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Chief Sephardic Rabbi Shlomo Amar: guilty, or not guilty?
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| By israelinsider staff and partners May 8, 2005 |
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Police will recommend indicting the wife, son, and daughter of Chief Sephardic Rabbi Shlomo Amar, for the kidnapping and assault of a 17-year-old Bnei Brak resident.
The sources said they have enough evidence to try all five suspects in the case (including two alleged accomplices from Kalansua) but stressed that there is so far no evidence tying the chief rabbi to the incident.
Rabbi Amar has issued an official statement denying his involvement in the abduction and beating of the ultra-Orthodox youth, who had a relationship with Amar's 18-year-old daughter Ayala. "Of course, the rabbi was not involved in the affair," his office was quoted as saying in a statement.
This, despite the suitor's testimony, that the rabbi was aware of the incident in real time.
Ayala, Amar's son Meir and their mother, Mazal, were arrested last Thursday in connection with the affair.
The police suspect that Meir Amar, 31, is the primary suspect behind the attack, because the family disapproved of his relationship with Ayala.
On Friday, the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court extended Meir Amar's remand and ordered the rabbi's wife and daughter to house arrest. Police said they have solid evidence the three were involved in the attack and that they expect indictments shortly.
The chief rabbi has expressed his regret for the incident and said he would cooperate with the police investigation of the case. Police do not know if he is involved in the affair, but they are expected to question the rabbi after he returns Tuesday from his trip to Thailand.
The affair, which became public on Friday afternoon following the cancellation of a gag order, began three months ago. The rabbi's daughter Ayala, who lives in Jerusalem, met the youth from Bnei Brak while surfing on the Internet. After exchanging e-mails for a while, the two became romantically involved and went on a few dates, where they did no more than talk.
Soon afterward, Amar's family found out about the relationship. Ayala testified that they asked her to stop seeing the boy immediately, but that she nevertheless continued chatting with him online.
When the family realized that Ayala was still in touch with the boy, they apparently decided to deter him. Police suspect the rabbi's wife asked her eldest son Meir to intervene.
Meir left his parents' home at the age of 13 and is not religiously observant. He has a criminal record, no fixed address and occasionally spends the night at the settlement of Tekoa or in the Israeli Arab town of Kalansua.
About ten days ago, Meir, Ayala and two of Meir's friends from Kalansua, Ahmed and Abdallah Suwalme, drove to Bnei Brak.
Ayala told the police, "They told me to get out of the car ... and to go with them to his house, so I took them. They told me to ring the bell and tell him to come down, and I did."
The group drove to the corner of Ezra and Nehemia streets in Bnei Brak, where they met the youth. One of the passengers threatened him with a knife to get into the car, he later told police. They then forced his head down, to prevent him from seeing where they were driving.
The group drove to Kalansua, where the youth was taken to an apartment and subjected to "Clockwork Orange style abuse," Dan sub-district police investigation unit Chief Superintendent Alon Grossman said.
"The three beat him badly all night. They cut off his sidecurls and his skullcap, kicked him, spat on him and verbally abused him," Grossman said. Meanwhile, Ayala waited nearby.
They brought the boy to the chief rabbi's house in Jerusalem at about 6 A.M. the following day, at which point they continued to beat him, in the living room. Police believe the rabbi's wife was sleeping in the next room. They are trying to verify whether the chief rabbi was also sleeping in the house at the time.
Police said the boy described the inside of the rabbi's house in accurate detail.
After they decided he had learned his lesson, the suspects allegedly gave him NIS 20 for the bus and released him. He took a bus to Petah Tikva and checked into Beilinson Hospital, Rabin Medical Center. The police opened an investigation after receiving the hospital's report of the boy's injuries.
Meir Amar has confessed to the accusations against him, but denies that his mother was involved. Ayala was arrested on suspicion of failing to stop the beatings.
An attorney for the daughter denied she participated in the attack, but said she had helped arrange the initial meeting between her brother and the youth because she had felt threatened.
"During the incident the brother (Rabbi Amar?s son, Meir) answered the phone and said, 'Dad, what?s going on? don?t worry, he won?t come out in one piece'," testified the suitor in an interview. "At 6 a.m. Rabbi Amar called and said, 'Come home.' They put me in the car. They wouldn?t even let me go to the bathroom. The rabbi was home."
The suitor said that a month ago the rabbi?s family asked him to stay away from the rabbi?s daughter, Ayala. 'They told me if I would get involved with her, things would get complicated," he said.
"Ayala called me and said they were a distinguished religious family, but added that she was interested in pursuing the relationship. I told her I would go to the police if they laid a hand on me."
"We continued to see each other until Tuesday, a week and half ago, when Ayala called me and said she was coming over with her cousin and that we would all go out. I went down to the street, said hello to her and got in the car," the suitor said.
"Her brother began to drive frantically, and he locked all the doors and windows. We reached the yard of a house in the Triangle (central Israel region populated predominantly by Israeli Arabs). A few Arabs with knives guarded me. They cut off my payot and tore my kippa and tsitsit. I received severe beatings on my head and ribs."
The suitor said he forgives Ayala Amar and wants to continue seeing her. "I still love her. I would be glad if she would want to come back to me," he said.
Rabbi Amar said in response to the allegations he had no involvement in the kidnapping and was sorry for the harm caused to the suitor.
The AP contributed to this report.
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