Israel Police forces raided the homes of three members of the Shuvu Banim organization in Jerusalem on Sunday morning and arrested two men and one woman suspected of being involved in two murder cases from over 30 years ago.
Following their arrest, the suspects, all in their 60s, were taken for questioning by the Central Unit in the Jerusalem District. The police stated that additional arrests are expected to take place in the near future.
The cases made major headlines in Israel in the 1980s and 90s and in recent weeks there have been major breakthroughs in the investigation.
The first case is the disappearance of 17-year-old Nissim Shitrit, who was a resident of the Sanhedria neighborhood of Jerusalem and has been missing since 1986 when he left his home after receiving a phone call. He was believed to have been murdered by members of the “Mishmeres HaTznius.” Prior to his disappearance, he had been attacked by members of the Mishmeres and had filed a complaint with the police.
The second case is the murder of Avi Edri, the menahel of a yeshivah who was found murdered with signs of severe violence on his body in 1990. It is believed that he was also murdered by the members of the Mishmeres HaTznius.
Last week, a Kikar H’Shabbat report said that plainclothes police investigators and forensic investigators have been spotted in recent weeks at various sites in and around Jerusalem, apparently gathering evidence for the investigation.
A restraining order has been issued on the details of the investigation, including the identity of the suspects.
Shuvu Banim is led by Rabbi Eliezer Berland who was convicted in 2016 after admitting to two counts of indecent acts and one “assault.” In June, he was convicted on charges of fraud, exploitation, attempted intimidation, tax offenses and money laundering.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
7 Responses
Why am I not surprised?
Is the Israeli prison system waterboarding Rav Eliezer Berman shlita who is informing on loyal followers to save his own skin?
What is the difference between a conviction of assault and a conviction of “assault”?
Our generation is in serious trouble. We can definitely benefit greatly from watchdog groups that help protect our kedusha, tznius, kashrus, etc. Sadly, many othe groups established under the banner or upping the kedusha of Klal Yisroel have been staffed by and run by true low lifes whose real missions had nothing to do with kedusha, and were rather dominated by tum’ah and rish’us. This proved true in E”Y, and this organization demonstrates that. It was true in Brooklyn, where people who supposedly preserved kedusha trashed it in really ugly ways. We need to be able to trust the leaders in the community, especially those charged with safeguarding kedusha. However, we are watching the playbook of the yetzer horah that has the worst forces masquerading as holy. May Hashem protect us all, and free us of the nisayon that tempts us with kedusha while providing the opposite.
Why did it take them 30 years to arrest the suspects??
What’s the heter for this loshen Horah?
The heter for this “loshon harah” is the toeles of publicizing the prosecution of justice. That people should see that in Israel, if s/o commits murder, ch’v, it won’t just be the Eibishter who will punish (“maybe in this world, maybe the next, maybe it was really mutar like my leader or the voices in my head say, … “), but rather people should know POLICE WILL COME TO YOUR DOOR AND BRING YOU TO TRIAL!
צדק צדק תרדוף