26 nov 2013
The report of Euro-Mid Observer for Human Rights, on the European mercenaries serving in the ranks of the occupation army, will reveal the involvement of European criminal gangs in Jewish settlers' attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank. According to the Euro-Mid Observer, Israeli private institutions have been giving European youths, who have extremist inclinations, many privileges to encourage them to join campaigns to support the settlers' operations in the West Bank, which have seen a remarkable increase in recent times, according to reports by the Israeli security services.
It pointed out that the extremist rabbis are playing a pivotal role in the recruitment of members of European gang, especially those with military experience, through the French Jewish Association that offers to these individuals financial compensation for the services they provide to the settlers in their attacks against unarmed Palestinian civilians.
According to a comprehensive report the Euro-Mid Observer is working on; a number of organizations directly related to Jewish and Christian rightist groups in Europe have organized projects and campaigns in Europe to call on Europeans to join and support the Israeli army in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
It pointed out that the extremist rabbis are playing a pivotal role in the recruitment of members of European gang, especially those with military experience, through the French Jewish Association that offers to these individuals financial compensation for the services they provide to the settlers in their attacks against unarmed Palestinian civilians.
According to a comprehensive report the Euro-Mid Observer is working on; a number of organizations directly related to Jewish and Christian rightist groups in Europe have organized projects and campaigns in Europe to call on Europeans to join and support the Israeli army in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
25 nov 2013
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Nachman Helbrans, a son of Lev Tahor cult leader Rabbi Shlomo Helbrans, explains his group's sudden decision to flee Quebec.
The cult has been accused of serial child abuse by former members. |
10 nov 2013
Rabbis Mendel Epstein, Martin Wolmark arrested with eight others by FBI on charges they plotted to kidnap, torture man to force him to grant religious divorce
Two Orthodox rabbis and eight other men were arrested in an FBI sting in New Jersey and New York on charges they plotted to kidnap and torture a man to force him to grant a religious divorce. Rabbis Mendel Epstein and Martin Wolmark charged Jewish women and their families thousands of dollars to obtain religious divorces, known as "gets," from unwilling husbands, the FBI said.
"They didn't do it out of religious conviction," Assistant US Attorney Joseph Gribko told a judge Thursday in a federal court hearing for the men. "They did it for money."
Marc Agnifilo, a lawyer for Wolmark, said it's possibly a case where religious law collides with federal statutes, where the crimes they're accused of can be punished by life in prison.
"It's a very complex case. The government says it's all about money, but I don't think that's quite right," Agnifilo said after the hearing, calling coercion and even violence to get husbands to grant religious divorces "an old tradition."
The rabbis and the 10 other men were arrested as a result of an undercover operation that began in August when two FBI agents, one posing as a woman trying to get a divorce, contacted the rabbis. According to an FBI complaint, Epstein spoke about forcing compliance through "tough guys" who use electric cattle prods and even place plastic bags over the heads of husbands.
The FBI said the price was more than $50,000 and a prosecutor said at Thursday's hearing that the organization involved in the alleged plot had been involved in up to 20 kidnappings over the years.
'Tough guys' helped coerce husbands
No pleas were entered Thursday and lawyers for some of the defendants sought to minimize their clients' roles in an effort to get them freed on bail or put on home confinement.
Magistrate Douglas Arpert ordered all 10 held in federal custody at least until hearings next week.
The investigation took place in Ocean and Middlesex counties in New Jersey and Rockland County in New York, and ended with arrests overnight Wednesday.
Four of the rabbis' associates were described as enforcers, or "tough guys," as Epstein called the men who helped coerce reluctant husbands.
The undercover agents, including a man posing as the woman's brother, met with Epstein at his Ocean County home in August, during which the rabbi spoke about "kidnapping, beating and torturing husbands in order to force a divorce," the complaint said.
"Basically what we are going to be doing is kidnapping a guy for a couple of hours and beating him up and torturing him and then getting him to give the get," Epstein is quoted as saying during the conversation, which was videotaped.
Epstein is also quoted saying he wanted to use a cattle prod to torture the reluctant husband.
"If it can get a bull that weighs 5 tons to move ... you put it in certain parts of his body and in one minute, the guy will know," he said, according to the complaint.
He said that his group did a kidnapping every year to year-and-a-half, and that the cost is $10,000 for a rabbinical court to approve the action and $50,000 to $60,000 for the enforcers.
The undercover agents wired him a $20,000 down payment, the complaint said.
Under Jewish law, if a husband refuses to grant his wife a "get," she has the right to sue in rabbinical court. The complaint said that a rabbinical court was held in Rockland County on October 2 as part of the sting, during which the use of violence was authorized.
Two Orthodox rabbis and eight other men were arrested in an FBI sting in New Jersey and New York on charges they plotted to kidnap and torture a man to force him to grant a religious divorce. Rabbis Mendel Epstein and Martin Wolmark charged Jewish women and their families thousands of dollars to obtain religious divorces, known as "gets," from unwilling husbands, the FBI said.
"They didn't do it out of religious conviction," Assistant US Attorney Joseph Gribko told a judge Thursday in a federal court hearing for the men. "They did it for money."
Marc Agnifilo, a lawyer for Wolmark, said it's possibly a case where religious law collides with federal statutes, where the crimes they're accused of can be punished by life in prison.
"It's a very complex case. The government says it's all about money, but I don't think that's quite right," Agnifilo said after the hearing, calling coercion and even violence to get husbands to grant religious divorces "an old tradition."
The rabbis and the 10 other men were arrested as a result of an undercover operation that began in August when two FBI agents, one posing as a woman trying to get a divorce, contacted the rabbis. According to an FBI complaint, Epstein spoke about forcing compliance through "tough guys" who use electric cattle prods and even place plastic bags over the heads of husbands.
The FBI said the price was more than $50,000 and a prosecutor said at Thursday's hearing that the organization involved in the alleged plot had been involved in up to 20 kidnappings over the years.
'Tough guys' helped coerce husbands
No pleas were entered Thursday and lawyers for some of the defendants sought to minimize their clients' roles in an effort to get them freed on bail or put on home confinement.
Magistrate Douglas Arpert ordered all 10 held in federal custody at least until hearings next week.
The investigation took place in Ocean and Middlesex counties in New Jersey and Rockland County in New York, and ended with arrests overnight Wednesday.
Four of the rabbis' associates were described as enforcers, or "tough guys," as Epstein called the men who helped coerce reluctant husbands.
The undercover agents, including a man posing as the woman's brother, met with Epstein at his Ocean County home in August, during which the rabbi spoke about "kidnapping, beating and torturing husbands in order to force a divorce," the complaint said.
"Basically what we are going to be doing is kidnapping a guy for a couple of hours and beating him up and torturing him and then getting him to give the get," Epstein is quoted as saying during the conversation, which was videotaped.
Epstein is also quoted saying he wanted to use a cattle prod to torture the reluctant husband.
"If it can get a bull that weighs 5 tons to move ... you put it in certain parts of his body and in one minute, the guy will know," he said, according to the complaint.
He said that his group did a kidnapping every year to year-and-a-half, and that the cost is $10,000 for a rabbinical court to approve the action and $50,000 to $60,000 for the enforcers.
The undercover agents wired him a $20,000 down payment, the complaint said.
Under Jewish law, if a husband refuses to grant his wife a "get," she has the right to sue in rabbinical court. The complaint said that a rabbinical court was held in Rockland County on October 2 as part of the sting, during which the use of violence was authorized.
31 oct 2013
Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef attacks Tzahar Law: Bad for rabbinate
Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef lashed out the passage of the Tzahar Law which allows individuals to register for marriage in any city, regardless of their place of residence.
He claimed it hurt the rabbinate and its ability to maintain the "sanctity of Israel." However, he added that the Chief Rabbinate must initiate and promote efficiency measures to make it unnecessary for outside intervention, to which the rabbinate is in opposition.
Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef attacks Tzahar Law: Bad for rabbinate
Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef lashed out the passage of the Tzahar Law which allows individuals to register for marriage in any city, regardless of their place of residence.
He claimed it hurt the rabbinate and its ability to maintain the "sanctity of Israel." However, he added that the Chief Rabbinate must initiate and promote efficiency measures to make it unnecessary for outside intervention, to which the rabbinate is in opposition.
16 oct 2013
Yitzhak Kadman
Chairman of Council for the Child requests Jerusalem District Prosecution to invetigate rabbi who allegedly kept quiet on sexual assault of 14-year-old girl
The chairman of the Council for the Child, Dr. Yitzhak Kadman, requested the Jerusalem District Prosecution to order that a rabbi who has allegedly kept quite on the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl be investigated. Last weekend, the Jerusalem District Court sentenced a haredi man, accused of assaulting his 14-year-old sister-in-law, to five and a half years in prison.
The court noted that the defendant had used sensitive circumstances his wife's younger sister was under to sexually assault her. According to the judges, the rabbi, who counsels families and was helping the family through the incident, knew about the assault but did not report it to authorities. The rabbi said he scolded the man.
The judges added that the rabbi is a mandated reporter, and therefore should not have kept silent.
In his letter to the prosecution, Kadman demanded that an investigation be launched against the rabbi "for suspicion of neglecting to report sexual abuse." If the rabbi is not questioned, Kadman noted, "it might send a dangerous message to mandated reporters. The Jerusalem District Prosecution stated that it would address Kedman's claims according to protocol.
Related stories:
Chairman of Council for the Child requests Jerusalem District Prosecution to invetigate rabbi who allegedly kept quiet on sexual assault of 14-year-old girl
The chairman of the Council for the Child, Dr. Yitzhak Kadman, requested the Jerusalem District Prosecution to order that a rabbi who has allegedly kept quite on the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl be investigated. Last weekend, the Jerusalem District Court sentenced a haredi man, accused of assaulting his 14-year-old sister-in-law, to five and a half years in prison.
The court noted that the defendant had used sensitive circumstances his wife's younger sister was under to sexually assault her. According to the judges, the rabbi, who counsels families and was helping the family through the incident, knew about the assault but did not report it to authorities. The rabbi said he scolded the man.
The judges added that the rabbi is a mandated reporter, and therefore should not have kept silent.
In his letter to the prosecution, Kadman demanded that an investigation be launched against the rabbi "for suspicion of neglecting to report sexual abuse." If the rabbi is not questioned, Kadman noted, "it might send a dangerous message to mandated reporters. The Jerusalem District Prosecution stated that it would address Kedman's claims according to protocol.
Related stories:
8 oct 2013
Dr. Yousef Rizqa, political advisor to Palestinian Prime Minister, criticized the Ramallah Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for offering condolence for the death of extremist Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, and considered Abbas's step a sin against the Palestinian people. Abbas offered condolences "to the Israeli people and leadership" for Yosef's death, despite Yosef's positions and statements that call for killing the Arabs, Muslims and Palestinians.
Rizqa asserted in remarks to Quds Press that the Palestinian people at home and abroad refuse this consolation, and said that the PA President did not take into account the feelings of prisoners and the families of the martyrs as well as the feelings of the whole Palestinian people.
He stressed that the Palestinians reject such attitudes despite the attempts to cover them with diplomacy. He also noted that "Yosef is neither a President nor a prime minister. He is partisan figure, and International protocol does not oblige offering condolences or congratulations to parties' leaders as Yosef who cannot be respected for his hostility to the Palestinian people."
"It appears that Abbas is the only Arab personality and perhaps the only International figure who took this step; therefore his position is considered a sin against the Palestinian diplomacy and the Palestinian political situation", Dr. Rizqa said.
He added that a person who seeks to liberate Palestine and Jerusalem and to establish an independent Palestinian state cannot commit such a sin.
Rizqa asserted in remarks to Quds Press that the Palestinian people at home and abroad refuse this consolation, and said that the PA President did not take into account the feelings of prisoners and the families of the martyrs as well as the feelings of the whole Palestinian people.
He stressed that the Palestinians reject such attitudes despite the attempts to cover them with diplomacy. He also noted that "Yosef is neither a President nor a prime minister. He is partisan figure, and International protocol does not oblige offering condolences or congratulations to parties' leaders as Yosef who cannot be respected for his hostility to the Palestinian people."
"It appears that Abbas is the only Arab personality and perhaps the only International figure who took this step; therefore his position is considered a sin against the Palestinian diplomacy and the Palestinian political situation", Dr. Rizqa said.
He added that a person who seeks to liberate Palestine and Jerusalem and to establish an independent Palestinian state cannot commit such a sin.
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has condemned shooting on an Israeli settler in Psagot settlement east of al-Bireh city during a meeting with Israeli lawmakers in Ramallah on Monday. "We oppose, on principle, aggression against anyone, and the spilling of blood," he told a group of Israeli MKs visiting his headquarters in Ramallah, media sources said.
Abbas spoke as Israeli forces stormed al-Bireh city, near Ramallah.
During the meeting, Abbas asked the Israeli lawmakers to send his condolences to the family of Shas leader and former chief rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who died Monday at the age of 93.
In 2001 Yosef was quoted as calling for the annihilation of Arabs, instructing his followers that "It is forbidden to be merciful to them. You must send missiles to them and annihilate them. They are evil and damnable."
Abbas spoke as Israeli forces stormed al-Bireh city, near Ramallah.
During the meeting, Abbas asked the Israeli lawmakers to send his condolences to the family of Shas leader and former chief rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who died Monday at the age of 93.
In 2001 Yosef was quoted as calling for the annihilation of Arabs, instructing his followers that "It is forbidden to be merciful to them. You must send missiles to them and annihilate them. They are evil and damnable."
7 oct 2013
Influential spiritual leader of Sephardic Jewish community and ultra-Orthodox Shas party dies in Jerusalem hospital.
The influential spiritual leader of Israel's Sephardic Jewish community and the ultra-Orthodox Shas party has died at a Jerusalem hospital, a spokesman said.
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, 93, underwent heart surgery at Jerusalem's Hadassah hospital on September 23 where he had remained since then, with doctors saying just days ago his condition had improved.
But late on Sunday, the hospital said his condition had suddenly worsened, with medics confirming it as critical on Monday.
"After a long struggle, the rabbi died just a few moments ago," the hospital spokesman told public radio on Monday.
Yosef, whose son Yitzhak Yosef was elected chief rabbi of Israel's Sephardic Jews in June, a post he himself had previously held, had been in and out of hospital for months.
He wielded enormous influence among Israeli Jews of Middle Eastern and North African ancestry, and had frequently been a kingmaker in the country's fickle coalition politics.
Shas was a member of successive governing coalitions before going into opposition after the last general election in January.
The influential spiritual leader of Israel's Sephardic Jewish community and the ultra-Orthodox Shas party has died at a Jerusalem hospital, a spokesman said.
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, 93, underwent heart surgery at Jerusalem's Hadassah hospital on September 23 where he had remained since then, with doctors saying just days ago his condition had improved.
But late on Sunday, the hospital said his condition had suddenly worsened, with medics confirming it as critical on Monday.
"After a long struggle, the rabbi died just a few moments ago," the hospital spokesman told public radio on Monday.
Yosef, whose son Yitzhak Yosef was elected chief rabbi of Israel's Sephardic Jews in June, a post he himself had previously held, had been in and out of hospital for months.
He wielded enormous influence among Israeli Jews of Middle Eastern and North African ancestry, and had frequently been a kingmaker in the country's fickle coalition politics.
Shas was a member of successive governing coalitions before going into opposition after the last general election in January.
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