Police investigate former chief rabbi Metzger on suspicion he molested teenage boy
Complaint reportedly filed against 71-year-old by youth he met on the beach; ex-chief rabbi has been accused of harassment in the past, was convicted of bribery offenses
Former Ashkenazi chief rabbi Yona Metzger is being investigated by police after he was accused of molesting a boy under 16 years old, authorities said Tuesday, in the latest criminal allegation to embroil the disgraced religious leader.
Metzger was called in for questioning then released on bail a few hours later, a police spokesman said. The case against Metzger, 71, began in the fraud division of the Tel Aviv police department, according to the Ynet news site.
The investigation follows both a previous complaint — which was received in 2020 and briefly probed, after which police closed the case — and a new one, Hebrew media reported.
The new complaint, according to Ynet, citing people close to Metzger, concerns an event that took place on a beach, where the rabbi spoke with several teenagers and told them he would “teach” them about lifeguarding.
The young people demonstrated some of their rescue exercises to the rabbi, and Metzger took the phone number of one of the youths, who later filed the complaint against him, according to the report.
It was not immediately clear when the alleged “indecent act” took place.
Yehudah Fried, Metzger’s attorney, said in a statement that his client was “astonished” by the investigation and “denies everything,” saying Metzger has faith in investigators and fully participated in the process, and that he and his client “have no doubt that it will shortly become clear that there is no basis” for the claims.
The complaint was received on the same day that elections were held for the Chief Rabbinate Council.
The new complaint came following a history of criminal investigations into Metzger over corruption matters, as well as a history of previous allegations of sexual harassment and assault.
In 2017, Metzger was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for corruption offenses, and was paroled after 22 months. He was freed in March 2019.
In 2003, Israeli newspapers published allegations by four men, of different ages and religious backgrounds, who accused Metzger of inappropriately touching them.
A decade later, amid Metzger’s corruption scandal, prominent Israeli journalist Mazal Mualem wrote on Facebook that Metzger had also inappropriately touched a good friend of hers, a personal trainer in Tel Aviv, telling him he was looking for a trainer at night in his apartment.
Most of the previous accusations of sexual violations, though publicly aired, did not turn into criminal investigations by the police. Those close to Metzger at the time, Ynet reported, said that the claims were baseless, and that only a police investigation would expose the truth.
