The King of Morocco plans to expel an Israeli rabbi who is
wanted in Israel for questioning regarding alleged sex crimes, Moroccan media
outlets report.
Rabbi Eliezar Berland, head of the Shuvu Banim Hassidic sect,
has been accused of committing indecent acts against several young female
followers. Shortly after he fled the country his son and several other
followers were arrested on suspicion of fraud and money laundering involving
the sect's finances.
A source in the Shuvu Banim movement told the hareidi news
outlet Kikar Hashabat that Berland would be forced to leave Morocco in the near
future because local authorities were not pleased at the fact that dozens of
his followers had arrived in the country with the intention of staying
permanently.
“Dozens of people were coming each week, and hundreds were
planning to come on Hannukah… It created an unsustainable situation,” the
source claimed.
Shuvu Banim’s leaders and Moroccan authorities decided
together that the best solution would be for the rabbi to leave, he added.
However, Moroccan media sources said the King had decided to
expel the rabbi after reading a report that explicitly detailed the charges
against him. The king ordered the Shuvu Banim sect to leave immediately, they
reported.
Rabbi Berland had apparently planned to remain in the
country permanently and rebuild his sect’s various institutions there rather
than face the police in Israel.
It is not clear where Shuvu Banim plans to go next. The
group is looking for a country that does not have an extradition treaty with
Israel, but is also open to accepting dozens of Hassidic Jews as citizens.
Shuvu Banim made the papers earlier this year when the
movements political “dealers” attempted to cut a deal with the Palestinian
Authority to allow Jews to pray more frequently at Kever Yosef (the tomb of the
Biblical patriarch Joseph) near Shechem.
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