Most of the 165,000 members in the New York City the area live in neighborhoods in Brooklyn neighborhoods are part of three different major sects.
Isaac Abraham, an activist in the Hasidic community who often speaks publicly for the different sects, said the family was not known in the community and he couldn't comment.
The family lived in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Midwood in a two-story frame house and the father and mother, who are first cousins, had 14 children, police said. All but two live in the home.
The 24-year-old suspect was married and lived elsewhere, as did the oldest child. There are seven girls and seven boys in the family.
Program to combat abuse in community
New York Police Department chief department spokesman Paul Browne said the investigation was ongoing and it's possible there could be additional victims. The father and son, who is legally blind, left for Israel from Kennedy International Airport on Nov. 29, Browne said. An NYPD detective assigned as a liaison in Jerusalem will assist officers there in the search, Browne said.
The father was a teacher at a Jewish school until about three months ago, when he resigned for unknown reasons. There was no answer at the school Friday; police would not say if it was the same school where the oldest victim worked.
State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, whose districts include many of the ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods, discussed sexual abuse among members of the insular world of ultra-Orthodox Jews on a radio show in 2008, prompting dozens of listeners to come forward with stories of abuse. Critics have said sex abuse claims are sometimes handled quietly in Orthodox rabbinical courts, rather than being reported to authorities.
As a result, the state earmarked about $1 million to fund Hikind's plans to teach Hasidic Jews to speak up against child molestation. Prosecutors, counselors and religious leaders in Brooklyn banded together last year to form a program to combat sexual abuse in the community. A hot line was established where victims can call and speak with a "culturally sensitive" social worker. - 26 dec 2010
Chabad Rabbi Sentenced to 32 Years For Sexually Abusing Child
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qC80MhXauM
BOROUGH PARK, N.Y. Rabbi Baruch Lebovits, 59, the wealthy owner of a travel agency in Borough Park, Brooklyn, was hit Monday with a lengthy prison term for sexually abusing a then-16-year-old boy from his neighborhood.
Lebovits, a father of seven children and grandfather to 24, had long been the subject of talk in his community, but no action was ever taken against him, until three alleged victims came forward a couple of years ago.
Judge Patricia DiMango, of Brooklyn Supreme Court, sentenced Lebovits to a maximum term of 10 2/3 to 32 years. The victim in this first case told the jury that Lebovits performed oral sex on him in the rabbi's silver Toyota, on eight occasions between May 2004 and February 2005. The victim, now 22, testified he turned to drugs and alcohol after the abuse. The defense attorney, Arthur Aidala, argued the allegations were made up, as part of an extortion attempt, because Lebovits' son is a multi-millionaire.
In a surprise courtroom revelation, the judge read portions of Lebovits' probation report, where the rabbi confided to authorities that he himself was a victim of sexual abuse, when he was a boy. Lebovits said he was victimized the first time by an uncle in London, when he was just 11-years-old. He said a teenager abused him again, a year later, when he was 12.
Lebovits' victim, who admitted he stole money from poor boxes in the synagogue to feed his drug habit, read a statement to the judge before sentencing.
"Some people are telling me I'll regret going to the police. I feel every day Baruch Lebovits is in jail is a day kids in our community are safe," he said.
The victim's father then read his own statement to Judge DiMango, swaying back and forth at the table like he was saying daily prayers in his Orthodox Jewish faith:
"I ask you Mordechai Lebovits--where is your soul? You destroyed these children," said the victim's father,
Later, outside of court, the man revealed to PIX 11 News how community members from the synagogue lashed out against the family after they went public with the abuse complaints.
"Somebody almost kicked me .. they threw me out of the synagogue," he said.
Defense attorney, Arthur Aidala, took note that Lebovits worked for many years as a kindergarten teacher in Brooklyn and there was never one word of complaint from parents. He pointed to more than 100 letters of support for the rabbi, written by his family and other community members.
"In my religion, you would call the life Baruch Lebovits lived a saint -- this is a non-violent crime. Keep in mind, this is his first contact with the system," said Aidala.
But Judge DiMango was not swayed, although she noted, "Sex abuse often leads to sex abuse." Before imposing the maximum sentence, she said, "Abusing and harming children will not be tolerated."
A group of young men who say they are survivors of sexual abuse by teachers and counselors turned up in court to support the victim.
The defense plans to appeal the harsh sentence, claiming Lebovits is being punished, because he turned down a "plea bargain" offer before trial that would have carried a 1 1/3 to 4 year maximum penalty. Now the rabbi is looking at 32 years.
NY rabbi, sons accused of sexual abuse
Victims range in age from 8 to 19
Police say man, 58, and his 21-year-old son fled to Israel, wanted for alleged abuse of at least four female relatives.
A Hasidic rabbi and three of his sons are suspected of sexually abusing at least four female relatives after the rabbi's eldest victim his daughter confided in a co-worker at a Jewish school, police said Friday.
The 58-year-old father and his 21-year-old son fled to Israel two days ago and are wanted for questioning in the case, police said. They were apparently driven to the airport by the mother.
Two other sons, a 24-year-old and a 15-year-old, were arrested on sexual abuse and rape charges. It was unclear whether they had attorneys, and a message left at the home wasn't immediately returned.
The suspects' names are being withheld by The Associated Press to avoid identification of victims.
Police say the abuse came to light after the oldest victim, now 20, who worked as a teacher's aide at a Jewish school in Brooklyn, told a teacher there she had been abused. Authorities believe she was assaulted by her father repeatedly for 15 years. The other victims range in age from 8 to 19, and investigators believe the abuse was also repeated.
Police say the father is suspected of abusing at least two of his daughters. The brothers were accused of rape and other crimes for abusing their sisters. The youngest suspect was accused of sexually assaulting the 8-year-old.
Hasidism, a form of mystical ultra-Orthodox Judaism, traces its roots to 18th-century Eastern Europe. Followers live in tight-knit communities nearly closed off to modern society and wear traditional dress for men, dark clothing that includes a long coat and a fedora-type hat. Men often have long beards and ear locks.
Most of the 165,000 members in the New York City the area live in neighborhoods in Brooklyn neighborhoods are part of three different major sects.
Isaac Abraham, an activist in the Hasidic community who often speaks publicly for the different sects, said the family was not known in the community and he couldn't comment.
The family lived in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Midwood in a two-story frame house and the father and mother, who are first cousins, had 14 children, police said. All but two live in the home.
The 24-year-old suspect was married and lived elsewhere, as did the oldest child. There are seven girls and seven boys in the family.
Program to combat abuse in community
New York Police Department chief department spokesman Paul Browne said the investigation was ongoing and it's possible there could be additional victims. The father and son, who is legally blind, left for Israel from Kennedy International Airport on Nov. 29, Browne said. An NYPD detective assigned as a liaison in Jerusalem will assist officers there in the search, Browne said.
The father was a teacher at a Jewish school until about three months ago, when he resigned for unknown reasons. There was no answer at the school Friday; police would not say if it was the same school where the oldest victim worked.
State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, whose districts include many of the ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods, discussed sexual abuse among members of the insular world of ultra-Orthodox Jews on a radio show in 2008, prompting dozens of listeners to come forward with stories of abuse. Critics have said sex abuse claims are sometimes handled quietly in Orthodox rabbinical courts, rather than being reported to authorities.
As a result, the state earmarked about $1 million to fund Hikind's plans to teach Hasidic Jews to speak up against child molestation. Prosecutors, counselors and religious leaders in Brooklyn banded together last year to form a program to combat sexual abuse in the community. A hot line was established where victims can call and speak with a "culturally sensitive" social worker.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3994196,00.html
- 31 jan 2011
Hiding in the shadows
Thousands of teen prostitutes ignored by social services, says organization for youth in distress.
On a Tuesday night at around 10 pm Tel Aviv's Hashmal Park appears deserted, but appearances can be deceiving. Out of the shadows suddenly a man emerges, and then the shadow of a teenage boy wearing a hooded sweatshirt and backpack. Money changes hands and the two disappear again behind the trees.
When Doron (alias) was 15, he too was such a shadow. He would wait for men at various parks in the city in order to fulfill their sexual requests for money or anything else he desired.
Three years earlier, Doron traveled the Dead Sea with a group of friends. "I went to shower," he recounts. "The man in charge of the facilities came up to me and offered me a can of coke, and free entry to the showers. I agreed and did everything he asked.
"When he went away I was confused. I didn't know if what I had done was good or bad. I didn't know if I could talk to anyone abut what had happened. I withdrew into myself, but the incident stayed in my mind."
No one noticed the change in him, and when he went to a boarding school at age 15 he became accustomed to trading sex for material goods. "I don't even know how it happened," he says.
"I was in the public toilet at the mall with my friend. Maybe I made a movement or something that made an older man offer me to go with him. I was afraid, but I went… When it was over he paid me NIS 150 ($40) and returned me to the mall. I didn't tell anyone what had happened, and no one asked."
After that, Doron began meeting with the man's friends, too. "Even when I tried to disappear, he would find me, so I decided to make the best of it" he recalls. "I realized there were some advantages to it – I got money and he would drive me from the boarding school to Tel Aviv, buy me cigarettes and drop me off at the parks. He taught me everything."
Our meeting with Doron was held at the Erim Balayla (lit. "Awake at Night") center for damage-control, where volunteers from an organization called ELEM – Youth in Distress in Israel try to nip teen prostitution in the bud.
Average age of 13
Hundreds, or even thousands, of girls and boys are abused for prostitution purposes in Israel each year, sucked into a dark world from which they often cannot escape. They sell their bodies online or become trapped in apartments owned by pimps, where they are often abused by "clients". They all have a history of abuse, often of the kind not reported to social services.
According to worldwide surveys, the average age in which prostitution begins is 13. "Prostitution of minors is one of the most serious problems we face today, despite the fact that it is relatively hidden," says ELEM Director General Efrat Shaprut.
"Teen prostitutes are transparent. It can be a girl or a boy who goes to school in the morning and apparently functions normally. Prostitution is also spurred by the internet. Once, teens would stand at the beach or darkened parks to wait for customers, but today most of this takes place online or in private apartments."
Two Knesset committees – the Sub-Committee on Trafficking of Women and the Committee on the Rights of the Child – have been hearing from social services on the matter since 1997, and various plans have been constructed. The committees have recommended programs for finding and treating the teens, enforcing laws against pimps, legislation against customers, and even just measuring to what extent teen prostitution exists in Israel, but none of this has been implemented, despite support from various MKs.
Perhaps most disturbing is that no one knows whether to measure the phenomenon in the hundreds or thousands. Volunteers and ELEM employees on the ground estimate that thousands of Israeli teens are trapped within this vicious cycle, but social services can only point to a few hundred cases.
This data is needed in order to create the proper response for the teens. There are currently many programs for teens in distress, but teen prostitutes require different care, ELEM employees say. Unfortunately, they receive little help from social services.
"The Welfare Ministry is not responsible for data published by various organizations or its reliability," the ministry said in response, adding that programs exist for prostitutes of all ages.
Accepting without judgment
Asaf Rajuan, who manages the Erim Balayla program, says three different factors contribute to teen prostitution – the pimp or the first person who offers the teen to exchange sex for material goods, the teen, and the customer.
In Israel, the latter is in violation of the law. But according to a report published by the Sub-Committee on Trafficking of Women, in the years 2000-2009 just 35 police records exist for trafficking of minors for sex, of them 19 were closed due to lack of evidence. Only two were against customers, and they were both closed.
Yitzhak Kadmon, the chairman of the National Council for the Child, told the Knesset committees that a police unit investigating computer crimes – which include both sex crimes and financial crimes – numbers just 12 detectives despite a 2007 state order that stipulates it must have 200.
"The unit was established, among other things, to enforce laws against online sexual harassment of minors," Kadmon said. "What is going to be done in order to focus detectives on sexual criminals online?"
Meanwhile, ELEM tries to offer the teens as much assistance as possible. "Volunteers at Erim Balayla accept the teens without judgment and try to help them find out what their interests are in order to find employment that will gradually replace prostitution," Rajuan explains. The damage-control centers, located in Tel Aviv and Haifa, offer teens a place to stay, do laundry, eat, shower, and talk.
The customers: Councilmen and celebs
Doron, who is now 21, abandoned prostitution after five years thanks to the program. He now works and studies, and recalls the old days with horror.
"The customers came from every possible sector – even regular people who work and have families," he recounts. "There are doctors, lawyers, press agents, cops, and criminals… There are famous customers, too. I had a returning customer whose face looked familiar but I couldn't understand where I knew him from. Then, when I was taking a bus to some town, I saw his face on a sign. He was running for chairman of the local council."
Doron also felt threatened numerous times. "Some customers would ask me to do horrible things. Some wanted me to strangle them, some to beat them, and this is where it's easy to lose control. How do I know he won't hit me back? Or maybe he has a heart disease and could die if I hit him?"
As a final word, Doron wants the state to tailor programs to boys. "There are many teen prostitutes who are boys. I know some who worked with me and committed suicide, or got horrible diseases," he says.
But teen prostitution is very difficult to find, mainly because no one will admit to either being a minor, or having sex with minors. Magazines sold at every street corner advertise "18-year old girls", which is often code for minors.
Sex for clothes, jewelry
Much of the clients' search for minors takes place online, which makes enforcement even more difficult. When we enter an internet chat-room as "Noa15", within seconds we are bombarded with messages from users named "supporting daddy", "warm", and "married religious man", to name a few.
Noa15 tells "warm" she likes expensive clothes, and he asks what they will do afterwards if he takes her shopping. "What do you like in sex?" he asks. Noa15 answers, "Whatever you like. But don't you care that I'm 15?" "No problem," is the response. In the end, "warm" agrees to pay Noa15 NIS 1,000 ($280) for a night, but demands that she arrive by bus.
ELEM is currently in touch with many teenaged girls whose behavior mimics Noa15. They are registered at schools and often live with their parents at home. "In the earlier stages of teen prostitution, teens are not aware of what they are getting into," says Reli Katzav of ELEM. She cites cases of girls who perform sexual acts for new jeans and jewelry, often leading their friends and younger siblings onto the same track.
All of the investigators and professionals who deal with teen prostitutions agree that it is closely linked to sexual abuse – by parents, relatives, or authority figures – who introduce children to sex in exchange for goods. "No girl suddenly decides to stand on the street and look for clients," Rajuan says. "She will always be someone who has had the idea of sexual favors planted in her head since childhood. It could be an uncle who touched her and then gave her ice-cream, and when she grew up the boy she let touch her in exchange for alcohol and cigarettes. Now this girl knows about the possibility of selling her body."
"Prostitution is one of three survival strategies – in addition to drugs and crime – used by teens who have been abused," explains Rajuan. "Teen prostitution is not about money. If it were, they would go steal. These teens come from all socio-economic backgrounds. Some of them come from 'good homes', study in schools, and basically lead a double life."
ELEM is currently the only organization trying to find these teens wherever they may be hiding, before it's too late. "Our treatment approach is to combine warmth and support on the side of the employee or volunteer – to give the teens a place to rest from the life of prostitution – with development of motivation to get out," says ELEM's director-general. "The process of leaving this lifestyle is long and difficult."
18 jan 2011
Elior Chen Extradited Lands In Israel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqYTa2WSfjc
Jerusalem - Elior Chen, the self-styled rabbi who allegedly influenced some of his followers to abuse their children in order to "correct their corrupt souls," was being interrogated by the Jerusalem District Police on Wednesday afternoon after landing at Ben Gurion Airport following his extradition from Brazil.
Elior Chen hassidic rabbi tortured Jewish children - Chabad Mafia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWu4OxI_Y6Y
6 jan 2011
Police informant arrested for raping 12-year-old girl
The incident first came to light about a month ago, when the girl had an abortion and needed subsequent medical care. The doctors decided to inform the welfare authorities, who then - suspecting she might have been raped - informed the Netanya police.
A man working as a police informant was arrested this week for raping a 12-year- old girl.
The incident first came to light about a month ago, when the girl had an abortion and needed subsequent medical care. The doctors decided to inform the welfare authorities, who then - suspecting she might have been raped - informed the Netanya police.
The police had a youth investigator question the girl about who got her pregnant. She responded that she'd had sex on various occasions with different boys, aged 13 to 17, but that she had also been raped on two separate occasions, by two different people - one of whom she identified as a "grown-up."
She said one incident had occurred in a municipal park one evening. The assailant approached and began talking to her, she said, then began touching her and finally raped her, ignoring her pleas to stop.
The second incident, the girl said, occurred in her own neighborhood. Her description of the rapist in this case was very similar to the description she'd provided of the first assailant, except that she did not identify the second one as a "grown-up."
Though police had the names of the teenagers she'd admitted to having sex with, they decided to wait to call them in for questioning, preferring to continue their hunt for the two alleged rapists.
On Sunday, after having finally identified the girl's alleged rapists, police questioned the 15 boys whom they suspected of having slept with her sometime in the last six months. Most of them admitted to having sexual intercourse with her, but all insisted that the sex had been consensual.
The girl also confirmed that her sexual encounters with these boys had been consensual. By law, however, anyone under the age of 14 is not competent to give their consent - thereby those incidents constitute statutory rape. However, the boys also said they had met her via the Facebook website, where she'd claimed to be 17 years old.
On Tuesday, police arrested the suspected rapists, two Netanya residents aged 17 and 22. To their surprise, investigators discovered that the older of the two was a known criminal who had been recruited as an informant by the international crimes division of the police, to report on the city's drug trade. He apparently raped the girl while working as an informant.
Police said the man was an effective informant, who had helped bring about the arrest of several drug dealers in Netanya. In exchange, police closed several cases for which he would otherwise have stood trial.
Investigators are now considering reopening those cases, on the grounds that the informant violated his side of the contract - which included a commitment not to carry out any other crimes while working as an agent.
Both rape suspects were remanded by the Netanya Magistrate's Court - the minor until today, and the adult until Sunday. Police said the investigation is still in progress and that additional arrests are possible.
Police often use criminals as undercover agents, especially in the drug trade, and this is not the first time such an informant has been accused of committing other crimes while working for the police.
http://bit.ly/hT3rIg
Israeli foreign official accused of sexual harassment
A senior official in the Israeli foreign ministry is under investigation for sex crimes against two Asian women, Israeli channel two reported Wednesday.
The Israeli services office is questioning an official in an Israeli embassy in Asia regarding an indictment that two Asian employees filed against him. The women accused him of sexual harassment. The country was left unidentified.
The Israeli foreign ministry has decided to keep the suspect in the country and will not send him to Asia until more details surface.
An annual report prepared by Israeli civil service committee documented a more than 40 per cent rise last year in complaints of sexual assault in official Israeli organizations.
125 investigation files in sexual assault cases were opened in 2010, against 90 in 2009 and 65 three years ago.
http://bit.ly/gVE90F
4 jan 2011
Former justice minister: Katsav should be pardoned after he is sentenced
Yossi Beilin tells Channel 1 that ex-president's trial was traumatic for the country but that Israeli democracy passed the test.
Former justice minister Yossi Beilin told Channel 1 on Tuesday that ex-president Moshe Katsav should be pardoned after he is sentenced for his rape conviction.
Beilin said he thinks that once Katsav is sent to jail the right thing to do would be to immediately ease his sentence.
Beilin said that it would not be right for Israelis to see a former president in prison. He added that Katsav's real punishment would be having to face his wife, children and neighbors.
"That is much worse than prison," Beilin said.
Beilin said that the Katsav trial had been traumatic for Israel.
"For Israeli democracy, this was a type of test that it passed," he said. "Something happened that happens almost nowhere in the world and we need to be proud of our system."
http://bit.ly/hQDTUb
Sexual harassment cases in Israel's civil service rose 40% in 2010
Over the year, 125 sexual harassment files were opened compared with 90 the year before. As recently as three years ago, the annual figure was 65.
The number of sexual harassment cases among civil service employees rose 40 percent last year, according to the annual report released by the Civil Service Commission's disciplinary division.
Over the year, 125 sexual harassment files were opened compared with 90 the year before. As recently as three years ago, the annual figure was 65. Of the 125 cases filed last year, 20 were filed with the disciplinary court for civil service employees.
The executive director general of the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel, Michal Rozin, said highly publicized cases encourage victims of sexual harassment to file complaints. Such cases include the allegations of sexual misconduct against police commissioner candidate Uri Bar-Lev, and the trial and conviction of former President Moshe Katsav on rape and other charges.
"We have seen this reflected in a substantial way in the flood of phone calls to rape crisis centers and to our emergency hotlines beginning on Thursday morning when the verdict in the Katsav case was announced," Rozin said. "We have just been swamped with calls in the past several days."
Some observers say more complainants came forward in 2010 after Orly Innes' complaint filed with the Civil Service Commission. Innes said she was sexually harassed by the outgoing director general of the Public Security Ministry, Hagai Peleg.
The report from the Civil Service Commission, which was recently provided to the Justice Ministry, shows that the Education Ministry suffered the largest number of complaints in 2010. That year, 26 files were opened, compared with 12 the year before.
The Health Ministry had the second largest number of complaints, 23, followed by the Israel Postal Company and the Israel Broadcasting Authority, which each had eight.
Agencies with smaller numbers of complaints included the court administration, the Nuclear Research Center and educational television, with one each. The Prime Minister's Office was the source of two complaints.
Rozin said high-profile sexual misconduct cases such as the Katsav case or the case involving former minister Haim Ramon's kissing of a female soldier revive painful memories among victims. Many of these victims then feel the need to talk about what they went through.
Rozin said the Katsav case had a major impact. She said that a survey conducted in 2010 showed that 40 percent of women experience sexual harassment at the workplace.
Attorney Rachel Toren, who represented Innes, agreed that media coverage of sexual misconduct cases encourages other victims to come forward. She cautioned, however, that not every complaint is well-founded.
Innes not only filed a complaint against Peleg, but also went public with allegations against Uri Bar-Lev, who withdrew his candidacy as police commissioner following allegations of sexual misconduct by Innes and another women.
Tziona Koenig-Yair, who heads the equal employment opportunity commission at the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry, said publicized cases involving sexual harassment cause an increase in the number of complaints filed. But some people dispute this, she said.
"The message that has come from labor courts over the past year and from the judicial system as a whole is a message encouraging women to file sexual harassment complaints," she said.
http://bit.ly/eH9koh
- 11 febr 2011
Israeli rabbi 'sexually abused children'
Rabbi Mordechai (Moti) Elon
An Israeli Rabbi has been summoned by the East al-Quds (Jerusalem) prosecutor's office for a pre-indictment hearing on allegations that he sexually harassed two minors on several occasions.
The prosecutor's office summoned Rabbi Mordechai (Moti) Elon for committing sexual offenses against two minors in 2003 and 2005, Ha'aretz reported Thursday.
The allegations against Elon came to light one year ago after Takana, a national religious rabbinical forum that investigates allegations of sexual abuse in the religious community, posted a message on its website demanding that Elon step down from all rabbinical, teaching and community responsibilities, as he is a threat to the public.
In August 2010, the police said that they had enough evidence to accuse Elon of forcibly carrying out sexual offences against one minor. A young man testified that from 2005 to 2006, when he was still a minor, Elon forcibly committed indecent acts against him, the police said.
During further investigations, the police said, another victim had come forth and complained about Elon for sexually abusing him when he was still a minor.
The prosecutor's office said they had sent a letter to Rabbi Elon's lawyers on Thursday summoning Elon for a hearing, which will help decide whether to indict him on charges of sexual offenses against two underage plaintiffs.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/164734.html
- 24 febr 2011
Rabbi suspected of sexually assaulting 8-year old
Golan Heights Police arrested a rabbi in his thirties Wednesday on suspicion he sexually assaulted an eight-year-old boy who studies at the school under his charge.
The suspect has denied the allegations, and this morning police are due to demand the remand of his arrest.
- 6 apr 2011
Did rabbi sexually assault bride?
Jerusalem rabbi arrested over suspected indecent acts against newlywed bride, later released into house arrest.
Well-known Jerusalem Rabbi David Tovol was arrested last Sunday on suspicions that he committed indecent acts against a newlywed bride who sought his advice, Ynet has learned.
According to suspicions, last Sunday, a few hours before the arrest, a young newlywed couple came to the rabbi for a counseling session. During the session the rabbi asked the husband to leave the room and took advantage of the situation to sexually assault the bride.
The couple immediately filed a complaint against the rabbi at the local police station and police arrested him later that day. The rabbi chose to retain his right to silence and refused to cooperate with the police.
Sources familiar with the investigation told Ynet that the rabbi has no criminal record and no complaints had previously been filed against him.
A day after his arrest, the Jerusalem Magistrates Court released the rabbi into house arrest for five days under limited terms, which include a restraining order and a ban on making any contact with the complainants.
"After turning to me, he told me that his silence comes from the privilege he has by law as a religious minister hearing a confession," Tovol's defense lawyer Yehuda Shushan said after the hearing.
He noted that "after the privilege was broken by the complainant herself he agreed to cooperate with the police and told them the progression of events with the woman who is the wife of his good friend. Extremely intimate confessions were shared in the meeting, she obviously had concerns that he would leak the info, regretted her actions and decided to turn the tables on him so he would fear her. Hence, she took this despicable step of making a false complaint."
6 sep 2012, 14:07 , Respect -
Maria 8 apr 2011
Top Sephardi rabbi's aide tied to illegal porn sales
Rabbi Yosef Pinto's top aide Ben Zion Suky, a well-known real estate developer and adviser in the U.S., is knee-deep in legal judgments.
In early 2005, porn producer and actor Ashley Gasper realized that someone was bootlegging his films. Counterfeit copies of Jules Jordan's Flesh Hunter 6 and Jules Jordan: Feeding Frenzy 2, among other titles, were showing up among the DVDs being returned to his distributor.
According to a recent decision issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Gasper soon learned that a Montreal firm was making illicit copies of the movies and selling them to wholesalers. The primary client of the Montreal bootlegger was a New York-based company called Direct Distributors, Inc., run by a young Israeli named Ben Zion Suky.
Suky, now a real estate developer, isn't just another businessman involved in two litigious industries. He's also the right-hand man to a powerful Sephardic kabbalist Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto with growing influence among Israel's political and business elite and in the American Jewish community.
- 15 apr 2011
Israeli arrested for groping passenger on flight
US media report Rabbi Gabriel Bidani allegedly fondled female passenger on flight to NY number of times while she slept.
US media outlets reported Thursday that an Israeli rabbi flying from Tel Aviv to New York allegedly fondled a female passenger a number of times while she slept and when she confronted him he claimed: "It's a mistake I'm asleep". The report is based on US federal court records.
Rabbi Gabriel Bidani, 47, was charged with misdemeanor assault over the event which allegedly occurred on March 27 during Delta flight 269.
According to the report, an hour and a half into the 12 hour flight, Bidani reached over and put his hand under the complainant's blanket, placed it on her crotch and groped her.
The woman then jumped back, and Bidani quickly removed his hand from her groin," she said. The complainant told the FBI that she then pulled her blanket back over her head and body. But a few minutes later, Bidani allegedly again reached under the passenger's blanket, this time groping the passenger's breasts.
What are you doing, stop touching me, she told Bidani. He replied, It's a mistake, I'm asleep, an FBI agent said. The female passenger then left her seat to advise the flight crew of the incident. The flight crew confirmed the story with the FBI and one crew member described the woman as visibly shaken and frantic.
Bidani's lawyer Saul Bienenfeld, said that the rabbi asserts his total innocence and contends that the alleged sexual contact never occurred. Bidani posted $250,000 bond and was released from prison after surrendering his passport and agreeing to limit his travels to the New York City metropolitan area.
Home for Passover
At his April 5 arraignment, the Orthodox rabbi sought permission to return to Israel, though that request was denied by a magistrate judge.
In a subsequent motion, Bienenfeld asked for his client's curfew to be relaxed since during the Passover holiday he needs to be in synagogue past 9 PM and wishes to see more of those individuals who seek advice in communities that are not near the area that he is sleeping. At the time, Bidani was staying at a residence on Long Island.
Bidani's bail terms were modified Thursday when a judge agreed to allow him to fly back to Israel from April 14 to May 1. In a motion, Bienenfeld said that his client wanted to return to Israel for the Passover holiday, and had also recently learned that his father is gravely ill. Bidani's bond was increased to $500,000 by Magistrate Judge James Orenstein. The rabbi's trial will open on May 4.
- 22 april 2011
Rabbi, sentenced to 32 years for molestation, released on bail. Alleged tampering by another rabbi.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syCV-ziebAk
Rabbi Baruch Lebovits case on appeal by Alan Dershowitz and Arthur Aidala.
- 13 juni 2011
Rabbi charged with raping 12-year-old girl
Netanya rabbi tells minor she's fated to be 'messiah's mother,' must have sex with him to atone for sins.
A Netanya rabbi was charged on Monday with raping a 12-year-old girl. David Hafuta, 64, who prayed at the same synagogue as the minor, allegedly assaulted her on several occasions between July 2010 and May of this year.
According to the indictment, the girl asked Hafuta questions about religious matters. In response, he told her that he wants to "reveal her purpose in the world," and for that she has to meet him.
Last July, the defendant asked the victim to wait for him early in morning at a Netanya intersection. He picked her up in his car and drove her to the beach. There he told her that she is fated "to become the messiah's mother," and that she must "atone for all the bad deeds that she has done so far" by having sexual relations with him.
He then conducted a marriage ceremony with the girl while still in the car, and swore her to secrecy. At one point he asked her to take her clothes off, and assaulted her.
Rabbi 'abuse girl's trust'
The rabbi told the girl on several occasions that she possesses "destructive forces that might erupt and cause people to die," and that in order to control these "forces" she must have intercourse with him. He also said that she would save her mother by having sex with him. He reportedly assaulted her at several locations, including his office.
Moreover, the rabbi asked the girl to bring friends to him, and so she lead two other girls to his office. He told each one that "the war of Gog and Magog (Armageddon) is near," and that she is fated to "become the mother of the messiah and save the people of Israel."
The Central District Prosecutor's Office has motioned to extend his remand until the completion of the legal proceedings. "As a neighborhood rabbi and a familiar figure with a reputation in the field, the rabbi abused the girl's trust to have his way with her on several occasions," the attorney said.