Man suspected of pedophilia extradited back to Israel

Man's wife became what is known as an agunah – a woman whose husband disappeared and is therefore unable to receive a bill of divorce, as required by Jewish law, and re-marry.

By JEREMY SHARON
El Al airplanes (photo credit: Ronen Zvulun / Reuters)
El Al airplanes
(photo credit: Ronen Zvulun / Reuters)
A man wanted on charges of pedophilia, and who also refused to give his wife a bill of divorce and subsequently fled the country, was deported from the US back to Israel on Friday.
Two years ago the husband, a haredi man from Bnei Brak, was indicted on charges of sexual misdemeanors with two members, both minors, of his family.
His wife filed for divorce, which he refused to grant, and owing to the indictment against him fled Israel, and went into hiding in New York.
A rabbinical court had already issued an order preventing him from leaving the country, because of his refusal to give his wife a divorce, but the man used his brother’s passport to board a flight out of Israel.
His wife became what is known as an agunah – a woman whose husband disappeared and is therefore unable to receive a bill of divorce, as required by Jewish law, and re-marry.
About a year ago, in order to have him extradited back to Israel and to help the woman, the rabbinical court system hired a private investigator to track the man down, and once he was located entered into negotiations with the US authorities.
He was extradited back to the country owing to the charges of sexual misdemeanor.
Director of the agunot department in the rabbinical court system Rabbi Eliyahu Maimon, who worked on the case, said that the extradition of the husband was good news.
“Every incident of agunot is a tragedy and we do everything possible, within the law, to assist them and return them to normality,” he told The Jerusalem Post.
Maimon added that there are approximately 120 cases of agunot in Israel, at present.