Shuvu Banim sect Breslov hasidic leader Rabbi Eliezer Berland would like you to know two things – first that he’s impotent and couldn’t have sexually abused the women and girl who are is accusers, and second that he’s a Holocaust survivor who was injured and sickened in Nazi death camps and still suffers from those injures and illnesses today. The problem is, both of those claims by the 77-year-old Berland appear to be false.
Above: Rabbi Eliezer Berland in handcuffs in Zimbabwe last year
Hasidic Rabbi Allegedly Fakes Being A Holocaust Survivor In Bid To Escape Extradition For Alleged Sex Crimes
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
He’s fled through almost a dozen countries in a more than 2-year-long attempt to evade sex crime allegations in Israel. He was expelled from Morocco, arrested and expelled from Zimbabwe, and twice escaped police arrests in South Africa before finally being arrested in Amsterdam’s Schiphol a few days before Rosh Hashana.
And now that a Dutch court seems to be about to extradite him to Israel to stand trial, Shuvu Banim sect Breslov hasidic leader Rabbi Eliezer Berland would like you to know two things – first that he’s impotent and couldn’t have sexually abused the women and girl who are is accusers, and second that he’s a Holocaust survivor who was injured and sickened in Nazi death camps and still suffers from those injures and illnesses today.
The problem is, both of those claims by the 77-year-old Berland appear to be false.
Even though Berland told Volkskrant, a Dutch newspaper, and the court that he is a Holocaust survivor, Berland was actually born in pre-state Israel – not Europe.
Berland reportedly told Volkskrant reporter Harmen Bockma this week.
“He told me he was born in Israel but traveled to Germany to visit relatives and ended up in Buchenwald in 1943. He recalled sleeping on the cold concrete floor and said that he still suffers from pain in his legs as a result,” Bokma told the JTA.
Bokma’s interview with Berland was published a day after International Holocaust Memorial Day, which was also the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
The JTA reports that the various official biographies of Berland “contain no reference to the Holocaust.”
Bar Ilan University’s Zvi Mark is a scholar of hasidic movements and knows Berland personally and knows Berland’s family history. He said he is not aware of anything that supports the claim that Berland is a Holocaust survivor.
“To the best of my knowledge, this account is unfounded,” Mark reportedly said.
Berland also reportedly told Volkskrant and the court that Israel was persecuting him because he has favorable views of Palestinians – another claim that is almost certainly false.
The Dutch Ministry of Justice was Berland to be extradited.
The Dutch court is slated to rule on Berland’s case in mid-February.
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Berland Claims To Be Impotent, Says Couldn't Have Sexually Assauted Women And Girl.