Another article from Mishpat Sheker on Zalman Cohen's trial

https://mishpatsheker.com/2016/02/17/%D7%99%D7%A6%D7%97%D7%A7-%D7%A2%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%AA-%D7%91%D7%99%D7%94%D7%9E%D7%A9-%D7%A2%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%95%D7%9F-%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%A2-%D7%91%D7%A4%D7%A8%D7%A9%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%A4%D7%93%D7%95/

press reload when it doesn't come up  the first time.

So why did the honorable judges convict two people

I have already gone over in other articles on this site the total absurdity of the claims made by the children of Nachlaot.   So the question remains, how is it that Zalman Cohen and Binyamin Satz were convicted with these claims that any thinking person would see as total nonsense fabricated in the minds of young children?  Why would the honorable judges overlook common sense and use the testimonies of these children to convict two most likely innocent men?

In both these cases, the judges decided that the children's testimonies were not significantly
"contaminated" by outside factors (such as neighborhood gossip, inquisitions by parents, etc.).  In contrast, in the case of Ben Tzion Pre Mishlano, the judges determined that Ben Tzion had been gossiped about before his arrest, and therefore they could not believe that the children's testimonies were true beyond a reasonable shadow of a doubt.  The judges used their own minds to analyze those testimonies -- and saw that the testimonies contained impossibilities and inconsistencies.  Therefore, they could not in good conscience convict Ben Tzion Pre Mishlano beyond a reasonable shadow of a doubt.

Why didn't they make the same reasonable conclusion in the cases of Binyamin Satz and Zalman Cohen?

In the case of Binyamin Satz, since the accusations against him were the first to become part of the public gossip in Nachlaot, the judges incorrectly assumed that there had not been much gossip about Binyamin Satz when he was first accused, and that the majority of gossip occurred way after that.  Therefore, they concluded  (incorrectly) that accusations against Binyamin Satz must have been uninfluenced by gossip, parental pressure, or any other external factors.  And therefore, the accusations must be true, because how or why would any child make up such ridiculous stories?

But let's analyze the Binyamin Satz case to see if it's really true that gossip did not play any role in it.

The first accusation against Binyamin Satz came from a child who insisted that he was NOT molested by Binyamin Satz, but rather, by a stranger without a Kippah who was passing through the neighborhood.  (Eventually that accusation was thrown out by the judges in his initial trial because there was no reason to assume that Binyamin Satz had done anything to that child.)  Whether or not there was gossip about Binyamin Satz prior to the time of the first accusation can be debated, but there is no doubt that immediately after the initial accusation, some ladies went around the neighborhood looking for other children to accuse him of acts of molestation.  ALL THE SUBSEQUENT ACCUSATIONS AGAINS BINYAMIN SATZ WERE A RESULT OF THIS PARENTAL ACTIVISM AND PRESSURE.  The judges in both the first trial and the appeal are correct that gossip continued to escalate much more so as time went on, but discount the reality that after the very first accusation EVERYTHING was contaminated by gossip in the whole "Parshat Nachlaot" -- including all the accusations against Binyamin Satz which were made after the first, initial accusation (which had been thrown out).

The trial and appeal of Zalman Cohen were somewhat different.   No one can deny that by the time that Zalman Cohen was arrested, considerable gossip and contamination of testimony had already occurred throughout the neighborhood.  The prosecution acknowledged that there was considerable gossip and contamination of the neighborhood children's testimony. What the prosecution tried to claim was that the particular children that were chosen to testify against Zalman Cohen in his trial, were for one reason or another not influenced by this contamination.  The "proof" that their testimony must be real and not contaminated was that they relied on an expert analysis of testimony know as "C.B.C.A.", which stands for "Criterion Based Content Analysis".  By means of the C.B.C.A., the child investigators decided that all the children's testimony must be true, and therefore the judges accepted that the children's testimony was true as well.  But what exactly is C.B.C.A., and is a decision based on C.B.C.A. valid?  C.B.C.A. is a discipline which has changed and developed over time.  The basic idea is that testimony is analyzed for a number of criteria, such as richness of detail, length of the testimony, consistency of the testimony, etc. In a nutshell, according to C.B.C.A,  the more details the testimony contains, the more likely it is to be true, provided that the details are consistent.  There have been many scholarly articles written about this technique, and the extent to which it can be considered valid.  (It does not appear that the judges in Zalman Cohen's case  have read any of those articles. Nor does it appear that any of the lawyers for either the defense or prosecution have read them either.) C.B.C.A. is a fairly good (though not perfect) technique for distinguishing between adult testimony which is truthful and adult testimony which is intentionally fabricated.  However, it is NOT that effective for ascertaining the validity of children's testimony, and the younger the children are, the less effective it is.  Furthermore, it is not effective for distinguishing between testimony of events that a person actually experienced versus events that a person only imagines they must have experienced (such as when an adult has been treated with suggestive therapeutic techniques).  This can be problematic at any age, but especially in young children who are very suggestible.  Yet, the judges seemed to be unaware of the fallibility of C.B.C.A., and therefore they relied on what the child investigators said about the children's testimony.  They also did not question the prosecution's assertion that these particular children had somehow not been exposed to the neighborhood gossip or parental pressure.  Nevertheless, for whatever reason, in spite of all that, the judges in Zalman's appeal decided to throw out one of the children's testimonies. That particular child's testimony was amazingly repetitive and ridiculous.  But according to the child investigators, the C.B.C.A. for that child's testimony showed that it was just as valid as any of the other children's testimonials.  So why did the judges have the good sense to dismiss that one child's testimony, but not dismiss the other children's testimonies? I think there was an overall bias to "believe the children",  just as there was back in the U.S. in the 1980s when the ritual child abuse accusations became an epidemic in daycare centers such as "McMartin".

It seems that the judges (as well as the lawyers) in Israel are totally unknowledgeable about the McMartin case and others like it.  If they had known anything about the ritual child abuse accusations in the U.S. during the 1980s, they would have realized that the Nachlaot accusations (and the subsequent spreading of similar accusations to other locations such as Sanhedria)  are just the Israeli version of the same thing.

It's a shame that men who are likely to be innocent are now serving  long jail sentences.  Those in power in the legal system of Israel should be knowledgeable enough to: 1) learn from the history of similar events in other countries (such as the McMartin trial), and 2) read the literature about "expert techniques" (such as C.B.C.A.) which are presented in court and become truly knowledgeable about whatever is relevant to making a well-informed, just, and correct decision.

  



 

Spotlight on Nachlaot

A new movie came out called Spotlight.  The movie is about how the Boston Globe did an investigative report on the child abuse taking place in the Catholic Church.  This article was the turning point that in turn exposed the systemic cover up the Church was able to get away with until it was exposed by this investigative article.
In the interviews that the Boston Globe did with victims, the reporters made it very clear that specific information should be given and that it shouldn't be vague.  i.e., it should be stated exactly what the molestation was without glossing it over with generic language.   By being specific, the article was able to convey the seriousness of the allegations and resulted in the Church not being able to keep it hidden any longer. 
In the case of Nachlaot, the newspapers made many claims of the terrible things that were supposedly done to the children in Nachlaot.  For example the Jerusalem Post titled one article

‘He masterminded systematic rape of over 100 kids'

The article goes on to use terms like holocaust and horrific abuse and making claims of doctors seeing strange marks on the children:


'Then community doctors started seeing strange marks, possibly indicative of abuse, on many of the children. Finally, one young boy was injured in a way that was unmistakably sexual abuse. He was the one who finally broke the silence, and talked about the horrific abuse happening in the neighborhood.'


The article continues to claim how this is the biggest case of pedophilia in Israel ever and gives it official sanction as such:


'In July 2011, the community went to the police and began making complaints. Almost immediately, the police understood they were dealing with one of the largest pedophile abuse scandals in the country’s history.'


There are several problems with this article.  One is that it makes claims that are simply not backed up with any hard facts. Two is that it insinuates terrible abuse has taken place also without any hard evidence to back it up.  Without seeing the court documents, we are left to our imagination as to what terrible atrocities were supposedly committed against the children of Nachlaot. 




One example of claims made that is not corroborated with any court evidence is that the doctors of the neighborhood saw strange marks on the children.  Surprisingly, these 'doctors' did not come forward to testify as there is no court document to attest to this claim. 


As far as terrible rape and abuse, this is also not substantiated with court evidence.  In fact, the claims are so childish and ridiculous that anyone who thinks that these children's testimonies were real needs his head examined.   Suffice to say that what is described by the children lacks any sexual content to it.  There is no oral sex, penetration or masturbation.  


So what is this horrific abuse and 'Rape' that supposedly took place in Nachlaot that two people went to jail for?     


Watching 'immodest' movies that show women dressed only in bathing suits, with Zalman handing out candies in the nude with only his shoes on.  Watching while Binyamin told the girls to open and close their legs. (Yes these are really testimonies that Zalman was sent to jail for!) Pairing up many children together and having the boy lay on top of the girl naked.    Touching the child's penis and having the child touch his penis. (again no mention of sperm,  or anything actually sexual)


And yet, people were sentenced to 15 and 9 years for these children's tales.  Total craziness. 

The Baal Shem Tov and Nachlaot

There is a story about the Baal Shem Tov.  He was travelling in a wagon and passed a church and noticed that the wagon driver who was not Jewish did not show respect as he should have if he was a devout Christian.   The Baal Shem Tov promptly got off the wagon and walked the rest of the way to where he was going.  When his Shamash asked him why he suddenly got off the wagon and preferred to walk, the Baal Shem Tov answered that once he saw that the wagon driver did not follow his faith, he no longer trusted him in other matters either.  


I felt this was an apropos story to hear right before I received a letter from a prospective business possibility.  In the letter was a religious greeting in the first line and I thought oh, this is a person I can trust. 


One of the people being accused as a missionary argued that the accusations that Christians would molest children in order to convert them to Christianity is ridiculous.  Any devout Christian that would be interested in converting a Jew to what they believe is the true faith would obviously be religious.  Any religious Christian does not believe in sex before marriage and therefore, it is ridiculous to think that they will molest children in order to convert them to Christianity.


Basically what we have here is a blood libel in reverse.  Instead of someone accusing the Jews of killing a Christian child for the purpose of using the blood in order to bake Matzot, we have accusations that the Christians are molesting (killing their pure Souls) of Jewish children for the purpose of converting them to Christianity.  Interesting how the masses are so willing to believe in these stories.  In both cases we see a case of extreme xenophobia. 


Xenophobia is the fear of that which is perceived to be foreign or strange.^[1][2] Xenophobia can manifest itself in many ways involving the relations and perceptions of an ingroup towards an outgroup, including a fear of losing identity, suspicion of its activities, aggression, and desire to eliminate its presence to secure a presumed purity

How a Moral Panic spreads now days

http://www.imamother.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=277456&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=300

How does a Moral Panic spread now days?

This Site is a site for Religious mothers.  What is amazing is that on this thread alone there are over 85000 views and over 800 comments!  There are also other threads on this site on the same subject. 

Of course the question arises whether this site helps to spread useful information or is part of the problem and helps to create and spread a Moral Panic.  (This thread was closed by the administrator on page 41 because she thought it was doing more harm than good. " I am locking the thread until I can post some information. Keeping the discussion going at this point is not helpful until there is real information given. The panic is causing more harm than good.")
 
 We see that what was going on in Nachlaot and Sanhedria Murchevet  has metamorphosed into a classic case of child daycare center abuse (Israeli Style). 
Some of the results have been;


1.  Several or possibly many English speaking families have moved away from Israel back to their respective country because they either thought their child was molested or they were fearful that they would be molested.


2.  At least one Gan (kindergarten) was closed due to mothers pulling their children out of the Gan.


3.  Many Gans are considered unsafe with reports of abuse going on in the gans or of the people working in the Gans being bribed or complicit in some way or another. 

An article from an Israeli site Mishpat Sheker on the trial of Binyamin Satz

I came across this article on a site called MishpatSheker (roughly translated - a court case of lies).
The article claims that the trial for Binyamin Satz was a trial of wrong judgment and outcome.  One point that was brought out that I missed was that fact that Binyamin was found guilty for threatening the children if they told.  This was the very same thing that was done to him by the police interrogators. They threatened him and his family if he would not confess.  In fact, this confession was thrown out of the courts because of the EXTREME methods that were used to coerce the confession. 


The author of this article writes very eloquently and is right on target with her perceptions how she views some of the testimonies and why she thinks that an innocent man was put in jail.    Following is a link to the article.


http://mishpatsheker.com/tag/%D7%A2%D7%A4-458313-%D7%A1%D7%A5-%D7%91%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%9F-%D7%A0-%D7%9E%D7%93%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%AA-%D7%99%D7%A9%D7%A8%D7%90%D7%9C/
פורסם ב-13 באוקטובר 2015 מאת אילנה סתיו

השופט אורי שהם מוכן להאמין לכל סיפור, הזוי ככל שיהיה והעיקר להרשיע גברים. לא משנה אפילו מה. לפנינו סיפור הזוי על פדופיל שהסתובב בשכונת נחלאות ופגע מינית בעשרות ילדים. הוא הורשע במחוזי ולקח את אביגדור פלדמן. פלדמן הצליח לייצר לעצמו הילה על מומחה בעבירות מין, עו"ד תותח, אבל כל הפליליסטים יודעים שהוא מזמן איבד את ההילה שלו, לא מתכונן לחקירות, מסתמך על זוטרים במשרד שלו, שהוא משלם להם גרושים, ומגיע לבית המשפט מעורפל ומעופף. כך נראה גם הערעור הזה. זהו ערעור שבו פלדמן היה צריך לזכות. אבל הוא הפסיד כי הוא מזמן כבר איבד את הזוהר שלו, ולא מתכונן למשפט. השופטים איבדו את הסבלנות לחוכמולוגיה שלו, וככה זה נראה. אדם חף מפשע ייכנס עכשיו לכלא.

אחרי שהפרקליטות עשתה חגיגה גדולה בתקשורת, מסתבר שגם התיק הזה הוא פלופ. איפה כל עשרות הילדים שנפגעו אם מביאים לבית משפט אישום על 2 ילדים, וגם לגבי ילד אחד הוא מזוכה, ונשאר רק ילד אחד, וגם הסיפור של הילד הזה נשמע הזוי לגמרי. הסיפורים, אנחנו חייבים להודות נשמעים מצוצים מהאצבע, או מהתחת:

"במהלך השנים 2010-2009, נהג ש' לבקר בבית המערער. במהלך ביקוריו, הורה המערער ל-ש' ולחבריו, ילדים דתיים שהגיעו עימו, להדליק אור בשבת, ובעת שחילק להם עוגיות אמר להם, כי מי שיברך ברכת המזון לא יקבל עוגיה. כן הוא אמר להם כי כל ילד האומר דברי גסויות יש לשבחו. במהלך ביקוריו של ש', הציג בפניו המערער סרטים פורנוגרפיים. בנוסף, הפשיט המערער את ש' מבגדיו, והכה אותו באמצעות מקל, פעמים רבות. לאחר מכן הזהיר המערער את ש', לבל יספר על מעשיו להוריו.  

בסוף שנת 2010 או בסמוך לכך, הגיעו ש' ו-ד' לבית המערער, יחד עם ילדים נוספים. המערער הורה ל-ש', ד' ולחבריהם לעמוד על המיטה ולאחוז באצבעותיו על מנת לבדוק את שיווי משקלם. לאחר מכן, אמר לילדים להתפשט מבגדיהם והתפשט אף הוא. בהמשך, התבקשו ש', ויתר הילדים, להחדיר מקל דק לפי הטבעת של המערער, וללקק את המקל, בצד שהוחדר לפי הטבעת, והילדים פעלו בהתאם לכך. עוד ביקש המערער מהילדים לגלגל ניירות "טישו" ולהצמידם לאיבר מינו. לאחר מכן, נגע המערער באיברי מינם של הילדים. במהלך האירוע המתואר, החדיר המערער מקל לפי הטבעת של ש' 3-2 פעמים, תוך שהוא מכאיב לו, ולאחר מכן ליקק המערער את המקל. בנוסף, החדיר המערער מקל שקצהו חד, לפי הטבעת של ד', תוך שהוא מכאיב לו וגורם לו לבכות. על פי המתואר באישום השני, המערער הורה לשני מבוגרים נוספים שנכחו במקום באותו אירוע, להסריט את ש' וחבריו, בעודם עירומים. אותם אנשים צפו בילדים, בעת שהחדיר המערער מקלות לפי הטבעת שלהם. בתום האירוע, אמר המערער ל-ד' כי אם יגלה את שעשה, ישרוף את ביתו ויהרוג אותו, תוך שהוא מאיים עליו באמצעות רובה צעצוע וגפרורים".

סורי. מצטערים. שום דבר פה לא נשמע אמין. זה נשמע כמו קשקושים של ילדים שמבוגרים אמרו להם מה להגיד.

לגבי החקירה, ראו איך השופט המטורלל מתאר חקירה בישראל:

"בפתח הכרעת הדין, נדונה שאלת קבילותה של אחת מההודאות שמסר המערער בחקירתו (ת/37), ואשר נגעה למעשיו כלפי הקטין י'ק'. הודאה זו, כך טען המערער, נגבתה ממנו באמצעים פסולים, תוך הפחדה והפעלת איומים קשים, מצד החוקרת המשטרתית.

בית משפט קמא ערך משפט זוטא בעניין אותה הודאה, וקבע כי המערער עמד בנטל לעורר ספק, בדבר שימוש באמצעים פסולים בחקירתו. הצטברות אמצעים אלו, כך נקבע, משקפת פגיעה משמעותית באוטונומית הרצון החופשי ובחופש הבחירה של המערער בשלב מסירת הודאתו, במידה המצדיקה את פסילתה, בהתאם לסעיף 12 לפקודת הראיות [נוסח החדש], התשל"א-1971 (להלן: פקודת הראיות), ועל פי פרשנותו של הסעיף במסגרת ע"פ 5121/98 יששכרוב נ' התובע הצבאי הראשי, פ"ד סא(1) 461 (2006).  עקב פסילת ההודאה, שעסקה במעשיו של המערער בקטין י'ק', קבע בית משפט קמא, כי יש לזכות את המערער מעבירות מעשה הסדום והמעשים המגונים שיוחסו לו בנוגע לקטין זה. בית משפט קמא הוסיף וקבע, כי אף אלמלא פסילת הודאת המערער, לא ניתן היה להרשיעו בעבירות המיוחסות לו, כלפי אותו קטין".

כלומר השופט מתאר סחיטת הודיות ע"י חוקרת משטרתית באלימות ואיומים קשים, עד כדי כך שההודייה נפסלה, והשופט שהם מתייחס לכך בשווין נפש כאילו כלום לא קרה. הוא אפילו לא נוקב בשמה של השוטרת האלימה! השופט שהם פשוט הגיע למצב של התקרנפות מוסרית ברמה כזו שאפילו אם יגידו לו שהשוטרת חיברה את הזין של הנאשם לאלקטרודה חשמלית, גם אז זה לא ידגדג לו את הביצה. מחריד!

The verdict for the appeal of Binyamin Satz and where the judges are incorrect in their conclusions

Binyamin Satz was the first person to be accused of pedophilia by parents in Nachlaot.  In fact he was accused over half a year before other people started to be accused.  I am not writing to say whether I think he was guilty or not of said accusations.  I really don't know (though the more I read the court document the more I am swayed to say he is probably innocent).  

 I do think a great injustice was done.  Firstly, even according to the way the justice system works in Israel, the judges should have found the evidence to be contaminated.  Beyond this, I think that he should never have been tried as an adult.  That the courts found him worthy to be tried this way is puzzling. What is even more puzzling is that the court system would find that anyone could actually have sexual gratification (one of the criteria for him to be guilty) from what the accused is accused of.   Lastly, even if he is guilty of said accusations, this would only show that he only had the sexual emotional maturity of a seven year old. 

Recently, the verdict for the appeal for Binyamin Satz was given.  The honorable judges upheld the original verdict for 15 years incarceration.  One of the main reasons given to uphold the original verdict was that, although there was clear evidence that the child B.M. later fabricated testimony, (he claimed that his mother reminded him of other details that he did not mention in his original testimony) the original testimony was reliable because at that point, there was no contamination of the children's testimony and therefore whatever the child claimed must be true. 

But was there no 'contamination' also early on in the case?  As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts in the chronological series of events, two women went door to door looking for other victims to testify against Binyamin.  This took place in late 2010 and early 2011 well before there were mass accusations in the summer of 2011.  I would say that there was quite a bit of pressure put on various parents whose children were known to have visited Binyamin to testify against him.

Here are one parent's words about that early period of time which the judges considered to be free of contamination:
"Immediately when the initial charge against Binyamin Satz was made, the whole neighborhood was gossiping about it.  All the kids and adults knew about it.  After the K*** boy incident, C. C. (and some other mothers) were going around the neighborhood trying to get as many parents as possible to get their children to testify against Binyamin Satz. I know that from first hand information, because beginning around November 2010, C.C. came to me and repeatedly told me to ask my son if he had ever been molested by Binyamin Satz. She said that it was very important for my son to testify since he was older than the other children, and his testimony would therefore carry more weight.  My son had been in Binyamin Satz's apartment a number of times when he was about 8 or 9 years old, because he enjoyed using Binyamin Satz's lamination machine and was trying to help Binyamin Satz get customers for his lamination business.  C.C. was sure my son had been molested because she said everyone in the neighborhood knew that my son had been in Binyamin Satz's apartment many times, and therefore he must have been molested.  I asked my son repeatedly if Binyamin Satz had molested him, and he said Binyamin Satz had never molested him.  The initial accusations against Binyamin Satz came out (around October - November 2010)  At that time, I did not question whether the other accusations against Binyamin Satz were valid or not.  C.C. continued to come to ask me to have my son testify against Binyamin Satz, at least until the spring of 2011 and possibly until the early summer 2011. "

What should also  be noted here is that  the first child to claim that he was molested (the K*** boy incident) was adamant that it was not Binyamin Satz that bit him on the penis, but someone that he did not know who bit him when he was on his way home from Binyamin's apt.  It was his mother who was adamant that it was Binyamin Satz who bit here son.  As a result, the judges threw out this child's testimony. 

Another point to be noted is that there were over 50 children that were interrogated  and yet only four of those children's testimony were  used by the prosecution.  If the honorable judges would have looked at all those cases and seen how much overlap and contamination there really was, perhaps they would have come to a different conclusion, as was reached in the case of Ben Tzion P. in which case the judges did look and as a result Ben Tzion was aquitted.   

In conclusion, Binaymin had four children's testimonies used against him.  The first and main testimony was thrown out because the child never claimed in the first place that it was Binyamin that bit him  but it was clearly the mother who was claiming that it was Binyamin.
The second child had half his testimony thrown out because when he was asked why he didn't make the same  claims when  he made his first testimony, he said that his mother reminded him and then he 'remembered'.

Clearly, it seems to me that there was quite a bit of pressure on children to testify.  They may not have been specifically told what to say in all cases, but certainly there was quite a bit of pressure put on the child to say something, as in the case of S. who testified against Zalman C.  S was questioned by her mother so intensely that she passed out.  It wasn't until a couple of weeks later that she 'remembered' that she was molested and had a detailed story of being molested by all three people who were indicted, with almost exactly the same story being told regarding each of those three people, going from one person's apartment to the next and having almost exactly the same things done to her by each of them.  The honorable judge in the case of Zalman C. also did not seem to think that the intense pressure put on the child by the mother should have been considered into the verdict.  (What went unnoticed by the judge in the case of Zalman C. was that any mother that would question her child until she passed out IS a clear case of child abuse!)  It should be no surprise that the mother of S was the same mother mentioned above that went door to door looking for other mothers to testify against Binyamin Satz.

So it seems to me that what needs to be looked at is the promptings of the two mothers that went door to door and the encouragement of the mothers of these children who were so adamant that their children were molested and the rampant gossip that was going on at the time of the accusations. 

So is Binyamin guilty as charged?  Being that the original accusation was thrown out and that all  the subsequent accusations came as a result of certain mothers canvassing the neighborhood informing other mothers that their children were almost certainly molested if they were ever in Binyamin's apt., and the fact that all the children in the neighborhood were speaking about what they heard, I find it highly unlikely that any of the children's testimony was not contaminated and therefore, Binyamin Satz should have been aquitted on that fact alone. 








 




 

How this article in the Israeli Press is relevent to the False Accusations in Nachalaot

The following article http://news.walla.co.il/item/2833467 was written in the Israel Press on February 28, 2015. I am not at all familiar with this particular case, however it is interesting what the article says in relation to the False Accusations that occurred in Nachlaot between 2011 and 2012. This is the last paragraph of said article:

מעשיו לכאורה של ביטון אינם הראשונים שחושפים חוקרי מרחב ציון במשטרת ירושלים בשכונת נחלאות. בשלהי שנת 2011 העבירו למשטרה מספר רב של תושבים בשכונה שמות של 25 גברים ונשים שביצעו לטענתם מעשי אונס, מעשי סדום ומעשים מגונים. שלושה מהם אף נעצרו, אולם רק אחד הורשע בפועל בביצוע מעשי סדום. במשטרה מעידים כי הסיבה שקשה להרשיע על סמך הראיות היא דווקא עודף עדויות ותוכנן. "ההורים התערבו באותן העדויות וזה גרם לכך שכשהילדים מספרים על המעשים, משפטית העדויות הופכות למזוהמות", טענו.

What is disturbing about this article is the narrative that insinuates that the only reason that 22 out of the 25 men and women on the list of the accused pedophiles were not even indicted, and of the three who were indicted, only one was found guilty, was because the evidence was contaminated by the parents. This is a narrative that believes in the existence of a Nachlaot Pedophile Ring. There is no mention here of the possibility of another narrative -- namely, that what occurred in Nachlaot was a case of false accusations, mass hysteria and moral panic. What is especially disturbing about this is that this is said in the name of the police as the official version.

It is higly unlikely that this is really the official version of those police officers who were actually involved directly in the case for a number of reasons, including the following:
1) The article states there were 25 people on the list of accused pedophiles in Nachlaot. Actually, over a period of several months, there were continual additions of names to the list of the accused pedophiles in Nachlaot, with the number of accused by 2012 being approximately 60.
2) The article states that only three of the accused people were arrested. Actually, more than three of the accused people were arrested, though only three were indicted.
3) The article states that only one of the three accused people was convicted. As of the date of this article (February, 2015), two of those three people had actually been convicted and one had been acquitted.

Any police officer who was actually knowledgeable about the accusations in 2011 should have been aware of those objective facts.

This article also ignores the investigative report that was published in the Tablet Magazine http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/117839/panic-in-jerusalem that strongly suggests that what occurred in Nachloat was a case of Moral Panic similar to the cases of Satanic Ritual Abuse in the United States in Day Care Centers in the 1980s.

Also ignored is the acquittal of one of the accused.

Also not mentioned is the fact that the parents who are making the accusations truly believe that the whole basis of the so called Nachlaot Pedophile Ring is to convert children to Christianity by molesting and brainwashing them. But this fact tends not to be mentioned by the prosecution ,police or most media outlets that are espousing the narrative of a Nachlaot Pedophile Ring, because this drastically reduces the credibility of the parents who are making these accusations.

A few questions for Jewishmom.com

For the past three and a half years, you have been one of the most vocal "bloggers" that  has been informing the world that there is a Pedophile ring operating in Nachlaot.   I notice that you are still actively involved in writing about this subject.   I am writing this letter on my blog for the world to see because you neither had the decency to speak with me when I was falsely accused three and a  half years ago and sought out your help, nor to answer any of my or my wife's comments or letters, so that we long ago gave up on writing to you.  I have tried to maintain this site as a factual source of  information, and your ongoing rantings and ravings of pedophiles everywhere has pushed me to question why your views are so biased.   Not only have your ranting and ravings added to solidify the narrative of a Pedophile Ring in Nachlaot.  They have also added to support the hysteria that is currently going on in Sanhedria Murchevet and other areas of Jerusalem.  It is a sorry state of affairs when a popular blogger claims as fact things that she only surmises as speculation.  In your own words you said in one of your comments,  "I, for example, would find it helpful to know if some of the people accused of being pedophiles have criminal records as sex offenders in order to confirm the suspicion about them."  
Perhaps it is time to do a reality check and question to yourself whether your world view has not been tainted as a child and as a result you see pedophiles everywhere.    Another quote from your blog. "Secondly, we are staying because my mom is a psychiatrist who has spent several decades treating victims of sexual abuse as well as numerous pedophiles, and she has adamantly told me again and again that we should definitely not leave Nachlaot. "Jenny, believe me, there are perverts EVERYWHERE. At least now, in Nachlaot, you know who they are, more or less."  http://jewishmom.com/2012/06/06/pedophile-patience/



In one of your latest articles http://jewishmom.com/2015/03/23/only-11-days-to-go/ you stated:
"History repeats itself as a child abuse ring targets large numbers of children in Jerusalem’s Sanhedria neighborhood(Read Sandhedria Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Yitzchak Berkowitz SHLITA’s comments on this horrific case here."    The link that you gave pointed to a transcript of a speech by Rabbi Yitzchak Berkowitz that had been posted by the Daat Torah website.

Did you fail to read the article on the Daat Torah website that this transcript came with, which strongly questions the reliability of these claims by Rabbi Berkowitz?  Or did you conveniently leave out that fact to strengthen your narrative of the existence of a Pedophile Ring operating in Nachlaot?





You claim to maintain a site for sources as to what is going on in Nachlaot.  Yet you leave out one of the main articles that was written about this subject, which questions the existence of a pedophile ring in Nachlaot.  http://tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/117839/panic-in-jerusalem  Was this a simple oversight on your part or did this article veer too far from your comfort zone of what you believe is truth and therefore you did not even mention it?



You claim that many of your neighbors are pedophiles.  Did you ever consider that they may be innocent and are upset with you because you are falsely accusing them?  Could you empathize with them if they are being falsely accused or do you believe that any time you hear someone is a pedophile, you immediately accept that as truth?



You are a talented and inspiring blogger who has a large following.   This should come with a degree of responsibility.  Isn't it about time you at least start to acknowledge that there is another side to this story?
Perhaps you should read the newest piece on Nachlaot and Sanhedria written in the Tablet to help broaden your perspective or even better, post this piece on your site and start an informative discussion on this topic.  You might actually even save lives by doing so. 
http://tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/190311/open-letter-community-in-pain#comments





 

Latest article in the Tablet

Following is a link to the latest article on Sanhedria Murchevet and the continuing mass hysteria that is going on in Jerusalem. 
http://tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/190311/open-letter-community-in-pain#comments