Top Israeli haredi rabbis have reportedly signed a public letter forbidding the extradition of Yitzchak Shuchat, a Chabad hasid who fled Brooklyn for Israel after allegedly beating a Black honors student in a Crown Heights hate crime.
Top Israeli Haredi Rabbis Tell Justice Minister Not To Extradite Chabad Hasid Wanted In US For Hate Crime
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Top Israeli haredi rabbis have signed a public letter
forbidding the extradition of Yitzchak Shuchat, a Chabad hasid who fled
Brooklyn for Israel after allegedly beating a Black honors student in a Crown Heights hate crime, Behadrei Haredim reported.
Shuchat has fought extradition all the way to Israel’s High Court of Justice but lost. Just over two weeks ago the High Court ruled that Shuchat should be extradited. A lower court in Israel ruled in favor of Shuchat’s extradition last year.
However, for the extradition to be final, Israel’s Justice Minister – Ya’akov Ne’eman, an Orthodox Jew who has expressed his desire for Israel to become a theocratic state – must sign the extradition order. By law that can take place any time from 12 to 60 days after receiving the High Court’s ruling.
Shuchat is alleged to have beaten a Black high school honors student as he walked home from school through the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. The district attorney charged Shuchat – who fled the US, allegedly with Chabad’s hel – with a hate crime.
Shuchat’s family is trying to pressure Ne’eman and the haredi and Orthodox public to prevent the extradition.
The rabbis who have so far reportedly signed the letter forbidding Shuchat’s extradition include haredi leader Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman; the Shevet Levi, Rabbi Shmuel HaLevi Wosner; Sefardi haredi leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef; and Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky.