Israeli rabbi charged with sodomy
Press TV interviewes Ian Williams from Foreign Policy in Focus.An orthodox Rabbi in Israel has been charged with sodomizing a young teenage girl as Catholic pedophilia cases continue suggesting closed religious sects are dangerous.
Press TV interviewed Ian Williams from Foreign Policy in Focus about sexual abuse in closed-orthodox Judaic communities, while explaining how children are most vulnerable in these situations.
Press TV: We are now joined by Ian Williams, with Foreign Policy in Focus. He joins us on the line from New York. Mr. Williams, as always thank you for joining our broadcast. Now is it fair to connect all cases of Rabbis abusing children and make this a system wide issue or should these be treated as individual cases?
Williams: Well, the cases are clearly individual and as I saw one joke make by an individual, which said he was confused and thought he was a Catholic Priest. What we have here is religious figures with positions of authority and often belonging to sects that dispute the right of the government to interfere. The children in those communities are especially vulnerable because they are brought up to respect and obey religious figures where I think the shock is. The other common characteristic is that religious establishments like this tend to close the ranks and protect the offenders. They tell people that mentioning the offense in public is bringing the religion into question rather than highlighting the sins of the perpetrators.
Press TV: You mentioned Catholic Priests there, isn't it surprising and maybe a bit disturbing that Rabbis, who have no celibacy rules are abusing children?
Williams: It's the same point. The question here is the authority that they have. They are interested in small children, and it's assumed that they are above reproach. If such accusations were made against as secular, non-religious person, they would be investigated almost immediately. First of all, the children are very reluctant to bring the accusations. Their parents are equally reluctant more often than not because they are questioning the leaders of the religious community. And finally the police are often reluctant to investigate. It seems ironic that this comes out the week the former President of Israel [Moshe] Katsav has been found guilty of sexual molestation and rape in his own right. People with authority who think they have impunity and can carry out such activities with no consequences. I suppose the lesson is that they cannot. In the end, they will get caught.
Press TV: Mr. Williams, is Israel society breaking down from the top with political leaders like Moshe Katsav as you mentioned and religious like Rabbis shaming themselves?
Williams: Well, I think the position about the Rabbis is the growing Hassidic community, which takes everything the society has to offer in the way of subsidies, money for the Yeshiva, and yet refuses to pay taxes, and refuses to obey the secular laws of the state. This is a symptom of that and I think there are a lot of secular Israelis who agree that this is a growing problem. A lot of the deeply religious communities will not serve in the military, they won't pay taxes, they don't take part in economic life, and they have to be maintained by everybody else. It's a major problem. They do vote though and vote on order from Rabbis; moreover, they explicitly do what the Rabbis tell them and they vote for whichever party, parliament or coalition is going to deliver to them material goods more often than not. And that is controlled by the education ministry, the absorption ministry and others where they can actually spend tax payers' money. Even though as I said, they offer very little in the way of taxes themselves. That is a serious problem for the future of Israel that even die-hard Zionists are recognizing.
Press TV: We will have to leave it there for now. That was Ian Williams with Foreign Policy in Focus joining us on the line from New York. Mr. Williams as always thank you very much for your insights here at Press TV.
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