XPost: alt.atheism, soc.culture.israel, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: can.politics   
   From: void@invalid.not   
      
   Bradford Hanson (Editor)   
      
   Jewish Community Watch says 32 paedophiles moved from countries around   
   the world to Israel over past decade   
      
   ACTIVISTS FEAR Israel is becoming a safe haven for paedophiles thanks   
   to the country’s unique Law of Return for the world’s Jewish people.   
      
   A Jewish person from anywhere across the globe can be fast-tracked for   
   citizenship, as well as their spouse, children and grandchildren.   
      
   An 1954 amendment to the law grants bans “a person with a criminal   
   past, likely to endanger public welfare” but campaigners say sex   
   abusers are slipping through the net.   
      
   “Israel is becoming a safe haven for paedophiles due to the unique   
   opportunity available to all Jews from anywhere in the world to   
   immigrate there,” said child abuse survivor Manny Waks, founder of   
   child sex abuse advocacy group Kol V’Oz,   
      
   “This provides a relatively efficient and effective way to evade   
   justice from other countries. It also provides a sanctuary to those   
   who have already been convicted.   
      
   “It’s important to note that while there are some criminal background   
   checks as part of the immigration process, there are multiple ways to   
   overcome this requirement — for example, convicted Jewish paedophiles   
   may enter and remain in Israel as tourists indefinitely.”   
      
   Jewish Community Watch says that 32 paedophiles in their database have   
   moved from countries around the world to Israel over the past decade.   
      
   It says 12 Jewish paedophiles, from across the globe, have moved to   
   countries other than Israel.   
      
   “Education of this issue in the Haredi world is lacking. There are   
   serious shortfalls,” Mr Waks, from Melbourne, told the Times of   
   Israel. “They bring teachers in and out of yeshivas without doing   
   checks.   
      
   “The Israeli government needs to look at this issue to address it,   
   because it is an injustice to the victims and a danger to Israeli   
   children.”   
      
   A text message was reportedly circulated throughout the Ramot   
   neighbourhood of Jerusalem, reporting that a Level 2 sex offender was   
   moving to the area in November.   
      
   The convict escaped arrest by New York police to Israel via Canada in   
   2007 and was charged in his absence with eight counts of sexual   
   intercourse with two 13-year-old children.   
      
   He was reportedly extradited and convicted in 2009 but released in   
   February 2012.   
      
   “People have a right, after they serve their time, to live their   
   life,” said Jewish Community Watch Iseal operations coordinator Shana   
   Aronson.   
      
   “But the community has a right to know who they are. They shouldn’t be   
   vilified any more than is necessary to protect the community.   
      
   “But nothing is more devastating than a repeat offender. It’s   
   infuriating. It could have been prevented.”   
      
   But the methods employed by activists has caused controversy, with the   
   Jerusalem District Court hearing, on Thursday last week, of Yona   
   Weinberg’s libel lawsuit against activist Yakov Horowitz.   
      
   Mr Weinberg, from Brooklyn, New York, who moved to Israel after sex   
   offence convictions, is accusing Mr Horowitz of slander and libel for   
   a tweet he published last year following Mr Weinberg’s move to Israel.   
      
   The Law of Return allows Jews living outside the country, other than   
   those with “a criminal past, likely to endanger public welfare”, to   
   live in Israel.   
      
   “I really genuinely understand and respect that there is great   
   reluctance to tinker with the Law of Return,” said Mr Horowitz.   
      
   “The Law of Return is a beautiful concept, it’s really part of the DNA   
   of the Jewish state. There’s a feeling that if you amend it for sex   
   offenders, what about someone who did domestic violence? Or a Ponzi   
   scheme? Where do you draw the line?”   
      
   But he added that in his opinion “at the very least, the [sex   
   offenders] should be supervised if you’re letting them in”.   
      
   Avi Mayer, spokesman for the Jewish Agency, which brings Jews into   
   Israel, reportedly said that approval for a convicted criminal’s visa   
   depends on “the nature of the crime, when it was committed, and what   
   has transpired in the interim”.   
      
   Mr Mayer also told The Independent: “A convicted sex offender would   
   certainly be [barred from the Law of Return] and would thus be   
   prevented from immigrating to the country.   
      
   “In the rare event that a person ineligible to immigrate under the   
   above provision is nevertheless granted citizenship on an irregular   
   basis, the law enables any individual who considers him, or herself,   
   adversely affected by such a decision to appeal it before the relevant   
   authorities.   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)