The King of Morocco plans to expel a Breslov hasidic leader, Rabbi
Eliezar Berland, who fled Israel after being accused of multiple sex
crimes against young women, some of whom were minors at the time of the assaults.
Rabbi Eliezer Berland
Morocco To Expel Alleged Sex Abuser Hasidic Rabbi On The Lam From Israeli Justice
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
The King of Morocco plans to expel a Breslov hasidic leader, Rabbi Eliezar Berland, who fled Israel after being accused of multiple sex crimes against young women, Arutz Sheva reported. Some of Berland’s alleged victims were minors at the time of the assaults.
After Berland fled Israel less than a year ago his son and several other followers were arrested on fraud and money laundering charges directly linked to Berland’s Shuvu Banim institutions.
Berland allegedly will be forced to leave Morocco because Moroccan authorities were upset that dozens of his followers traveled to Morocco to visit Berland but then did not return to Israel, and as more hasidim came to visit, more chose to stay and live in the moderate Arab country.
“Dozens of people were coming each week, and hundreds were planning to come on Hannukah…It created an unsustainable situation,” a source in Shuvu Banim reportedly told the haredi news website Kikar HaShabbat. The source also reportedly claimed that Shuvu Banim’s leadership and Moroccan authorities decided together that the best solution to this problem would be for Berland to leave the country.
But Moroccan media sources reported that the King of Morocco decided to expel Berland and his sect immediately after reading a detailed report on the charges against him.
Berland had planned to remain in the Morocco permanently, rebuilding his sect’s yeshivas, schools and synagogues there. He was also reportedly afraid to travel outside Morocco for fear that he would be arrested and sent back to Israel under and international arrest warrant.
Now Berland and his Shuvu Banim sect are reportedly looking for a country without an extradition treaty with Israel that will accept them.