Abuse

Minister to rule on alleged sex offender Grynhaus’s deportation

Jonathan Kalmus — Fri, 24 May 2013 10:30:59 +0100

A British man is waiting for Israel’s interior minister to decide whether he will be deported to face trial for sex offences in the UK.

Todros Grynhaus, 48, from Salford, fled to Israel on a false passport shortly after he pleaded not guilty to seven counts of the historic sexual or indecent assault of three children.

He was arrested in Jerusalem in February but has appealed against his deportation under Israel’s Law of Return.

This week, a Jerusalem judge gave interior minister Gideon Sa’ar until Sunday to decide whether concerns about public safety are strong enough to deny him Israeli citizenship. The ministry confirmed the decision would be made within “a few days”.

Mr Grynhaus would have to be released if his appeal for citizenship were granted. However, his lawyer has said that he expects the British Home Office to request an immediate re-arrest to return the former teacher to the UK under its bilateral extradition agreement with Israel.

Rabbi Chaim Halpern conducting a wedding a ‘serious error’, says United Synagogue

Simon Rocker — Fri, 24 May 2013 07:30:00 +0100

The United Synagogue has strongly criticised the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations for allowing Rabbi Chaim Halpern, who is under police investigation over alleged sexual abuse of women, to officiate at a wedding.

Rabbi Halpern, the leader of the Divrei Chaim community, took part in a ceremony under the UOHC’s auspices on Wednesday afternoon at Finchley United Synagogue, which houses the Kinloss banqueting suite.

In a statement, a spokesman for the US said that it considered the UOHC’s approval of Rabbi Halpern’s participation as “wrong and a serious error of judgment”.

Rabbi Halpern, who has denied any wrongdoing in connection with counselling sessions for women, has been bailed to return to a police station in July.

A special Beth Din set up by the UOHC to look into the allegations against him has been suspended pending police inquiries.

No one was available from the UOHC to comment.

The US said that its synagogues were hired out for dozens of weddings each year under the Union’s auspices.

“The United Synagogue is not involved in the authorisation or solemnisation of such marriages and relies on the UOHC to ensure that a suitable person officiates,” a US spokesman said.

“The former head of the London Beth Din and two current dayanim in their capacity as north-west London rabbonim have already publicly made their views very clear concerning Rabbi Halpern.

“Rabbi Halpern’s own governing body, the UOHC, has seen fit to initiate a high-profile investigation that has not yet been concluded. In addition to which, he is under police investigation.

“We therefore consider his authorisation by the UOHC to officiate at this marriage wrong and a serious error of judgment.”

Abuse charity rings changes in appeal method

Sandy Rashty — Mon, 13 May 2013 10:44:42 +0100

The charity helping women and children in the community affected by domestic violence used a novel and poignant method of appealing to supporters at its annual fundraising lunch, held at Lord’s in St John’s Wood.

As the salad plates were cleared at the cricketing venue, Jewish Women’s Aid’s 320 guests heard a continous telephone ringtone, causing a number of those present to search frantically in their handbags.

It quickly became apparent that ringtone formed part of the fundraising appeal, replicating a real-life call for help from an abuse victim to JWA, acted out by two of the charity’s volunteers. At one point the victim rationalises: “He called me a prostitute — but he’s a good father.” The banqueting room was noticeably quiet afterwards, with a number of diners visibly affected by what they had heard.

“Constructing an appeal is very difficult,” explained lunch host Hilda Worth. “Each year this is the aspect that we struggle hardest with. We can’t bring our service users here to share their story face to face. We also can’t film in the refuge or at a counselling session because we are working with the most privately vulnerable women.”

She added that as the telephone helpline was often the first point of contact with victims, it was an appropriate way to engage donors. It was “not a dramatic tearjerker but the reality of living privately with abuse”. The lunch raised £130,000.

Former barrister and JWA trustee Dawn Freedman said: “People didn’t bother to investigate abuse years ago. It was especially hard for Jewish women to talk about abuse for two reasons — the pressure from her family and the community.

“But JWA believes what the woman is going through and supports her without being judgmental. It’s also about increasing awareness in the community, schools and synagogues.”

The guest speaker was former MI5 boss Dame Stella Rimington, a trustee of the domestic abuse charity, Refuge. Discussing her career as a woman in the predominantly male British secret service, she recalled her work at the height of the Cold War — which she characterised as a “very interesting time” — and MI5’s counter-espionage and counter-terrorism work.

JWA representatives talk to more than 2,000 students annually to promote awareness of abuse and highlight the warning signs. Education co-ordinator Laura Lehmann said it ran sessions at schools including JCoSS, Hasmonean, Immanuel and King Solomon. “We have had mothers call us after a student has heard a session and told her what we do.”

The charity is looking to work with the Union of Jewish Students to run sessions at Jewish societies such as Oxford, Cambridge, Birmingham and Leeds, as well as at the London universities. She has already held a session at Bristol University.

She said that students in relationships should be aware of warning signs — “if he’s checking your phone or not letting you see your friends”.

Salford sex suspect who fled bail arrested in Israel

Jonathan Kalmus — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 12:00:00 +0000

Police have confirmed that Todros Grynhaus, a suspected sex offender from Salford, has been arrested by Israeli police after fleeing the UK.

Greater Manchester Police, who had been seeking the 48-year-old in the UK and abroad since he went missing two weeks ago, confirmed that the man they believe to be Mr Grynhaus had been arrested in Jerusalem, where he was living under a false identity.

There will now be a process to ensure his return to the UK, although police said it was too early to ascertain whether an extradition will be requested under a bilateral agreement already in place between Israel and the UK.

Mr Grynhaus has pleaded not guilty to seven counts of indecent and sexual assault against minors. Court proceedings later this year are expected to continue once Mr Grynhaus is returned.

Salford sex suspect flees strict bail terms

Jonathan Kalmus — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 12:00:18 +0000

A suspected Jewish sex offender from Salford is being tracked by police.

Salford-based Todros Grynhaus, 48, had pleaded not guilty to seven counts of sexual or indecent assault against children in December and was expected to be tried at Manchester Crown Court later this year.

But police said it appeared that Mr Grynhaus had abandoned his designated address in Higher Broughton last week, breaking strict bail terms which included surrendering his passport and a ban on foreign travel.

Greater Manchester Police have appealed for information from the public and confirmed on Tuesday that its officers were “making inquiries both in the UK and abroad” to close in on the fugitive.

Rabbi Chaim Halpern released on bail

Simon Rocker and Marcus Dysch — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 18:00:24 +0000

Rabbi Chaim Halpern and three other Orthodox men in north-west London who were arrested last week have been bailed by police to return later this month.

Rabbi Halpern, who heads the Divrei Chaim Synagogue in Golders Green, was questioned in connection with investigations into alleged sexual assault and perverting the course of justice.

The other three were questioned on suspicion of perverting the course of justice over his arrest.

The four men were released before Shabbat after being arrested early last Wednesday morning.

Rabbi Halpern’s solicitor said that he “categorically denies any allegation of wrongdoing”.

One of the men, Gary Ost, has temporarily stepped down from his role as chief executive of community security group Shomrim while the investigations continue.

Mr Ost said he “vehemently denied” the allegations against him and had fully co-operated with police.

“While these allegations are being investigated and until my name is completely cleared, I reluctantly feel it would be inappropriate for me to remain in my role at this time,” he said.

Meanwhile, a Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations source said that a special Beth Din, set up to investigate complaints about Rabbi Halpern’s marriage counselling sessions for women, would now be “delayed” following the arrests.

Its three rabbinic judges from abroad had been due to return to the UK next week to resume their hearing.

Channel 4 programme asks: do rabbis cover up abuse?

Simon Rocker — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 18:30:00 +0000

Britain’s Charedi establishment, already buffeted by allegations of sexual abuse against women by one of its senior rabbis, is about to become embroiled in fresh controversy.

Channel 4’s Dispatches strand is to broadcast an investigation next Wednesday night into claims of the sexual abuse of children within the strictly Orthodox communities of the UK.

In Britain’s Hidden Child Abuse, in secretly filmed footage, Rabbi Ephraim Padwa, the rabbinical head of the Stamford Hill-based Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations, tells a man who says he was abused as a child in Stamford Hill not to go to the police.

One Orthodox community worker, aware of the programme’s contents, said its effect would be “like a tsunami”.

The footage of Rabbi Padwa was shot undercover by a man raised in Stamford Hill who says that he was “sexually abused… when I was younger” and asks whether “it is a good idea to speak to the police about it”.

Rabbi Padwa says no, and is asked why. “It’s mesirah”, he responds — a term which means informing on a Jew to the non-Jewish authorities.

“But this is a very serious issue,” the interviewer says.

“Yes, but not police,” Rabbi Padwa answers.

A spokesman for Channel 4 said that the investigation had uncovered “19 different alleged cases of child sex abuse across the UK. Yet not one was reported to the police because alleged victims feared reprisals from within the community”.

Members of the community “often turn to the rabbis for advice and help. Our investigation discovered that ‘advice’ sometimes amounts to an outright ban on reporting alleged child abuse to the authorities.”

Two rabbinical authorities this week issued statements to make clear that they supported reporting cases of abuse to the police.

Rabbi Julian Shindler, executive director of the Rabbinical Council of the United Synagogue, told rabbis that it was “essential that, when abuse has occurred, the police must be informed without delay. Local communities should not attempt to deal with the situation internally. Delays in reporting abuse can cause vital evidence to be lost, allowing the abusers to continue violating our children. We must all ensure that the children of our communities will be protected by reporting abuse to the authorities wherever it takes place”.

Rabbi Shindler said that the US had “an obligation to safeguard the children of our community, and we have to accept that even within our own communities there are those who steal the innocence of our children.”

Rabbi Yehuda Brodie, registrar of the Manchester Beth Din, stated: “We offer our strongest support for any victim of any criminal act to report matters to the authorities, including the police, as and where appropriate.”

Two victims explain why they didn't report abuse

Jonathan Kalmus — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 12:24:37 +0000

Jewish victims of child sex abuse have spoken out about serious sexual crime being perpetrated within the UK’s strictly Orthodox Jewish community, writes Jonathan Kalmus.

Two victims — who are not involved in the Dispatches film — have spoken exclusively to the JC.

Both from Greater Manchester, they explained why they have never spoken openly about abuse or reported the allegations to the police. They said rabbis in whom they confided provided mixed responses, including utter naivety about what to do.

But they also said that they feared the response of their own community and could not face the prosecution process or destroying a perpetrator’s family, whom they knew.

One woman claimed that her son was abused, together with other children, when he was just six. The children were encouraged, with sweets, to fondle a Charedi man by placing their hands in his underpants. But the allegations only came to light more than five years later.

“My husband was absolutely horrified. My first thought was to call the police. My husband said no, because the man has a family and little children and it would hurt them badly.

“I would have preferred to have had him openly charged, to protect other people... But I am very familiar with [the alleged perpetrator’s] wife. I knew her, I knew her kids. I didn’t feel I could do it.”

A man from Salford alleges he suffered repeated attempted rape when he was 15, by a Charedi businessman who tied him up with a chasidic prayer belt, a gartel, while plying him with alcohol, marijuana and food. Attacks took place over many months, it is claimed.

“He would scream at me and squeeze my testicles until I was black and blue to punish me, if I confronted him.

“I never told my parents. I’d confided in a few friends. They believed me, but didn’t know what to do”.

Eventually the boy turned to a rabbi.

“He told me I should go to the Child Protection Team straight away. He said, they will put you in contact with the police. He also got me a psychologist in London.

“I felt relieved, that I had done the right thing”.

But after a number of meetings with police, the boy became scared. “I was nervous. There were stories in the papers about a boy who was raped. I thought I would be just another one of these kids in the newspaper”.

Satmar sex abuse counsellor Weberman given 103 years

Anna Sheinman — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 17:23:15 +0000

A Satmar counsellor found guilty of 59 counts of sexual abuse of a young girl has been sentenced to 103 years in jail.

Nechemya Weberman, 54, of Brooklyn, New York was found guilty of abusing a girl for three years, which began when she was 12 years old. The girl had been sent to him for religious counselling because she was deemed “rebellious” by her Orthodox school.

Weberman was sentenced in a Brooklyn court on Tuesday.

The girl was forced to perform sexual acts by Weberman and to watch pornography and then “copy what was in the porn”.

In a statement read out in court, the victim said: "I really hope and pray this case will set a precedent for others.”

How Israel leads world in sex trade fight

Jennifer Lipman — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 11:40:00 +0000

Britain is being urged to look to Israel for lessons in how to combat human trafficking and rehabilitate victims.

Labour MP Frank Field and former Conservative MP Anthony Steen are among those praising Israel for making trafficking “a priority issue”, prosecuting perpetrators to such an extent that shelters that were once full of trafficked Eastern European women are now empty of them.

According to Israeli opposition MK Orit Zuaretz, who chairs the Knesset subcommittee on trafficking, in Israel “the phenomenon of the sex trade as we knew it is practically eliminated”.

In a Westminster Hall debate last month, Mr Field, a minister under Tony Blair, drew attention to Israel’s success in tackling the problem of Russian-speaking Eastern European women trafficked into Israel for the sex trade after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

In his speech, he highlighted the fact that Israel had taken the problem “immensely seriously”. While it had not solved slavery as a world problem, he said Israel had “largely dealt with it in its own borders”.

Mr Field has now written to Immigration Minister Mark Harper pushing for tougher government action on an area it claims is a priority, emphasising in particular the vital role of police operations in pursuing traffickers.

“This is an area where Israel has been getting the strategy right,” he said. “Traffickers often simply send their victims to countries where they feel they can most easily get away with their crime. Israel has been successful in creating a tough environment for traffickers.”

Mr Field said the Israeli government’s effective methods of deterrence should be contrasted with the UK, “which has sadly become a repository for trafficking victims”.

Mr Steen, founder of the All Party Group on human trafficking and now head of the Human Trafficking Foundation, also encouraged the British government to study Israel’s experience.

In November he visited Israel to see the shelters for trafficking victims.

“If we talk about modern-day slavery in Britain, the biggest problem is that it is hidden,” said Mr Steen. “The professionals who should be fighting this scourge are part of the problem because they keep everything hidden.
“They don’t share information, so we don’t know where the victims are, where the brothels are.”

He described a contrasting culture in Israel, where information is shared, the issue is discussed openly and police are prepared to discuss their approach “Politicians, police and NGOs are all seen to have equal status in fighting trafficking, rather than there being a pecking order.”

He said Israel offered “a shining example of how to disrupt trafficking gangs” and divert them.

“The reason I did not see any Eastern European women in the shelters is because there aren’t any now. That has happened in no other country in Europe.

“Because the police are viewing trafficking with the same severity as terrorism, every officer is committed to driving it out. Traffickers are now being persecuted, prosecuted and pursued.

“The police are harassing them, raiding places where the women might be, to the point that the traffickers have decided they don’t want the hassle.”

He highlighted the standard of the shelters — “among the highest I have ever seen” — and the efforts made to educate the victims.

“Israel did a tremendous job in helping rehabilitate and retrain trafficked women so they could return to their home country.”

The “extraordinary” work was praised by Celia Gould, wife of Matthew Gould, the British Ambassador to Israel. “I have met many of the Israeli volunteers who work in these centres, and many of the victims themselves,” she said.

“The victims come with the most heart-wrenching stories, and have the acute need for accommodation, medical care and child care.”

Israel’s success has come after nearly a decade of concerted action from across the political spectrum, said Ms Zuaretz. “In 2004 a committee decided there should be a national plan to fight this phenomenon,” she said.

In 2005 her committee became permanent and in the years since, legislation has been passed setting out definitions of trafficking and specifying the punishments.

Israel also agreed to open state-funded shelters in which victims could stay for a year, or more if necessary, and receive training and support.

Last year, in a landmark case, gang kingpin Rahamim Saban was convicted in what judges labelled one of the largest human trafficking operations ever involving Israel.

Resources have also been devoted to training police, immigration inspectors, people on border control and social workers.

“We have a plan to make sure they have all the tools to identify the victims. You have to ask the right questions,” said Ms Zuaretz.

Although Israel still faces a huge and unsolved challenge over trafficked men and women from African countries who are taken through the Sinai and arrive in Israel, it has won acclaim for its efforts to stem the tide from Eastern Europe.

Last year the US State Department placed Israel on a list of only 32 countries deemed to be actively fighting human trafficking.

“There is a lot of political will,” said Ms Zuaretz. “We succeeded with the full support of ministers and a will to change and fight this phenomenon.”

She has already shared Israel’s methods with the US and 30 other countries, including Russia, Nigeria, Turkey and Colombia. She said she would be delighted to share her work with the British government.

“Britain, which spends its time criticising Israel, ought to know that Israel is ahead of the game here,” said Mr Steen.

“Israel is setting the lead.”