“[Breslov Rabbi Eliezer] Berland was the last straw; he really had to go,” said Sam Ben Chetrit, president of the World Federation of Moroccan Jewry. “Morocco’s emergence as the go-to place for the Israeli mafia is very bad for Muslim-Jewish relations there, and many Moroccan Jews know it. The last thing we need is a suspected sex offender.”
Rabbi Eliezer Berland
Rabbi Eliezer Berland's hideout in Morocco ended last month after local Jews were aghast to find out the 'esteemed' Breslov hasidic leader was actually wanted by police in Israel for alleged sex crimes committed there against several of his young female followers – most of whom were married at the time the alleged sexual assaults took place and some of whom were minors.
Morocco forced Berland to leave – and it now appears to have done so in part because local Jews apparently asked the king to give Berland the boot.
Now the JTA reports that Morocco has become a haven against its will in recent years to Israeli criminals fleeing justice.
Those criminals includie Shalom Domrani – who was recently arrested in Israel on extortion and election fraud charges for allegedly trying to throw the local Netivot mayoral election with his friend Rabbi Yoram Abergel (also spelled Abergil and Aberjil), whose distant cousin heads the Aberjil crime family in Israel – and other Israeli mobsters:
……The [the flood of dozens of Breslov hasidim who moved to Morocco to be with Berland] has helped focus attention on the presence of dozens of Israeli fugitives who have fled to this North African kingdom in recent years, prompting fears for the well-being of Morocco’s 4,000 Jews, who have traditionally maintained a low profile in a country ruled by a moderate monarch locked in a quiet power struggle with an Islamist-led parliament.
“Berland was the last straw; he really had to go,” said Sam Ben Chetrit, president of the World Federation of Moroccan Jewry. “Morocco’s emergence as the go-to place for the Israeli mafia is very bad for Muslim-Jewish relations there, and many Moroccan Jews know it. The last thing we need is a suspected sex offender.”
Israeli police estimate that Morocco is home to several dozen Israelis with mafia ties who have invested more than $20 million in the Moroccan economy. Among those who have settled permanently or temporarily in Morocco are Meir Abergil, a convicted extortionist and leader of the Abergil crime family; suspected drug smuggler Moshe Elgrably; and Shalom Domrani, who Israeli police believe was the dominant figure in organized crime in southern Israel.
In Israel, Domrani and Abergil were rivals involved in bloody score-settling, according to Amir Zohar, the crime reporter for Israel’s Globes financial daily. But in Morocco, Zohar said the two coexist peacefully.
“With the right papers, they can get a Moroccan passport if they stay for a few months in Morocco,” Ben Chetrit said.
Berland has a long history of associating with criminals. According to Zvi Mark, a scholar of Hasidic movements at Bar-Ilan University, many of Berland’s early followers were secular Israelis with criminal records and violent histories.
Several Moroccan sources told JTA that Berland was helped in Marrakech by Gabi Ben Harosh, a former money launderer and organized crime figure who avoided prison in Los Angeles by turning state’s witness. Ben Harosh and Berland were often seen praying together in Morocco. According to some accounts, Ben Harosh helped Berland organize his trip to Zimbabwe [where his is currently living].…
The JTA piece is chock full of quotes like the following from local Moroccan Jews who do not want the Israeli mobsters to be in the country:
“I get a very bad feeling when I hear of the arrival of a rabbi suspected of sex offenses and criminals linked to killings,” Maguy Kakon, a Moroccan Jewish businesswoman from Casablanca and the leader of a small centrist political party, told Israel’s Channel 2 news. “Jews were never suspected of murder or rape here. We are well respected. I won’t let them destroy that.”