Leiby Kletsky – Shaya Lichtenstein, Forever Linked by Murder

“Thou Shalt Not Kill” – Each and Every Member of the Shomrim The Night that Kletzky Disappeared is Complicit in His Brutal Murder and Subsequent Dismemberment

 

פיקוח נפש

The Saving of One’s Life

“The preservation of human life takes precedence over all the other commandments in Judaism. The Talmud emphasizes this principle by citing the verse from Leviticus [18:5]: “You shall therefore keep my statutes…which if a man do, he shall live by them.” The rabbis add: “That he shall live by them, and not that he shall die by them.” (Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 85b)”

http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/saving-a-life-pikuach-nefesh/

The case of Leiby Kletzky (zl.) is one that has haunted many of us for years. He is the victim of a system that prides itself on secrecy beyond all else. That system cares not for the safety of its children, the sexual abuses,  the deplorable conditions in which many children learn, the abuses of women who want a divorce from their husbands and so many other things, because such things are trumped by the obsessive need for secrecy. There is a measure of hypocrisy in a system of beliefs that can set aside the life of a child to protect a community’s secrets. There is a measure of complacence and even complicity. 

Leiby Kletzky (zl.) is also the victim of a system built upon a foundation of corruption, a corruption that runs so deep it is like the blood flowing through the veins of a community that seems to know nothing different. The Shomrim are supposed to be the “protectors” from the Hebrew root Shin Mem Resh – Shmer – protection or Shomer protector. A Shomer Rosh is a body guard. Lshmor is to protect. In the Leiby Kletzky case, the Shomrim did not protect Kletzky but rather destroyed him. Kletzky’s face is the portrait of a boy whose life was a tool within the greater passing around of the spoils of corruption and high finance that pervade Borough Park, CB12 and the NYPD responsible for that precinct. May that beautiful, special and innocent child be forever a lesson to the community of Borough Park, the devout Jews who follow the Torah not necessarily in letter but in spirit; and a lesson to those Jews who call themselves devout but who bastardize the tenets of Judaism for their own personal gain. Leiby Kletzky flies in the face of the spirit of G-d’s laws and represents the perversion some have made of it.

In the case of Leiby Kletzky (zl.), a young boy who had a whole life to live, suffering a brutal death was at the hands of his community, each and every person who refused to get the civil police department involved, who refused to report the situation and perhaps get more hands on deck. His parents are victims also. They must live a life forever altered by the death of a child. Parents are not supposed to outlive their children. To them we offer our unending condolences, our everlasting hope for peace of mind and spirit.

For Leiby Kletzky (zl.) we hope one day to be a part of a vindication we believe you so desperately deserve. You deserved better from your insular community. You deserved to live a long and happy life. We hope to ensure that those who have been prey to the wrongs of your community also get the vindication they deserve: the children who are abused, the children who study in deplorable conditions,  the children who are denied an education that might offer them choices, the parents who are often denied their children in rigged custody battles, the elderly who suffer abuse at the hands of unscrupulous nursing home owners drugged by dollar signs ringing through their heads. May you know, may they know, that we are trying to make a better world.

EXCLUSIVE: Brooklyn security patrol, organized by man indicted in NYPD gun permit scandal, delayed in notifying cops of boy’s 2011 kidnapping

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/security-patrol-delayed-notifying-nypd-boy-kidnapping-article-1.2662714

In the hours after 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky disappeared in Borough Park, Brooklyn, a key figure in the heavily Jewish neighborhood’s security patrol coordinated the effort to find him.

Shaya Lichtenstein, 44, wrangled some 2,000 civilian volunteers as a member of the Borough Park Shomrim in a desperate attempt to locate Leiby, who was kidnapped as he walked home from a day camp on July 11, 2011.

He was found dismembered two days later, and Levi Aron was charged with his murder.

After Leiby’s family reported him missing, the Shomrim did not notify the NYPD for three hours. Despite the tensions stemming from that delay, the long-cozy relationship between members of the Orthodox community, including the Shomrim, and the NYPD remained intact.

Another NYPD high-ranking cop punished in corruption probe

Lichtenstein was indicted in April on allegations that he bribed police officers to obtain gun permits for clients who paid as much as $18,000 for his services. He was able to get permits within a few weeks, when it usually takes more than a year.

Borough Park Shomrim bypassed the NYPD for three hours as they searched for Leiby Kletzky, who was found dismembered two days later.

In some instances, Lichtenstein paid off the cops in the very offices of the gun licensing division with thousands of dollars hidden in copies of the newspaper, a source familiar with the case said.

“That’s partly how it was done, right in their faces,” the source said.

The NYPD declined to comment.

Lichtenstein’s ties with ranking police officials extended well beyond his close relationship with cops in the gun licensing unit, sources said. He parlayed that access into the ability to do favors for members of the Jewish community.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/security-patrol-delayed-notifying-nypd-boy-kidnapping-article-1.2662714

Tikun Olam Reports – Sex Abuse and the Abusers who flee to Israel

Small World lyre & bird

TIKUN OLAM – 

About

“The day is short, the task is great, the master is insistent. It is not your duty to complete the task, but neither are you free to desist from it….”
—Pirkei Avot, 2:21

 

 

I’ve been writing Tikun Olam, one of the earliest progressive Jewish blogs, since February, 2003. It focuses on exposing the excesses of the Israeli national security state.

I wrote a chapter for the Independent Jewish Voices essay collection, A Time to Speak Out (Verso) and will contribute a chapter to the upcoming, Israel and Palestine: Alternate Perspectives on Statehood (Rowman & Littlefield). I currently contribute regularly to Middle East Eye and Mint Press News. In the past, I’ve contributed to Truthout, Haaretz, Christian Science Monitor, Jewish Forward, Los Angeles Times, Comment Is Free and Al Jazeera English. My work has also been in the Seattle Times, American Conservative Magazine, Beliefnet and Tikkun Magazine. The NY Times featured my reporting about the Shamai Leibowitz FBI tapes on its front page.

Israel was intended to be a safe-haven for Jews of the world. By design it was a place to which Jews could return. It has become in addition to a Jewish homeland, a place of assylum  for sex abusers to flee their accusers. Richard Silverstein has taken on the task of holding the State of Israel and its judicial system accountable.  LM – June 5, 2016

 

Israeli Judicial System Miscarries Justice, Protects Accused Sex Abuser

.הבלוגרית לורי שם טוב נעצרה על שעשתה את עבודתה העיתונאית בפרשת חטיפת הילד יהודה כהן

Two particularly disturbing cases are roiling the Israeli judicial system this week. In the first, a court ruled that an Orthodox Jewish former school principal wanted on 74 counts of child sex abuse in Australia (the account of one victim is here), should be set completely free. The Australian legal system has requested her extradition from Israel, to which she had fled in the dead of night, for almost a year.

Malka Leifer, Australian Orthodox Jewish principal accused of 74 counts of sex abuse
Malka Leifer, who was the principal of the Orthodox girl’s school in Victoria, was wanted for questioning regarding the charges. But she absconded with the likely connivance of other school staff and community members. She flew to Israel where she knew she would receive immediate asylum regardless of her criminal charges. Ever since, she’s been feigning mental illness every time a Israeli court date approaches.

She’s received psychiatric evaluations during a hospital stay in which staff reported she was completely normal except when a formal review was conducted that would impact her court case. Then she donned a different disguise entirely.

In a surprise move, the Israeli court, freed her under one condition: that she undergo a six-month psychiatric evaluation process involving a single meeting every month for six months. After that, the court plans to review her status.

The State prosecutor plans to appeal this decision. The Australian government expressed mild shock at today’s decision. Though they will have to get much tougher if they expect any movement from the Israeli political-judicial system.

An Israeli lawyer noted to me that Israeli courts are loath to approve the extradition of Jews within their jurisdiction to their home countries when facing criminal charges. My guess is that it has something to do with a taboo against Jews handing other Jews over to Christian authorities. Jews traditionally have always preferred to mete out justice internally, not knowing how severe the sentence Jews might receive in a non-Jewish system. There is also a prohibition against informing on fellow Jews to the non-Jewish authorities. Of course, in the modern era all this should be considered hocus-pocus in the face of international law and judicial precedent. But apparently not in Israel, where ancient traditions remain alive.

Leifer also plays two other powerful cards. She is a woman and an Orthodox Jew. Israeli courts, in another throwback, often tend to defer to traditional Jewish belief and practice. There is a natural inclination to believe that an Orthodox Jew could not behave in such a fashion. Hence a refusal to take the charges against her seriously.

Manny Wax, himself a victim of sexual abuse at a Chabad Jewish Day School in Australia, calls the decision an outrage. He also supports the claim that Leifer’s posture was an act and that she’d getting away with the equivalent of murder.

This case comes during a period of prolonged tension in Australian-Israel relations which began with the Mossad’s exploiting Australian passports in the assassination plot against Mahmoud al-Mabouh. That led to the expulsion of the Mossad station chief in Australia. Then, the Mossad secretly arrested Australian Jewish agent, Ben Zygier. They imprisoned him in secret isolation, which in turn drove him to suicide. Israel only barely smoothed things over with a $1-million payment to Zygier’s Australian parents and Israeli wife.

It’s hard to believe that the Israeli justice system wants to return to the strained relations that characterized these past two episodes. And how can relations not be strained when Israel is harboring an accused sex offender who preyed on so many Jewish children? Is there any possible justification for this? Given that Australia is ruled by a right-wing government it’s possible it will not fight hard to get Leifer back. If so, that would be a shame. More than that, it would be almost criminal.

In the second case, Israeli family rights activist, blogger and journalist, Lory Shem Tov was arrested by Israeli police (Hebrew; an English story here) for the crime of practicing journalism. A father who kidnapped his son after finding videotapes of his wife beating the boy (Hebrew), contacted Shem Tov, hoping to interest her and Israeli media in his case. Though their names have not been widely reported, I believe it’s important to have full and open discourse on this subject. The father’s name is Roi Cohen, the mother’s name is Batya (Mizrahi) Cohen and the child’s name is Yehudah Cohen.

My hope is that a real child with a real name will engender enough sympathy within Israel for the public and child welfare advocates to rally on his behalf.

Lory Shem Tov with her two sons, who were kidnapped by her well-connected ex-husband.

The police threatened the TV news show that planned to run a story (which cancelled the segment) and arrested Lory. It searched her home and confiscated her computer. The mother’s lawyer succeeded in getting a judge to slap a gag order on the case and no Israeli media outlet can report this outrage and name the victim. The mother claimed she did so in order to “protect her son.” Which is ironic considering that the video shows her beating him. She had earlier claimed it was the father who had beat the boy. This is yet another example of a state whose judicial system embraces opacity, rather than transparency. A state which permits miscarriages of justice on a regular basis.

In court testimony (Hebrew), Lory’s lawyer elicited from police that she was not suspected of committing any crime. She had not conspired to kidnap the child nor had she helped hide the father and son. The police believed that if she was free she might “sabotage the investigation.” Note again that this is not a crime. In fact, it is a form of preventive detention. Arresting someone because you believe they may commit a crime. Except in national security or military justice cases, there is no such concept in Israeli law. Therefore, the police are violating Israeli law. But they may do so because they are the police and the court defers to them, even when they invent it. In any western democracy observing the rule of law, this is a flagrant abuse of state power. Yet in Israel a judge extends her remand in deference to State power.

The Israeli online news portal, Walla!, notes that since former Shabak deputy chief became national police chief, the police have escalated their war against journalists. Earlier, an Army Radio journalist was arrested for requesting comment for a story from a Jerusalem municipal employee, who filed a complaint for harassment. Now here I thought municipal employees were meant to serve the public, not the other way around.😏

UPDATE: In the past few minutes, Lory was released from prison. But the police have retained her computer and other personal items.

Not to mention that Lory is a journalist. Her goal is not to commit a crime or further a criminal conspiracy, but to inform the Israeli public of a great social wrong. In well-functioning societies, the role of activist and whistleblower is valued. Such societies understand that they need reformers challenging the system if it is to transform itself for the good. A society which criminalizes such behavior is one that is dysfunctional and moribund. That is, alas Israel.

Shalom Lamm, Kenneth Nakdimen, Michael Fragin and RICO Appeal

 

Mamakating fights for RICO appeal

NEW YORK — The Town of Mamakating and Village of Bloomingburg have not given up their battle to prove that developers of the 396-unit Chestnut Ridge development conspired with former village officials to illegally misrepresent plans for the housing complex.
In a federal racketeering lawsuit filed in April 2015, the two governments alleged that developers Shalom Lamm, Kenneth Nakdimen and Duane Roe, former Bloomingburg Mayor Mark Berentsen and others worked together to improperly annex land, expedite permit approvals, monopolize wastewater treatment capacity and use voter fraud to control the local government, all so Chestnut Ridge could become the future home of a large number of Hasidic families.
U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest dismissed the lawsuit in September 2015, citing an expired statute of limitations, insufficient proof of a corrupt enterprise and unrecognizable damages under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. The town appealed in December, and appeal arguments were presented Friday.

http://www.recordonline.com/article/20160603/NEWS/160609766

 

Yeshiva Students in Ramapo Endangered by Ignorance

WAITING FOR TRAGEDY – CHILDREN COULD DIE…

It may be difficult to conceptualize the state of the Yeshivas throughout Ramapo and Rockland County. They are being inspected along with other schools, but appear to have the most egregious violations. Many do not have fire-alarms, fire extinguishers and sprinkling systems are unheard of. Many have classrooms littered with trash, and garbage bins littered with everything from food leftovers to papers. In many of the buildings’ rooms there are open electrical fixtures with exposed wiring, simple fixes but also tragedies waiting to happen.

In some of the yeshivas and day-schools the bathrooms are unfit for NYC rats, no less children. Others have doorways blockaded or padlocked, potential escape routes unavailable to students in the event of a fire. There are no lit exit signs in some, dirty food-service areas in others and the list of violations goes on.

In some cases, the violations don’t necessarily mean that these buildings are going to be shuttered for good, only that the they need to be rectified, made safe, made secure and cleaned then reinspected in the future.

One would think that anyone using the words of G-d as his or her source material for daily life would want to see children educated in safe and clean environments, would want not to be putting the lives of the children at risk.

The issue of the obstacles placed to inspection is couched as anti-Semitism, an argument that inspectors are singling out Jewish organizations over others. That may be true. Some of the same buildings requiring inspection were not properly inspected in the first place and are not registered as Yeshivas. Is this a Jewish issue? In our view it has become one by virtue of circumstance. In general the parochial schools being inspected are not creating obstacles to inspection and most have valid CofO’s. Do ultra-Orthodox Jews have a habit of neglecting to acquire a CofO and proper permit? Well… yes. Again by circumstance, they do. Should they be provided an exemption by virtue of a specific covenant with G-d. Nope. Children’s lives are at risk and that needs to change.

We propose that if it were anti-Semitism in its purest form guiding the decisions to demand inspections, the anti-Semites in question would not be making significant effort to keep these children safe, they would be hoping for tragedy instead. This is about safety.

For the true anti-Semite, the bodies of Jewish children in body bags may be appealing. For those responsible for inspecting the Yeshivas in question, such a result is unacceptable. This is not anti-Semitism at work.

Perhaps it is time for the Yeshiva Machers to insist upon inspections rather than create encumbrances to them.   The word of G-d demands it.

http://www.fios1news.com/lowerhudsonvalley/rockland-exec-yeshiva-inspections#.V1Gdz-T66cH

The Law Be Damned – State Ordered Fire Safety Inspections Of Private Schools Are Being Met By Resistance.

https://www.facebook.com/preserveramapo/?fref=nf

Inspectors have been denied entry to several locations. The claim is that the inspectors are not interested in safety but are carrying out a political agenda having ulterior motives associated with County Executive Day.

Day insists that the law will be equally applied to all with special treatment to none.

It is becoming increasingly apparent that the ghettoization of Ramapo has now become confrontational to both State and County authority.

http://www.fios1news.com/…/rockland-exec-yeshiva-inspection…–

Politico on Eva’s Cancellation of Pre-K Program — Diane Ravitch’s blog

Here, in an article that is not behind a paywall, is an account of Eva Moskowitz’s first defeat in her battle with Mayor de Blasio. Success Academy has officially canceled its pre-kindergarten program for next year, after losing consecutive fights with City Hall and the State Education Department over a contract dispute. Success CEO Eva […]

via Politico on Eva’s Cancellation of Pre-K Program — Diane Ravitch’s blog

Malka Leifer Is Evading Extradition and Is Freed from House Arrest

We are re-blogging this post. We recommend that you contact http://www.protectjewishkids.com with information regarding other suspected child molesters.

FRUM FOLLIES by Yerachmiel Lopin

Malka Leifer

As police were closing in on this notorious molester of orthodox girls in Melbourne, her school board got her out of the country.

This   initiated a multi-year saga of justice denied now being played out in extradition process in Israel.

The downside of Theodore Herzl’s dream of a Jewish refuge is the sheltering of molesters who abscond justice in the diaspora.

Australia’s 9News reports:

View original post 245 more words

An Alluring Lawsuit – The Department of Health

The Department of Health Claims Ignorance, Who Should be Suing Whom?

Thanks to our contributor, June 2, 2016

Crain’s New York is reporting in a piece that actually made us laugh, that the Department of Health of the city of New York is considering legal action against the Allure Group. The DOH claims it was”mislead by the Allure Group” when Allure misrepresented its intentions for the site in a “certificate of need application.”

We can do nothing on this one but shake our collective heads and then quell the four letter obscenities that are coming to mind so as not to type those same obscenities in this blog. Perhaps the officials at the Department of Health were educated in ultra-Orthodox yeshivas where they learned no English, math or science… or ethics. They can’t really be claiming ignorance now.

From what we have reported, they should have seen this coming a mile away. In fact, one source of information told us that:

The headline on the story would be laughable were it not for the abject ignorance and complicity of the Department of Health, the Public Health and Health Planning Commission which has continued to abet phony operators whose main business it to flip properties. The list of the PHHPC’s legitimization of scoundrels and crooks is a mile long and everyone just looks the other way..

As we see it and have said it repeatedly, those who should have been paying attention  looked the other way on this deal also.

 

Controversial Lower East Side nursing home deal may lead to lawsuit

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20160602/REAL_ESTATE/160609984/controversial-lower-east-side-nursing-home-deal-may-lead-to-lawsuit

 

The state Department of Health is exploring taking legal action after it was misled by the Allure Group, a nursing home chain that recently sold the former Rivington House property and netted a $72 million profit. In response to issues raised by Manhattan politicians, a top DOH official asserted that Allure misrepresented its intentions for the site in a certificate-of-need application.

“The operator made representations of their intent to continue to operate the facility as a nonprofit nursing home. It appears that a number of these representations were misleading,” wrote DOH Deputy Commissioner Daniel Sheppard. DOH “is currently exploring all legal and other avenues available to address this situation,” he continued.

The Brooklyn for-profit nursing home operator and developer acquired the Lower East Side HIV/AIDS nursing home from the nonprofit VillageCare for $28 million before selling it to Slate Property Group, Adam America and China Vanke Co. months later. The deal is being investigated by state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, the city Department of Investigation, city Comptroller Scott Stringer and U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

Sheppard’s letter came in response to a query from four Manhattan politicians—state Sen. Daniel Squadron, Congresswoman Nydia Velasquez, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and Councilwoman Margaret Chin—who sent a letter in April seeking information from the state Department of Health on how Allure was able to close the facility.

It wasn’t the first time these politicians had fretted about the facility. In October 2014, they wrote to state Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker to express concern about a dwindling number of nursing homes for their constituents. The Cabrini Center and the Bialystoker Nursing Home, which had a combined 335 beds, had already closed in the area.

To read the complete article click here.

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