This pamphlet organizes the hysterical claims that have many parents afraid to let their children out of their sight. As I have noted before - after two years of panic and investigations - there is no solid evidence for the reality of this conspiracy. There is no doubt child abuse exits in Jerusalem - as there is all over the world. But this goes way beyond that and is claiming a massive conspiracy. As I have noted before these claims have been around for a long time - especially in America - but after many such allegations - not one case has been confirmed. Of importance to note - often you can find claims that child abuse rings are run by Jews. As noted in previous posts - Rav Yitzchok Berkowitz of the Sanhedria Murchevet neighborhood has been a prime pusher of such claims in the past. The fact that the police don't believe there is evidence for these claims - is viewed as proof of the conspiracy and that the police are involved. There are also many mental health professionals who don't believe these claims.
As noted in previous posts - Rav Yitzchok Berkowitz of the Sanhedria
ReplyDeleteMurchevet neighborhood has been a prime pusher of such claims in the
past.
In the past ...
You mean besides this current, ongoing incident he is warning people about?
I did not bother to read the lengthy document. However, I would like to point out that this has not been going on for 2 years but is going on close to 4 years now. As the people that brought the accusations to Nachlaot were the first to 'alert' the world to these accusations, it follows that this is all part of the same.
ReplyDelete@kishkeyum - Good question - depends upon whether you consider all such claims are referring to one group or that there are a number of groups that have been operating for years. So it is not clear that the current, ongoing incidents are believed to be all related or not.
ReplyDeleteyou are correct. Rav Berkowitz has been involved for two years
ReplyDeleteAt the same time this cannot be dismissed as fantasy. If a couple of years ago someone had suggested that a R'Y in the North or a Hassidic rebbe are committing abuse, without police corroboration, then it would also be hard to believe.
ReplyDelete@Eddie - you are simply wrong. The matter has been repeatedly been investigated by the police and there is no evidence to support the charges.
ReplyDeleteIf a Rebbe was accused of abuse over a 30 year period and was repeated investigated and no evidence found - do you still have to believe that he is an abuser.
Your argument is like the anti vaccination people - "just because no evidence has been found by repeated studies - it doesn't mean that eventually evidence won't be found" Requring the proving of the univeral negative simply doesn't work
It depends what the question is. If you are saying there isn't an organised pedo ring = conspiracy, but it exists in several individuals, then it is really a Pyrrhic victory. I am not saying you have to beleive there is abuse / conspiracy, i am saying you can't be certain there isn't one. There are murder cases , for example, that haven't been solved, eg the murder of Dr David Niv . If there has been abuse it might be done in isolated cases or in groups. If there are not groups, that doesnt mean there isn't abuse.
ReplyDelete@Eddie it hasn't been proven that a large percentage of unsolved murders have been done by Maritians - therefore we should keep an open mind?!
ReplyDeleteOr perhaps they were caused by the Evil Eye?
According to you know possible cause can ever be ignored because you can't prove a universal negative.
I'm sorry, but in science, that is how some are trained to think, ie not to totally rule out the possible causes of something. Please not, that I am also saying that the distinction between a conspiracy and isolated incidents may be important for the police , but from the side of the innocent families, it is rather irrelevant. To support this argument, i point out to 2 isolated cases reported in this blog, about rabbis in the North of Israel - 1 in Afula, and one in Tsfat. Someone can be forgiven to think it might be a conspiracy, even if they are unrelated, but that doesn't really help the victims.
ReplyDelete1. You write "exits", should say "exists".
ReplyDelete2. Could you please put the "recent comments" bacj above the "most popular posts", like they used to be? Thank you.
@Eddie - I went to RPI - which is a very solid place to learn science - we didn't learn that one should keep weird possibilities alive when there were simpler explanations - Occam's Razor.
ReplyDeleteAs I said the anti vaccination supporters are taking your point of view - that even though all the research and data fails to support the relationship between autism and vaccinations - but since Science can not prove there is no connection they will continue to believe that it is true.
No evidence? There are dozens of children who not only exhibit the classic signs of physical and mental and sexual abuse but who have finally opened up to therapists and parents with factual descriptions of the most horrific acts one could,possibly imagine. The stories match each other in most details even though the kids don't know each other. The police have the most antiquated and bizarre policies, such as totally discounting the statement of a child once he has spoken with a a parent or therapist, unless the therapist is a police psychologist, and that there is no kidnap if a child is lured into someone's car rather than being forcibly grabbed. Thus, no case can possibly be made. The police attitude is, we have terrorists to deal with, leave us alone with your stories. You are doing a major disservice to the innocent children who are vctims, and to those who will be tomorrow's victims. There are parents who have been so overwhelmed with the sudden explosion of unexplainable behavior of their previously healthy child, including suicidal thoughts, sexual acting out, nightmares, wild and violent actions etc that they have picked up and left to America for treatment. This is happening. There is an organized group behind it, and they have hinted their technique over the years.
ReplyDeleteit depends on the phenomenon in question, and whether the current explanation works in all cases. This is philosophy of science. Remember the Rambam writes in halacha that the Earth is the centre of the universe , and the planets move in concentric spheres around it, but in his Moreh, he admits that his scientific observations do not fit his theory. Also, the openness to alternative explanations does not mean acceptance of them.
ReplyDelete@Eddie we were talking about satanic child abuse - you want to keep it as a viable possibility that needs to be taken seriously even without any clear evidence - despite the consistent and overwhelming evidence that it doesn't exist. This has nothing to do with situations where there is no clear evidence one way or the other
ReplyDeletePlease stick to the topic
I do not promote the idea of a satanic cult or of a conspiracy involving the police or large numbers of community members. I do affirm that there is a group, perhaps a small group, even less than ten, that have been luring children and doing horrific things to them, not just sexual abuse but mental torture. Parents and therapists are not sitting around concocting these stories or planting ideas in their children's minds. Healthy children suddenly start to exhibit strange and Classic behavior, nightmares, bed wetting, panic attacks after certain triggers, suicidal ideations, questions to parents like what happens to me if I did a terrible aveira, etc. some children are able to open up after awhile and relate what was done to them. The parents do not get "hysterical" until after seeing all this, and any parent would then run to a therapist, whether in Israel or America. Too many children have recited similar stories, without any contact between them, without communication with other parents or children or therapists, to be coincidental. They are not colluding to create panic, why would they? The leading child abuse expert in Israel, a non religious woman near Tel Aviv, was the biggest doubter until she evaluated some victims herself and she is now convinced this is happening. Eventually, everyone will,be convinced, but at what cost to pure innocent children's lives.
ReplyDelete@In the know - so you disagree with Rav Berkowitz.?
ReplyDeleteOn what basis do you know? You are denying that parents and therapist have asked leading questions - starting with Nachloaot?! How do you know this?
You are claiming full and intimate knowledge of all the facts and the claim that no parents are hysterical or panicking ( you have go to be kidding) - pardon me if I don't accept an anonymous commentator as a credible witness - especially when you haven't cited any evidence to support your allegations.
Finally what is the name of the "leading child abuse expert in Israel" and how do you know what she has said?
Please do not post this response on your site. If I can communicate with you one to one, I can give you answers to your questions. I can not answer publicly for obvious reasons.
ReplyDeleteYou are clearly misguided, outdated and completely naive.
ReplyDeleteTwo points, firstly, child abuse and all it entails is not an isolated or individualized event. The perpetrators will act alone or as a group as we all seek others who share our interests while pursuing a satiated state for their corrupted desire. This leads to the sharing of materials documenting the abuse, which became more pronounced with the advent of the internet. A lot of this material isn't only isolated to the so called darknet but rather traded on closed forums, which in turn either inspires new followers or sees perpetrators involved in one upping each other for acts of depravity.Add to if society sees you as a pariah and you find like minded individuals you will pursue that avenue with fervor.
Secondly, you say no evidence for an organized group of elite abusers in Jerusalem. Then you're not looking hard enough. Abusers in high social positions have far more protection than the random unemployed park flasher. The proof is everywhere. Operation Yewtree in the UK has turned up literally hundreds of victims that were abused for years by politicians, celebrities and royalty, in Australia we have a group of highly placed paedophiles exist called 'The Family' and the U.S. had the Franklin Abuse Scandal.
I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying be very careful when making sweeping resolute statements of the absolute, absence of proof is not the proof of absence.....
You bring the Franklin Abuse Scandal to help prove your point when actually it seems to disprove your point.
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_child_prostitution_ring_allegations