Half-Billion-Dollar Industry Largely
Staffed By Sex Slaves, by Dr. Martin Brass, Soldier
of Fortune, October 2002, p. 32
"Israel prides itself as a 'beacon of light,' paving an enlightened
path for democracy and human rights in a region of dictators, theocracies,
tyrants and human rights abusers. In July 2001, the U.S. State Department
placed Israel on a 'third tier' list of countries, or worst offenders,
of Traffickers in Persons. In the shadows of the 'beacon of light' lurks
a brutal and inhumane abuse - trafficking of women and children for
the sex-slave trade. Israel was on the same list as Saudi Arabia, Lebanon,
Sudan, Yugoslavia, Bahrain, Greece, Pakistan, Qatar, Turkey, the United
Arab Emirates and 12 others ... 'Elderly Jewish women in the Ukraine
often lure the girls into the trade,' Specter said. Or, the girls are
recruited through 'an ad or an unexpected meeting on the street, with
a proposition to work abroad as a maid, secretary, showgirl, nanny or
waitress.' A typical ad, writes Walter Zalisko, 24-year police veteran,
authority on Russian organized crime in New Jersey and New York, seeks
'... pretty woman, under age 40, slender, educated, to work in modern
office setting; $600/month; documents and transportation provided.'"
Israel
Fears More Rights Challenges in Europe,
Haaretz [Israeli newspaper], July 26, 2001
"The [Israeli] Foreign Ministry has begun 'mapping' the criminal
justice systems of European countries, trying to identify 'problematic
states' where prominent officials in the Israeli security services might
face legal action because of wide-ranging local authority to prosecute
suspected human rights violations. Sources in the Foreign Ministry warned
that prominent IDF and Shin Bet security service officers, who have
appeared in the press in connection with their past or present jobs,
might be subject to prosecution in some European countries. The issue
first arose with a complaint to the Belgian court system against Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon, for alleged responsibility for massacres
in the Sabra and Chatila refugee camps in Beirut during Israel's 1982
invasion of Lebanon. This was closely followed by complaints from Danish
parliamentary and human rights groups against Carmi Gillon, the former
Shin Bet chief recently appointed ambassador to Denmark. Several high-ranking
security officers, both past and present, have recently asked the ministry
whether they might face difficulties traveling through Europe."
Israel Extradition
Law Offers Help to Alleged Criminals.
Jewish Bulletin of Northern California, February 27, 1998
"Are Israelis committing crimes in the United States and fleeing
home to avoid prosecution? In some cases, yes. But recent developments
suggest that while these alleged criminals can run, they can't necessarily
hide. The issue emerged in September, when a Maryland teenager claimed
Israeli citizenship in an effort to avoid a murder trial in the United
States. The case of Samuel Sheinbein came before the Israeli
courts this week as Israeli officials, seeking to comply with a U.S.
request for extradition, argued that despite the youth's claim, he is
not an Israeli citizen. While Sheinbein's case is extreme, his flight
from U.S. prosecutors has focused some unwanted attention on Israel's
extradition policy. Like most European countries and many South American
nations, Israel does not extradite its citizens. But it does allow prosecutions
in its own courts for crimes committed abroad. But the fear of prosecution
at home has not stopped at least a half-dozen Israelis from fleeing
the United States in recent months. The recent trend has elicited much
concern among U.S. law-enforcement personnel and prosecutors, who fear
that Israeli criminals will use the Jewish state as a refuge ... Until
1977, there was an extradition treaty between the United States and
Israel. But an Israeli law, passed in 1977 and intended to protect Israelis
from legal actions abroad motivated by anti-Semitism, superseded that
treaty, according to an Israeli official in Washington. Since then,
the Israeli law barring extradition of its citizens has come under fire
in the United States. The Sheinbein case reopened the issue, resulting
in congressional pressure not only to extradite Sheinbein, but also
to change the law to prevent similar situations in the future."
Fit
to Be Tried. But Where? Jerusalem Post,
October 19, 1997
"Samuel [Sheinbein, is] the 17-year-old Maryland
youth suspected of a brutal slaying and now trying to turn Israel into
his land of refuge. According to the 1978 [Israeli] law, passed by Menachem
Begin's government, Israeli citizens cannot be extradited for crimes
they allegedly committed abroad. Instead, the bill authorized Israeli
courts to try such persons here. The impetus for the bill was the case
of Reuven Pesahovitz, an Israeli accused by the Swiss of embezzlement
and fraud of more than 10m. Swiss francs. Prime minister Begin, then
serving also as justice minister, refused to extradite Pesahovitz. Meretz
MK Amnon Rubinstein, formerly the dean of Tel Aviv University's Law
Faculty, said that Begin's pushing of this legislation was part of his
philosophy of not wanting to turn Jews over to non-Jews, because of
a concern that they would not get a fair trial. At the time that the
law was enacted, another high-profile extradition case, involving Shmuel
Flatto-Sharon, was stirring passions in the country. Flatto-Sharon
was accused of embezzlement and fraud by France which was seeking his
extradition."
Former Jewish Agency Chief Fined $13,000 on Fraud Charges. Jewish
Bulletin of Northern California, May 17, 1996
"Former Jewish Agency for Israel chairman Simcha Dinitz
has been fined approximately $13,000 after being found guilty of billing
the agency for charges on a personal credit card. In announcing the
fine, a Jerusalem district court judge stressed the seriousness of the
offenses, which were fraud and breach of trust. At the same time, he
rejected the prosecution's request for a prison term."
Israeli
President Faces Criminal Investigation. The
Independent [Great Britain], January 21, 2000
"Israel's head of state, Ezer Weizman, became the first
President in the nation's 52-year history to be the subject of a criminal
inquiry yesterday, for accepting large sums of cash from a reclusive
French millionaire while serving in parliament and as a minister. The
attorney-general told police to investigate the activities of Mr Weizman,
75, after the Justice Ministry announced it had new evidence that may
link him with the business interests of the textile magnate Edouard
Saroussi in Israel in the early 1980s. The launch of a police inquiry,
in which the tax authorities will also play a role, prompted fresh demands
for the resignation of Mr Weizman, whose uncle, Chaim Weizmann, was
Israel's first president and who has been a flamboyant and outspoken
fixture on the Israeli political scene for decades."
Scandal
Probe Paralyzes Israel. The Standard-Times,
April 18, 1997
"Defiant in the face of an influence-peddling scandal, Benjamin
Netanyahu vowed yesterday to hang tough through calls for his resignation.
'We're not going anywhere,' he told supporters. The government, and
efforts to revive the peace process, have virtually stopped while Israelis
wait to find out whether prosecutors will follow police advice and charge
the prime minister with fraud and breach of trust ... The scandal stems
from Mr. Netanyahu's decision in January to appoint Jerusalem lawyer
Roni Bar-On as attorney general. Mr. Bar-On resigned after a
day in office amid a storm of criticism that he was unqualified. Days
later, Israel TV alleged that the appointment was part of a conspiracy
by senior officials who expected Mr. Bar-On to end the corruption trial
of Aryeh Deri, head of the Shas religious party."
Military Industry
Rocked by Scandal.
Jewish Bulletin of Northern California, March 15, 1996
"Three Israeli military equipment dealers were arrested recently
amid allegations of a multimillion dollar bribery and fraud case involving
private contractors, the Defense Ministry, and Israel's air force. Sources
close to the case said more arrests are expected of ministry officials
and army officers."
Sir
George Martin Gets Back 6 of 7 Stolen Scores.
Jerusalem Post, June 6, 1999
"In an incident that Israel Festival organizers would soon like
to forget, famed Beatle's producer Sir George Martin had seven original
scores stolen during his first concert at the Jerusalem International
Convention Center. The original orchestrations were the only copies
Martin brought with him, and their absence put his second performance
of the festival in jeopardy. Two of the scores were discovered when
a woman approached Martin after the concert and asked him to sign the
sheets of music she had taken during intermission. One witness noted
the woman's shock as Martin displayed his unhappiness. Not until Sir
George's producer Zev Eizik ran an advertisement on Israel Radio pleading
that Martin would be unable to continue his tour unless the sheets were
returned, did three people come forward and give back four more scores.
Martin's monumental orchestration Golden Slumber is still missing."
Keeping
the Election Kosher. Jerusalem Post,
May 24, 1999
"'We are taking all possible precautions against any fraud at the
polls. We're manning every single polling station,' Alkeslassy
said, and additional volunteers will be sent to polling stations that
have been problematic in the past. He wouldn't specify which ones, explaining
that he didn't want to apportion blame, since 'most people are fine,
it's just some activists who cross the line.' Eli Pelles, an
18-year-old Meretz activist from Jerusalem who used to be haredi
[ultra-Orthodox], feels differently. Election fraud is rampant in
the haredi community, he charged. It is considered normal to take the
ID cards of people who have died or are away and vote in their place,
he said. 'I spoke to haredim who are friends of mine and they said to
me, 'We all know that happens, but why did you go and tell the press?'
In the 1996 elections, when Pelles was not only haredi but also underage,
he voted three times at three different polling places. After he became
secular, Pelles switched his support to Meretz because of its
stance on religious issues. He has addressed several of its seminars
on how to spot people who are voting illegally ... The kibbutzniks,
not the haredim, are the ones stuffing the ballot boxes, according to
Yitzhak Pendruc, a UTJ election day coordinator."
Israeli Life.
Meat in the Deri Case? Hadassah
"His story has all the elements of Greek tragedy. A young man rises
from a poor Sefardic family to transform Israeli society. He creates
Shas, and through his brilliant maneuvering this ultra-Orthodox
political party becomes a force to be reckoned with; by tipping the
scales it can create or destroy ever-fragile coalition governments.
But as with all tragic heroes, the very pride and confidence that made
him might also be destroying him. Since 1990 Aryeh Deri, former
Minister of the Interior, has been on trial for fraud, violating the
public trust and embezzling government funds. A lightning rod whose
fate enmeshes the whole society, Deri has embroiled Israel's entire
political elite in his trial, and it is feared he may bring down the
government. The investigation into Ronnie Bar-On's short-lived
tenure as attorney general is only the last in a series of Deri-connected
scandals, but this time it has sullied the reputation of the prime minister
himself."
Ministry
Never Pressed Charges Against Yeshiva Fraud.
Haaretz, August 21, 2001
"The Religious Affairs Ministry awarded NIS 11 million to two fictitious
Be'er Sheva yeshivas in the past seven years, but never went to police
over the fraud after comptrollers uncovered it. The two yeshivas, run
by Be'er Sheva residents Yeshua Okanin and Yisrael Shneor,
claimed they had 270 pupils. It was the worst of many fraud cases uncovered
in a report by the treasury on yeshiva claims in 2000 ... Two weeks
ago Ha'aretz reported on the deputy general accountant Yossi
Strauss' treasury report on allocations to yeshivas. Strauss' report
summarized the findings of a detailed investigation that revealed systematic
whitewashing of fraudulent reporting during 2000 by the Religious Affairs
Ministry. This enabled fraudulent reporting to continue and prevented
any punishment of the yeshivas or their managers. The treasury estimates
that the coverup cost the state NIS 85 million [about $30 million] a
year."
The
Crisis at the Hebrew National Archives "Gnazim," The
Mendele Review: Yiddish Literature and Language (A Companion
to Mendele -- Vol. 05.014, November 5, 2001
"The 'Gnazim' archives of the Hebrew Writers' Association is presently
closed to the public due to a labor dispute. (2) The six 'Gnazim' employees
(like the other ten employees of the Association) have not received
salaries for many months. The elected officers of the Association have
been accused by other members of misusing funds and of other irregularities
-- internal disputes are not a rare phenomenon in the Writers' Association.
The Histadrut workers' federation has entered the fray to protect the
employees' rights. While the inner conflicts rage, the work of the national
institution responsible for the preservation and cataloging of the letters
and manuscripts of generations of writers and thinkers is frozen. If
paralysis continues long enough, permanent damage may result and the
nation as a whole will suffer a palpable cultural loss ... As lovers
of Yiddish, we are interested parties. The papers of 730 writers --
amounting to over six million items -- are held in the 'Gnazim' archives.
Among these many items are thousands and thousands which are either
written in Yiddish, are written by a writer who wrote Yiddish, or concern
a Yiddish-related subject. In short, 'Gnazim' is a vital station on
the map of the Yiddish researcher."
Israelis
Confess to Internet Attack,
Excite (from Associated Press), December
8, 2001
"Four Israeli youths in police custody have admitted to creating
and spreading the computer worm 'Goner' by e-mail to attack hundreds
of users around the world, police said Saturday. Police arrested the
high school students, ages 15 and 16, from the northern city of Nahariya
on Friday, said Meir Zohar, the head of the police computer crime
squad. The Internet worm first spread early this month to computers
in Europe, especially in France and Germany. American anti-virus companies
have reported more than 400 cases of Goner attacks worldwide. An Internet
worm can spread to other computers on its own."
Teachers'
Union Head Obtained Degrees By Fraud,
Jerusalem Post, December 11, 2001
"Histadrut Teachers Union head Avraham Ben-Shabbat and his
deputy, Uri Groman, were placed under 14 days' house arrest by
Tel Aviv District Court yesterday after both admitted to fraudulently
obtaining academic degrees, then using them to receive higher pay. The
two posted NIS 100,000 bail apiece. Their arrests were a part of an
unfolding scandal surrounding ISE Co., which operated extensions
of Latvia and Burlington universities here, and sold degrees for $5,000
each without demanding any academic effort. The company provided academic
papers for its 'students' and even awarded grades. Its main clients
were Civil Service workers, who receive wage incentives for continuing
their education and earning advanced degrees. Police believe that, over
the past two years, ISE's operations have cost the public payroll millions
of shekels."
Romania
Probes Israeli Adoption Agency Link to Organ Trafficking,
Haaretz, December 13, 2001
"Romanian authorities are looking into possible links between Israeli
adoption agencies and an illegal global conspiracy to sell organs for
transplants. The Romanian Embassy in Israel has asked for, and received
from the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry, a list of all children born
in Romania who have been brought to Israel for adoption in recent years.
The Romanian officials are trying to ascertain if all such children
arrived in Israel with all organs in their bodies."
Another Mossad Scandal Chips Away at Agency's Credibility,
CNN, December 6, 1997
"The latest scandal to rock Israel's Mossad spy agency involves
allegations that an agent fabricated information that may have skewed
Israeli assessments of Syria's political and military intentions. It
is being called the 'Gil Affair,' named after Yehuda Gil, 63,
who was identified on Saturday as the Israeli Mossad agent who allegedly
received some $200,000 for passing along bogus intelligence reports
on Syria. The charges brought against Gil include spying and fraud,
Israel Radio said quoting a charge sheet. Bit by bit, Israelis
have been reading between the lines in newspapers squeezed by censorship
about what is being called 'the mother of all intelligence scandals'
... It was revealed on Saturday that Gil was a former general-secretary
in a far-right political party that advocates expelling Palestinians
from the West Bank and Gaza. The disclosure that he was affiliated in
1992 with the ultra right-wing Moledet party has prompted speculation
that his concocted reports may have been aimed at discouraging Israeli
leaders from making peace with Arab partners."
Think
Again: Presumed Guilty, Jerusalem Post,
November 30, 2000
"The family of Alastair Sinclair, a Scottish tourist, who, hanged
himself in an Israeli jail, was forced to bring suit for the return
of missing body parts. University of Glasgow pathologists, who did an
autopsy at the request of Sinclair's family, found that it had been
returned without a heart (which they suspect was used for a transplant)
and without the crucial bone needed to confirm the claim that he died
from hanging."
Credit
Lyonnais Stops Taking Israeli Checks, Haaretz,
January 20, 2002
"French bank, Credit Lyonnais, has decided to stop accepting checks
from correspondent banks in Israel and other companies on the blacklist
of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF). Earlier
this week, another French bank, Societe Generale, announced that
it was suspending the processing of checks from correspondent Israeli
banks until the investigation into a Franco-Israeli money laundering
affair was cleared up. Banking industry sources believe that other French
banks may follow suit, leading to possible difficulties in bilateral
trade. Israel is on the blacklist of 19 countries and territories considered
particularly problematic when it comes to the supervision of money-laundering
activities. The money-laundering affair has caused a storm in France
and two senior executives at Societe Generale have been arrested.
Several Israeli banks are involved, including Leumi, Israel
Discount Bank and the First International Bank of Israel."
Retired
Israeli General Investigated for Embezzling $10 Million in U.S. Aid
Funds, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs,
Jan/Feb 1997
"A retired Israeli general is under investigation for allegedly
embezzling an estimated $10 million of U.S. foreign military aid. Brig.
Gen. (res.) Alex Eyal, a former head of naval procurement in
Israel’s Ministry of Defense, allegedly overcharged Israel’s U.S. foreign
military aid account in a contract for Panther helicopters supplied
to the Israeli navy by the American Eurocopter Corporation (AEC), a
wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary of the Eurocopter France firm ... Perhaps
the most disturbing aspect of the case to both American and Israeli
officials is that this is not the first time America’s generous foreign
aid relationship with Israel has been abused. In 1991, retired Israeli
general Rami Dotan was indicted for embezzling some $40 million
in U.S. foreign military aid with the assistance of Herbert Steindler,
an official of the American Pratt & Whitney aircraft engine manufacturer.
Dotan was imprisoned for his actions, and in July 1992 General Electric
paid $59 million in civil damages and $9.5 million in criminal penalties
in a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice."
Background. Israeli Soccer Under Threat,
Haaretz [Israel], May 8, 2002
"Asked in late February whether he believed that his referees were
"clean," the head of the soccer Referees' Association, Arye Zeif,
said he trusted 90 percent of the referees. The legal adviser of the
Israel Football Association (IFA), Shalom Ibn-Ezra, hurried to
correct Zeif, saying that until it was proved otherwise, 100 percent
of the referees were above any suspicion of involvement in match-fixing.
Zeif agreed. If we rely on Zeif's original statement, then there is
no justification for holding soccer matches in Israel. On Monday, Zeif's
words echoed eerily when police arrested four referees for allegedly
taking money in exchange for fixing matches. On Tuesday, a fifth referee
was arrested. Four months ago, Army Radio's sports editor, Niv Ruskin,
revealed information regarding the involvement of referees in rigging
matches. At the time, the IFA considered suing Ruskin. The police, however,
took the report seriously. Senior figures in the Israel Fraud Squad
convinced Ruskin not to publicize any names. And, ever since, they have
been involved in trying to verify the allegations. Police discovered
large amounts of foreign currency in raids carried out on the homes
of some of the suspects. The police also have a list of suspects who
are not referees, but are known to be involved in running illegal gambling.
Some of them have a sporting past ... There is sufficient evidence floating
around to cast a shadow over the viability of Israeli soccer. It is
important that Vilnai and Shalom move quickly, because after the next
criminal fiasco, there will be nothing left of Israeli soccer to save."