Sex abuse claims against famed rabbi grip Israel

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"Israeli police said on Friday they were looking into allegations of sexual abuse against one of the country's most famous and politically influential rabbis, in a case that has triggered dramatic headlines this week.

Mordechai Elon -- known as "Rabbi Motti" by viewers of his popular TV show and by many young men in the West Bank settler movement -- has vehemently denied the accusations by a group of fellow rabbis who say their aim is to combat sexual harassment by authority figures.

But that has not stopped a wave of soul-searching, which has some parallels with recent turmoil in the Roman Catholic church."

<snip>

"A Justice Ministry spokesman said the attorney-general had asked police to consider whether there was sufficient evidence to mount a formal criminal investigation, after the organization Takana alleged Elon had broken a promise made to fellow rabbis some years ago to limit his contacts with young men and youths."

<snip>

"Elon's father sat on Israel's supreme court and one brother was a cabinet minister. The leftish Haaretz newspaper called the Elons "the Kennedys of the religious Zionist camp."

While many of Israel's founders were secular socialists, the religious, nationalist right has a growing role, notably in settlements in occupied land Israel seized in its 1967 war with the Arabs.

Religious Zionists are distinguished from more traditional ultra-Orthodox groups which tend not to share the same focused commitment to building up Israel's state power and territory.

Mordechai Elon was an outspoken critic of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's move in 2005 to pull settlers and troops out of the Gaza Strip and was once spoken of as a future chief rabbi. But he has had a much lower public profile in the years since."

http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre61i3kx-us-israel-rabbi/

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[LeftishBrit]

2. Not exactly confined to Israeli society....

plenty of religious nuts and settlers/occupiers to go round, and IIRC Catholic schools and orphanages had a little trouble with paedophiles.

[LeftishBrit]

3. He sounds revolting

What is it about religious righties who have their own TV shows?

ETA: that last rather flippant comment seems to be more relevant than I thought. I just looked up this man and his horrible brother, Benny Elon, a National Union party politician, and found that Wikipedia said of the politician:


'Elon maintains close contacts with the Christian right, including Christian radio personality Janet Parshall, Gary Bauer of the American Values lobby, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, the Christian Coalition of America, Pat Robertson and others.'

Yeeeearrrrrgggggghhhhhhhhh!!!!