Sunday, April 06, 2008

Jerusalem mother charged with child abuse

Jerusalem mother charged with child abuse

Indictment reveals rabbi instructed woman to 'repair' her children through 'beating, tying, burning organs and feeding them with faeces'

By Aviram Zino

YNet News

April 6, 2008

As her three-and-a-half-year-old comatose son continued to lie in his hospital bed, a Jerusalem woman was indicted Sunday by the Jerusalem District Court of abusing him and his four-and-a-half-year-old brother.

The court also indicted a family friend accused of conducting a "tikkun" (exorcism) on the children under the influence of a rabbi who fled to Canada.

Shortly after the indictment was submitted, the remand of another suspect involved in the affair was extended. The man, a acquaintance of the mother, allegedly took part in the abuse.

According to the indictment, "During the months of February and March, the accused and her children moved to her mother's apartment in Jerusalem. During this period, the mother found it difficult to cope with the burden of raining her small children, and particularly with their education.

"The defendant turned to a rabbi and asked for his advice in terms of his children's education. The rabbi concluded that the children were 'possessed' with evil spirits and advised the defendant and other suspects to carry out 'tikkunim' on the children in order to help them get rid of those demons."

The indictment went on to say that the rabbi instructed the mother to conduct "tikkunim" on the children – "meaning, jolting, beating, tying, burning organs, feeding them with faeces, and more.

"Two of the suspects were put in charge of educating the children, and systematically abused them and the defendant's other children in a large number of cases, for a long time, claiming that these 'tikkunim' were aimed at removing these evil spirits from the children."

Some of the acts of abuse were also described in the indictment. "The defendant, who knew about the abuse, continued to desert her children."

The mother was accused of "cooperating with some of the other suspects in forcibly jolting the children in at least 40 cases, grasping them in the back or shoulders, or grasping them in their hands and legs and shaking them with their heads moving back and forth and from side to side.

"The defendant and the other suspects also used to tie the children's hands and legs with plastic restraints and ropes for many hours, as well as hit one of the children in the face and bend his hands behind his back, throwing him in the air."

'Police veterans were shocked'

In one of her remand hearings, the police representative presented the judge with a photo album containing shocking pictures of the children.

"The Jerusalem Police veterans found it difficult to listen to such a shocking story," a police representative said during the previous hearing.

The mother admitted to the suspicions and went back on her confession, while the father and another person arrested denied the allegations.

"Evidence submitted to the court testifies to a long and harsh abuse," a police representative said during the hearing.

The small son, who was hospitalized at the Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital's intensive care unit, suffers from brain damage which has left him in a vegetative state.

Efrat Weiss contributed to this report

8 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Monsters among us
Informing welfare services of sexual assaults in haredi community is a mitzvah
By Tali Farkash
April 7, 2008
YNET News
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3528383,00.html

Like the rest of the people in Israel, I have also been following the recent child abuse cases. Like the rest of the people in Israel, I saw the harsh accounts, the children's horror stories, and I was disgusted, shocked and enraged. I must say, though, that I was not surprised.

For some time now, people like these parents have been conducting these acts under the radar of the welfare services and the police. It's not that the neighbors don’t know; it's not that they don’t suspect anything. It's just that they look to the other side, rather than "poke their nose" into other people's business. Being the Social Affairs Ministry's "informer" earns you no points among the haredi public, and being a police "delator" is a real mark of disgrace. And if there are those which came into this world to live in a moral and just society like the ultra-Orthodox sector, they must only pray not to meet the next assailant around the corner.

The first time I encountered a sexual assault incident I was too naïve to understand. It was in the sixth grade. A classmate told us secretly about a certain man on the street who likes to hug little girls and take their clothes off. My first response as a little girl was to giggle in embarrassment. This was probably a weird story by a weird girl, a fabrication, a way to get a bit of attention.

Several years later, when we were already studying in different schools, I repented. Why didn’t we say anything to anyone? How could we think that she would make up such a thing? But on second thought, even if one of the "adults" had known about it, I doubt it would have been taken care of. The most one can expect is a local organization, which would remove the "evil inclination" from the neighborhood pervert through beating.

The famous conspiracy of silence among the haredi population, which the welfare services and police are dealing with, is a mark of disgrace to the entire sector. Wanting to maintain an image of morality at any cost, they fall into the hole dug by negative elements in the name of Torah, in the name of righteousness. An intensive brainwash has turned psychologists into "religion's enemies", social workers into those "causing people to leave religion" and the police into the messenger of the foreign regime. In this glasshouse, monsters grow and thrive among us.

Failing to understand the deep motive derived from one's personality, and believing that this is "not a good deed" and that this man or woman will "repent" and behave nicely, all that is left is to watch how, due to naivety and a desire to believe in the good-heartedness of a sick and disturbed soul – people who are dangerous to their children, to the entire society, roam freely. Monsters.

Rabbi assaulted? Send him to a different yeshiva


Sexual assaults are a phenomenon which takes place in the State of Israel on a daily basis, unfortunately in the haredi sector as well. A girl goes downstairs to jump rope with her friends and is forces by a "bad man" to do bad things behind the bushes. A mother goes downstairs to throw the garbage and finds her son in the arms of a strange person. It's all true and it all happens in the haredi society's forgotten backyard. There is no police here and each person does what is right in his own eyes.
Those who read this indictment may feel that it is overly severe. That pedophiles and sadists do not roam the streets and do what they want with children, that there is no room for this radicalization. I am sorry. I regret to say that this is a mistake and that all those who refuse to see reality as it is are inviting themselves to live in a fool's paradise.

Teachers or rabbis known to have sexually assaulted continue to teach as if nothing ever happened. If worst comes to worst, they may have to move to a different yeshiva or Talmud Torah school. Their victims are ashamed to even share their experiences with their parents. For years, they suffer in silence, enduring the repression and humiliation. Too often, they turn into tomorrow's assailants.



The moment people understand that those dangerous perverts are a certain percentage of the population which has developed a mental-sexual disorder, the moment they are no longer swept inside and protected instead of the victims because "he might change" or "because it may only be a small crisis that will pass," all those existing and future victims will be liberated.

In the meantime, take very good care of your children, and remember, monsters also pray in the synagogue and teach in the Talmud Torah school. "Informing" the welfare services is anonymous and is a mitzvah.

April 07, 2008 10:03 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

State helpless in face of skeletons in haredi closet
By Yael Branovsky
April 3, 2008
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3526809,00.html

In spite of efforts by welfare officials, local rabbis, state authorities are unable to curb rampant child abuse in ultra-Orthodox families


One harrowing case after another, yet welfare officials stand by helpless: Faced with a string of heart wrenching cases of child abuse in the haredi community, even state officials now concede that they have only been able to reach this closed community on rare occasions, and often too late.

One recent, disturbing case, for instance, in which a Netivot mother had sexually abused her son, only came to light when the son began to attend boarding school and molested a fellow pupil. The social workers who handled his case quickly realized that the child had no idea that what he was doing was wrong.

Silence Shattered

Rise in number of abused haredi women / David Regev

New generation of rabbis encouraging battered Orthodox women to seek help, involve police. Welfare minister: Conspiracy of silence on this issue slowly being broken

Full story




Dalia Lev-Sade, director of community services at the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, stated in an interview with Ynet that seeing as the haredi community is so sequestered, haredi children enjoy less exposure to societal conventions of right and wrong.

“This is a group that is extremely closed off from the rest of the world, and so many times we are unaware of problems within the community and cannot intervene.”

“The case in Beit Shemesh is a classic example,” recounts Lev- Sade. ”Even though the family was monitored by welfare services, the social workers involved could not fully understand the family, nor the essence of the problems it was facing, because they kept such closely guarded family secrets. Only when something drastic occurs can we actually begin to take action.”

The ultra-Orthodox community, however, is slowly becoming more open, according to Lev-Sade. “The haredi community is slowly opening up and coming to realize that you can’t keep the skeletons in the closet forever.”

Orlet Moyal, director of welfare services at the Bnei Brak Municipality, tends to haredi families on a daily basis and knows all too well that that road to reaching this clandestine community is long and torturous. “It was nearly impossible to reach the haredi community just a few years ago, but we began to come up with creative means of reaching this community without offending its sensibilities.

“We wanted to be able to reach the haredi community before things became disastrous,” says Moyal, "and so we contacted local rabbis and rabbinical councils and urged them to mediate and intervene when families were reluctant to accept help.”

'More willingness to report abuse'

Dr. Yitzhak Kadman, head of the National Council for the Child, believes that it is the closed and reticent nature of the haredi community that in many instances precludes intervention by state authorities in child abuse cases.

“The haredi community firmly opposes airing its dirty laundry out in public, like we saw with many kibbutz communities in the past. The haredi community is extremely concerned about its public images, and in many cases rabbis did not allow families to go to the police and report abuse.”

Kadman noted, however, that this trend is mercifully changing. “In recent years there is more willingness among haredi families to report abuse. In our council alone, 30% of individuals involved in a project tending to victims of sexual abuse are haredi.”


Doron Aggasi, director of the Shlom Banecha foundation, which aids victims of sexual abuse and violence in the haredi community, stated that the recent public cases of child abuse within the haredi community indicate that the haredi world is changing for the better when it comes to reporting such crimes.

“These kinds of cases were often stifled in the past, because the haredi community was unwilling to disclose anything. Now however, people are far more aware of issues such as sexual abuse and familial violence, be it through exposure to the internet or other sources.”

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Aggasi maintains that it is rabbis that are at the forefront of these positive changes in the haredi community.

“Rabbis have asked me about the best treatment options for pedophilia and sexual deviance, and we are currently training social workers to treat both victims and perpetrators.

"In this respect, the haredi community has bypassed its secular counterpart by far, because this is a very motivated, obedient society that has taken heavy handed measures to help curb such phenomenon.”

April 07, 2008 10:06 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Rise in number of abused haredi women
By David Regev
October 11, 2007
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3458853,00.html

New generation of rabbis encouraging battered Orthodox women to seek help, involve police. Welfare minister: Conspiracy of silence on this issue slowly being broken


The number of calls made to hotlines for victims of domestic violence in the Orthodox community has increased three-fold over the past few years, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Thursday.


The number of haredi women who called the hotlines jumped from 477 in 2004 to 1,402 in 2007, while the number of women who were housed in shelters for battered women each month nearly doubled, from 24 to 40 on average.


Attorney Noah Korman, who established the first shelter for abused haredi women in 2000 and opened a second one two years later said, "The phenomenon of violence against women exists in the Orthodox community just as it does in any other, but it was not made public as it was in the secular sector. Haredi women preferred to keep it secret. It must be remembered that domestic violence brings great shame on an Orthodox family."


According to him, haredi women turned to the hotlines and shelters as a last resort.


"Women who arrived here did so after suffering years of abuse, when they felt they were in danger and could not take it anymore," Korman said.



'It's strictly forbidden to beat a woman'

He said the change in the rabbis' position regarding the phenomenon was also instrumental encouraging more abused women in the community to seek help.


"Haredi women are becoming more and more aware of the dangers related to domestic violence, and the new generation of rabbis is encouraging them to file complaints and break the cycle (of violence)," Korman said.


David Yosef, the rabbi of Jerusalem's Har Nof neighborhood and the son of Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, declared on Wednesday that it was "strictly forbidden to beat a woman.


"If the need arises to involve the police in this matter, then they should be involved," he said.


Korman said most of the violent incidents against haredi women take place on Shabbat due to the fact that on weekdays the men are usually studying at yeshiva or tending to other matters.

He said that in many cases the violence erupts at the Shabbat diner table, adding that many of the haredi women arrive at the shelters with their children, "sometimes with nine or 10 of them".

On Wednesday Welfare Minister Issac Herzog visited a shelter for battered haredi women for the first time.

"The conspiracy of silence regarding violence against Orthodox women is slowly being broken, and we plan on helping them as best we can," he said.

April 07, 2008 10:08 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

A Sudden Attack Sparks Crusade
by Ellis Henican
February 21, 1997
Newsday, Queens

The house is no different from the other houses on the block.

Not so you'd notice anyway.

Bedrooms upstairs. A kitchen down. A spacious living room. Just
another big house on Gateway Boulevard in Far Rockaway, a residential block like blocks all over the borough.

Which is precisely the point.

The Bais Ezra Community Residence, as the house is called, is for mentally ill adults, an alternative to the big snake-pit institutions where most mental patients once were parked.

"It's a perfectly wonderful idea," Michele Miltz was saying. "Perfectly wonderful, depending on what kinds of problems the particular clients have."

That's a distinction this 37-year-old mother of five has learned
about the hard way.

Miltz was a staff nurse at the Bais Ezra house, looking after the
residents' medical and dietary needs. One day in 1993, she was in her small office on her second floor, doing paperwork.

"I was sitting at my desk," she recalled. A resident named Jeffrey
came in.

Jeffrey asked about a dental appointment Miltz had set up. "I told him, `It's not a problem. It's a regular appointment. We'll talk about it before you go.'

"The next thing I noticed I was flying through the air."

Jeffrey was about 5-foot-9 and 200 pounds. Miltz is 5-foot-2 1/2 - inches and 115 pounds. He did not have much trouble overpowering her.

Miltz was wearing a red V-neck dress that day. "He grabbed me on the V," she remembered. "He tossed me up in the air. My head hit the floor. Then he dragged me what must have been 10 feet, and he jumped on top of me.

"He was sitting on my knees. He pulled my dress above my head. My bra was up at my throat. His hands were around my neck. He had me pinned like that. The worst part was that I couldn't scream."

Four times, Miltz said, she faded out of consciousness. "The more I
twisted, the angrier he got," she said.

Eventually, some other staff members rushed to help. After a
difficult struggle, they pulled Jeffrey off.

It's been almost four years now since that horrible day in that
average-looking house. But the echos haven't even begun to fade.

Miltz says her health has never been the same since the sexual
assault. She was bruised and battered and wracked with pain. Her back was in a brace for months. She's had two major operations on her right leg. A third is planned.

She has filed a multi-million-dollar lawsuit that is winding its way toward trial. In court papers, she says Jeffrey had been involved in seven previous outbursts at the home.

And suddenly, Michele Miltz finds herself at the center of a hotly
contested political debate that goes far beyond her own case.

The fight for victims of the on-the-job assault.

Like many people in her position, Miltz was told to make her claim
with the state's notoriously stingy Workers Compensation Board.

But Miltz' lawyer, Alan Kestenbaum, said last night he has found a way around that general rule. He isn't suing Bais Ezra, Miltz' direct employer. He's suing another nonprofit group, OHEL Family and Childrens Services, the agency he says is responsible for supervising
the Bais Ezra home.

"They really are one and the same," Kestenbaum said. "OHEL is
responsible for the day-to-day operations of Bais Ezra."

David Mandel, OHEL's chief, disputed that claim yesterday.

"OHEL did not do anything wrong and was not negligent," he said in a written statement.
"Therefore, OHEL is taking the necessary measures to defend itself against an unmerited lawsuit."

Through an aide, Mandel declined to answers questions about the suit.

This whole issue of Workers Comp is suddenly hot, after the recent
big-dollar settlement of a lawsuit against Saks Fifth Avenue. The case was brought by a Saks executive who was sexually assaulted by a security guard.

"The Miltz case is yet another example of why Workers Compensation sells workers short," said Manhattan attorney Elizabeth Mason, who represented the woman in the Saks case.

Mason, the National Organization for Women and other groups have been pushing for a change in State Law, allowing lawsuits by victims like these. Legislation has been proposed by Assemb. Catherine Abate of Manhattan.

"I never thought I would become a crusader for something like this,"
said Miltz, who lives with her family in Long Beach. "I have a
daughter who's retarded. So I'm not the lock-em-all-up type."

The Queens district attorney considered criminal charges against Jeffrey, but decided not to proceed. Jeffrey has since been moved, prosecutors said, to a more secure institution. (Miltz reports she was horrified to see him one day at the camp her daughter attends.)

For her part, Miltz said she's eager to help get changes in the
Workers Comp law. "I'll speak," she said. "They can use my name. I'll do whatever I can.

"If they want me to," she added, "I'll even bring the bra."

Newsday Photo by Audrey C. Tiernan- Michele Miltz tells her horror story of how a sudden attack on the job has changed her life and made her a crusader.

April 07, 2008 1:22 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The big bluff: Hachnasat Kalla

There's a mini-tycoon by the name of Gurvitz originally from London, who is planning on preventing his daughter from getting married tomorrow night to a very choshuve family. He has already hired goons to twice beat up the groom.

He has bullied every Rabbi in the country to bother the family and all of them refuse to be Mesader Kidushin!

Next time someone comes crying to you for Hachnasat Kalla money know that he didn’t lift a finger to prevent this – and may even have helped prevent Hachnasat Kalla in its purest form; a wedding.

Come see with your own eyes at the Reich hotel tomorrow (Tuesday) night how Yidden do real Hachnasat Kalla. Helmets and bullet proof vests are recommended.

Remember: if they don’t get a nice cut then Hachnasat Kalla doesn't count for anything.

April 07, 2008 3:21 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Amy Neustein is another mother that should be placed up on your blog. She has caused her daughter so much pain and suffering and continues to do so to this very day.

April 07, 2008 5:10 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Unlicensed Scientology kindergartens operating in Tel Aviv
Merav Shlomo
Ynet News
March 21, 2008

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3521983,00.html

At least three kindergartens spread out through Israeli urban sprawl offer children educational teachings of controversial cultist movement. Only one institute received municipal approval, but failed to note its religious leanings

Any kindergarten in Israel with more than 10 children requires the approval of the Education Ministry, but three kindergartens offering children the education teaching of the controversial Scientology movement are operating in Tel Aviv these days without the ministry being aware of their principles.


One of these kindergartens, in the Nahalat Yitzhak neighborhood has about 90 children. Although it received the Education Ministry's approval, it failed to note its religious leanings.


Previous Scandal
Youth group supported by Scientology / Tali Heruti-Sover
Who is behind invitation to party for 'Youth for Human Rights'? The invitation is signed by Don Shaul, 13 year old, with title of Israeli director of 'International Youth for Human Rights'. But behind heartwarming initiative stands Scientology movement
Full story

The ministry has never even heard of the other two Scientology kindergartens, one in the Yad Eliyahu neighborhood and the other on Keren Kayemet Street in northern Tel Aviv.



The Scientology cultist movement was materialized in the United States in the 1950s. Its principles were developed from author L. Ron Hubbard's set of ideas and practices regarding the relationship between the spirit, mind and body presented in the book "Dianetics".



In the book, Hubbard developed ideas in regards to ways humans can release themselves from mental elements preventing them from studying, developing and reaching a deeper understanding of the world.



One of the issues characterizing education according to the Scientology ideas is teaching respect, human rights and friendship – expressed in addressing children at eye level. When a teacher speaks to one of his or her pupils, he or she will bend down in order to prevent significant height differences.



It should be noted that a visit to one of the three kindergartens did not reveal any strange or severe issues in the teachers' treatment of the children, and yet these kindergartens are operating without a license and without being supervised by the Education Ministry.



Avi Katzover, an Education Ministry spokesman for the Tel Aviv District, said in response that "the kindergarten (in Nahalat Yitzhak) was granted an operating license after it was made clear that it has no security or health risks. The license is temporary until the end of the school year.


"The pedagogical aspect will be examined this year and we will then make a final decision whether to grant it a permanent license for the coming years as well.


"As for the Scientology issue, the Education Ministry is unaware of such principles being taught in the kindergarten. The supervisor examined the kindergarten's education contents and did not spot any Scientology content. The teacher also denied any involvement in the cult."

April 08, 2008 12:02 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Youth group supported by Scientology
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3353985,00.html

Who is behind invitation to party for 'Youth for Human Rights'? The invitation is signed by Don Shaul, 13 year old, with title of Israeli director of 'International Youth for Human Rights'. But behind heartwarming initiative stands Scientology movement

Tali Heruti-Sover
Published: 01.19.07, 04:53 / Israel Jewish Scene

“Hello everyone! I am Don Shaul, 13 years old from Haifa, and I am in charge of the Israeli campaign for ‘Youth for Human Rights’” a charming e-mail announces, one of many that have recently flooded the e-mail boxes of journalists.


“People do not believe that I am only 13 and am involved and concerned with human rights and that I appear and speak in the press. I believe that children have a lot of ability to influence others and it is no wonder that I and other kids like me care. After all, if we, the kids, do not worry about human rights, who will worry about it when we grow up?”



Apparently, behind these emails is a Haifa boy, who presents himself as the “Israeli representative of the world wide campaign”, and boasts that he is the director of the organization “International Youth for Human Rights - Israel Branch”, whose purpose is to arouse awareness about the UN human rights treaty.

A few weeks ago, Shaul sent an e-mail stating that under the auspices of the Israel Scientology center, he was setting up a stand on International Human Rights Day to distribute information, and attached a picture of himself in a suit and tie. This time he sent out invitations to a “special party where community workers, journalists and human rights workers would attend” that would take place at the Har Hacarmel hotel in Haifa at the end of January.



Scientology event

As heartwarming as the initiative appears, the intriguing e-mail does not reveal who is behind this new youth group that appeared out of nowhere, who is financing the event, and how Shaul received the e-mail addresses of the journalists whom he invited.


A short conversation with Shaul revealed that the Scientology movement and the UN are behind this initiative. The hotel that is hosting the event, claims Shaul, is donating its services for the event, and among those financing the event is “The Citizens' Commission on Human Rights” (an organization which investigates and exposes psychiatric human rights abuses, founded by the International Scientology movement).



“NO!” Shaul exclaimed when asked the innocent question of whether the Israeli branch of “Youth for Human Rights” which he leads is part of the Scientology movement. “We are a completely independent body. The organization was established outside of Israel, and we are the local branch. We are only one of several organizations which receive donations from them, but we have absolutely nothing to do with them”.


Yet, on the youth group’s international website it says that it was established by the International Fund for Human Rights, which – surprise, surprise - is funded by the Scientologists. A deeper search of the website revealed no mention of UN backing for its activities.



“We give services to thousands of children, but we only have around 20 children active in the organization”, replies Shaul when he is asked how many members there are in the group, and he adds that since they do not have a clubhouse, they meet in members' homes.


“When we have the party we will already be registered as a non-profit organization”, he promises, and when we asked him how a 13 year old boy can do that and pay for the registration fee, he explains that “the parents help with the money, and an adult will register the organization”.


The UN, he insists, gives the young movement information pamphlets and financing, as does the international youth movement and the Scientology center in Israel. “But we are a separate organization. I know what Scientology is and that is enough for me, there is one girl whose family are Scientologists but all the others are not. The subject of Scientology does not make a difference- I know that we are doing only good. What could be bad about being active for human rights?”



Is there an adult who advises you?



“Eli Chaim. He is a man who advises businessmen and also us”.



'They have spread lies about us'

After numerous unsuccessful attempts to reach Eli Chaim at the number which Shaul gave us, we approached the Har Hacarmel hotel to see if they support the youth group and why.


The hotel director Misha Blumenfeld checked the contract with the youth group, confirmed that the party will take place and that he is only taking “a little bit of money. If I hear about distressed youth who want to help the community, I am willing to be nice and reduce the price”, he explains. “They came here and explained that they were an organization that works for human rights, and we were happy to help”.


During the conversation we learned that the event was coordinated with the event planner of the hotel, who gave us the telephone numbers of the organizers.



We then called the number, and the phone was answered by the Scientology center in Tel-Aviv. “Is Eli Chaim there?” we asked, and the polite voice on the line replied, “Eli Chaim is not here right now”. He did not return any of our phone calls, but our numerous attempts yielded a conversation with Amir Levi, special events director for the Israel Scientology center, who was nervous about the image of the movement about which “they have spread innumerable lies”.



What is the connection between the youth group and Scientology?



“The ‘International Youth for Human Rights’ group, whose Israeli branch is run by Don Shaul, was established by the experienced educator and school principal Mary Shuttleworth, in order to teach children about their human rights, which are based on the UN’s universal declaration of human rights.

The Scientology religion, which has worked to advance human rights and children’s rights for the past four decades, is one of the strong supporters of the organization and the information material which they use: the pamphlet “What are human rights?” and clips which present the 30 clauses of the declaration, etc.

“The Scientology religion has worked to advance human rights since its inception”, continues Levi. “In the seventies, for example, Scientologists uncovered the brutal incarceration and abuse of black psychiatric patients in South Africa.

Today, in Israel and around the world, Scientologists are involved in uncovering abuse and exploitation by psychiatry, and exploitation of the law and human rights by governments. They support campaigns that deal with the challenges of the modern world, especially after the events of September 11th, the situation in the Middle East and so forth. Our message is that the solution is not to hide or pass Draconian laws, but rather to teach people and governments about the importance of human rights”.

And who finances the activities of the youth group?

“You would have to ask Don Shaul, or his mother”

April 08, 2008 12:05 AM  

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