Elad Melamed, a 30-year-old teacher, was convicted of sexually assaulting his 14-year old student in a yeshiva in Rehovot.
According to the indictment, Melamed was a math teacher for 8th and 9th graders, and on a number of occasions, he touched the student inappropriately in between lessons.
The student told the court that in one of the incidents, Melamed told the student and his friend to stay back after class, and when everyone had left, he told the friend to go too. Melamed then began sexually assaulting the student, asking him if he liked it, and the student said he did not and felt harassed, yet Melamed continued.
The student was apparently reluctant in reporting the incident. In the verdict, the judge said that "the disclosure was forced on the student, and therefore, I do not accept the claim that he wanted to indict the accused.
"The duality of the student in his attitude toward the accused, an appreciation of him as a dedicated teacher on the one hand, and repulsion of his actions, on the other hand, gives his claims credence. His appreciation of the teacher prior to his assault shows that he did not seek to blow up the claim against the accused except to describe the acts that were done to him as they were."
The verdict also praised the student, saying that he "is a brave boy, who was interrogated at length by the defense, but his version did not crack."
In another incident, a police spokesperson reported that a 33-year-old man was arrested in Ashdod for sexually assaulting an 8-year-old boy with special needs on the bus to school.
The boy's mother complained to the police about her suspicions, and they opened a special investigation adapted to work with children. The evidence they collected led them to arrest the suspect, who turned out to be the son of the driver of the organized transport the boy takes to school.