Police nab American who fled to Israel amid child sex abuse allegations in 2010

Police on Sunday arrested a Brooklyn native who has been illegally residing in Israel since 2010 amid allegations that he sexually abused his female relatives, a law enforcement official said.

While the identity of the suspect was revealed in the American press shortly after he fled the country, the Justice Ministry has placed a gag order barring the publication of the man’s name in order to protect the identities of the alleged victims.

The suspect was arrested in southern Israel and brought on Monday before the Jerusalem District Court, where a representative from the International Affairs Division of the State Prosecutor’s Office filed a petition for extradition back to the US.

The arrest ended an over four-year manhunt that began in 2015 after the Justice Ministry said that it had received a request from the US to extradite the suspect. American media reports, however, said that the request had been filed in 2011. A Justice Ministry official did not immediately respond to a request for clarification on the matter.

According to the American extradition request, the suspect abused his female relatives in his Brooklyn home from 1996 to 2004 while the girls were minors. In October 2010, one of the alleged victims came forward and the NYPD opened an investigation. “That same day, the man’s wife drove him to JFK airport and from there he flew to Israel,” the Justice Ministry statement alleged. Local reports from the time said that the suspect’s wife had ferried her 20-year-old son together with his father, as the former was alleged to have taken part in the abuse along with at least two of his brothers.

The suspect’s tourist visa expired several months after his entry and he has been residing illegally in Israel ever since, the Justice Ministry said.

A source with knowledge of the investigation said the suspect is an ultra-Orthodox rabbi and had been residing in Jerusalem until last year when the son who fled New York with him was nabbed by police and extradited to the US. Since the arrest, the suspect moved to a more isolated town in southern Israel.

Jewish Community Watch, which supports victims of sexual assault and was involved with the latest developments in the case, said in a statement, “We have been shocked at the horrific, drawn-out process that the victims have been forced to endure… The pain of waiting for answers and closure, day after day for 10 years, is a travesty that no victim should ever have to experience.”

“The authorities in both the US and Israel have much to answer for, in allowing this case to drag on for so long,” the group added, before thanking Israeli authorities for eventually making the arrest.

JCW’s Shana Aaronson told The Times of Israel that the case demonstrated the need for Israel to vet individuals who arrive from abroad. “As it currently stands, it’s just open season here and people can come and live here regardless of what they’ve done,” she fumed. “The efforts that have to go into getting anyone to even pay attention are unbelievable and shocking.”

The case comes on the backdrop of a similar one involving former Australia school principal Malka Leifer, who boarded a red-eye flight to Israel in 2008 as allegations against her of child sex abuse were coming to light. She was arrested in Israel in 2014 after Australia filed for extradition, but a Jerusalem court suspended the proceedings in 2016, deeming her mentally unfit to stand trial. She was rearrested in 2018 after being filmed appearing to lead a fully functional life.

Her attorneys have continued to maintain an insanity defense and the proceedings against her are ongoing, to the chagrin of her many accusers and the Australian government.