NOVANEWS
ed note–Kidnapping for ransom is a CAPITAL crime, sometimes resulting in the death penalty, and yet, these individuals are getting nothing but 5 months COMMUNITY SERVICE???
Had they been Arabs, you know the outcome would have been radically different.
ynet
The Beersheba District Court on Wednesday sentenced the four men indicted for the alleged abduction of Rabbi Nir Ben-Artzi, head of the “Talmei Geula” non-profit organization, to five months of community service each, after finding them guilty of fraudulently obtaining benefits.
The conviction was obtained as part of a plea bargain struck between the defense and the prosecution, which did not leave much of the original indictment that included multiple counts of abduction, extortion and fraud.
According to the amended indictment, the four – Shmuel Shukron, Zvi Weizmann, Shimon Katorza and Micha Petito – targeted Ben-Artzi after he began questioning their financial activities on behalf of the non-profit organization.
Their menacing of the rabbi stretched across three years, but the prosecution eventually opted to plead the case out in order to secure a conviction.
The court accepted the plea, sentencing each defendant to five months of community service and ordering each of them to pay the rabbi NIS 10,000 (roughly $2,700) in compensation
5 arrested on suspicion of holding rabbi captive for 3 years
Rabbi of non-profit organization says was ‘exiled’ to Tiberias, held there against his will; staffers say he asked to be cured from mysterious disease through solitary prayer and mortification
ynet
Five residents of the Tlamim community in southern Israel were arrested Monday on suspicion of kidnapping and extorting Rabbi Nir Ben-Artzi, head of the “Talmei Geula” non-profit organization.
The men are accused of holding the rabbi against his will in Tiberias for three years.
The National Fraud Unit’s southern district launched a covert investigation into the matter three months ago, after Rabbi Ben-Artzi had returned to his Tlamim home; during which, according to investigators, “credible” evidence was gathered.
The rabbi told police he was “exiled” from Tlamim to Tiberias by a number of “Talmei Geula” staffers as a “personal sacrifice to Israel”.
The rabbi told police that while in captivity he slept on a dirty mattress, drank only water and ate stale bread.
“I wanted to see my wife and children, but they would not release me,” he said after returning home. “Initially I thought it was all being done for the good of the Israeli nation, which is in dire straits, and that I was to pray and mortify myself for the nation. But it was unbearable.”
“Talmei Geula” workers said Rabbi Ben-Artzi was suffering from a mysterious disease and asked to be cured through solitary prayer and asceticism. They claimed to be in possession of a signed document in which the rabbi allegedly admitted to asking to be “purified” after committing “illicit acts” while serving as the organization’s rabbi.
Ben-Artzi told police he was forced to sign incriminating documents as a condition of his release.
The rabbi was a tractor driver from Gush Katif until 13 years ago, when he began to claim to have supernatural powers. He later became rabbi of the Tlamim community.
