Child molestor sues N.Y. rabbi over tweets
USA Today
Adrienne Sanders and Lee Higgins
4 August 2016
Yona Weinberg, who now lives in Jerusalem in a New York police photo from July 8, 2014
(photo: New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services).
A child molester who moved from New York to Israel as he was being sought on a new misdemeanor assault charge turned to the Israeli court system to quiet a New York rabbi intent on spreading the word about his crimes.
Yona Weinberg, who spent roughly a year in jail for sexually abusing two boys in Brooklyn, lost his bid Tuesday in an Israeli court for an order of protection against Rabbi Yakov Horowitz, dean of Yeshiva Darchei Noam here.
Horowitz had been visiting Jerusalem to teach a child-safety class in Weinberg’s neighborhood. The order would have prevented the rabbi from lecturing there because the community center where he was teaching is within a third of a mile of Weinberg’s home.
The bid for the protection order followed Weinberg’s filing a defamation lawsuit against the rabbi, who put out tweets warning Weinberg’s neighbors in Israel of his presence. The lawsuit is pending.
TIMELINE: Weinberg's record of bullying and abuse
Horowitz said he won’t be intimidated by Weinberg, who used his position as a bar mitzvah tutor to gain access to his 12- and 13-year-old victims. He also sees the fight as part of a larger effort to thwart others from exposing sex offenders and warning potential victims.
The Israeli legal maneuverings are key to this tactic, he said.
“If you care about the personal safety of children, these lawsuits should trouble you deeply,” Horowitz wrote on his blog. “For, make no mistake, if these outrageous lawsuits are permitted to continue, fewer and fewer people will be posting warnings when convicted sex offenders move near you or those you love.”
Horowitz has spent 13 years advocating for child sex-abuse victims in the Orthodox Jewish community and has written several books on child safety and parenting.
“I think this is a test case,” he said. “I am not giving up.”
Just hours after having to appear in court in Jerusalem, Horowitz taught his child-safety class to 200 people. Weinberg unsuccessfully argued that Horowitz would incite community violence against him and his family, the rabbi said.
Samuel Karliner, a Brooklyn lawyer who helped Weinberg comply with sex-offender registry requirements while he was in the United States, said Weinberg was fed up with the rabbi, who has been disrupting his life.
“He didn’t bring this suit as an aggressor,” Karliner said. “He brought this suit to stop things from happening."
Karliner is not representing Weinberg in the Israeli suit.
Yona Weinberg, who spent roughly a year in jail for sexually abusing two boys in Brooklyn, lost his bid Tuesday in an Israeli court for an order of protection against Rabbi Yakov Horowitz, dean of Yeshiva Darchei Noam here.
Horowitz had been visiting Jerusalem to teach a child-safety class in Weinberg’s neighborhood. The order would have prevented the rabbi from lecturing there because the community center where he was teaching is within a third of a mile of Weinberg’s home.
The bid for the protection order followed Weinberg’s filing a defamation lawsuit against the rabbi, who put out tweets warning Weinberg’s neighbors in Israel of his presence. The lawsuit is pending.
TIMELINE: Weinberg's record of bullying and abuse
Horowitz said he won’t be intimidated by Weinberg, who used his position as a bar mitzvah tutor to gain access to his 12- and 13-year-old victims. He also sees the fight as part of a larger effort to thwart others from exposing sex offenders and warning potential victims.
The Israeli legal maneuverings are key to this tactic, he said.
“If you care about the personal safety of children, these lawsuits should trouble you deeply,” Horowitz wrote on his blog. “For, make no mistake, if these outrageous lawsuits are permitted to continue, fewer and fewer people will be posting warnings when convicted sex offenders move near you or those you love.”
Horowitz has spent 13 years advocating for child sex-abuse victims in the Orthodox Jewish community and has written several books on child safety and parenting.
“I think this is a test case,” he said. “I am not giving up.”
Just hours after having to appear in court in Jerusalem, Horowitz taught his child-safety class to 200 people. Weinberg unsuccessfully argued that Horowitz would incite community violence against him and his family, the rabbi said.
Samuel Karliner, a Brooklyn lawyer who helped Weinberg comply with sex-offender registry requirements while he was in the United States, said Weinberg was fed up with the rabbi, who has been disrupting his life.
“He didn’t bring this suit as an aggressor,” Karliner said. “He brought this suit to stop things from happening."
Karliner is not representing Weinberg in the Israeli suit.
Rabbi Yakov Horowitz: "I consider myself a humble spokesperson for the people who don't have a voice and I feel obligated to speak out." (Photo: Peter Carr, The (Westchester County, N.Y. Journal News).
Lawsuit over tweets
Weinberg’s lawsuit takes issue with the content of Horowitz’s tweets. On Twitter, Horowitz warned Weinberg’s neighbors of his Level 3 sex-offender status in New York, a designation for those most likely to re-offend.
Horowitz contends that many didn’t know of Weinberg’s conviction because Israel doesn’t have a public sex-offender registry.
An email from Magen, a child-protection agency in Israel, prompted his involvement. It warned that Weinberg settled in Jerusalem’s Har Nof neighborhood, home to thousands of children.
Horowitz, who regularly shares information on sex offenders’ whereabouts, tweeted about it. In general, he said the close-knit nature of the Orthodox Jewish community, which can be so mutually supportive in many circumstances, can also lead to denial and disbelief.
In January 2015, when Horowitz became concerned that some residents weren’t taking adequate precautions, he wrote, “Har Nof residents, Convicted sex offender Yona Weinberg is LEVEL 3. Treat him as a terrorist with a machete.”
Six people were killed in a bloody 2014 attack on a Har Nof synagogue by men wielding axes, knives and guns. Horowitz said he invoked the incident to make a crucial point: Weinberg was extremely dangerous to children.
“I believe, personally, if a child has been molested, it’s almost a death sentence,” he said. “When children get violated, it’s not just that they’re just messed around with, their lives are changed forever.”
Weinberg’s suit claims the rabbi went too far.
“How dare Horowitz use the Har Nof massacre, when everyone is on high alert, to compare my client to such people?” wrote Weinberg’s lawyer, Eitan Lehman.
Weinberg contends that the tweets have ruined his peace and caused people to photograph and bother him. He denied fleeing the United States, saying he simply moved to Israel as previously planned.
“How can you slander a sex offender?” asked Horowitz, who also is founder and director a mentor program for at-risk teens called the Center for Jewish Family Life/Project Youth Enrichment Services. “If somebody is out there (molesting) children, how do you ruin his reputation?”
In June 2015, a $55,000 default judgment was issued against Horowitz after he didn’t show up in court in Israel, unaware he was being sued. He said the judgment was removed, but the case is set to go to trial in November.
In Israel, a plaintiff can win a defamation suit by showing that negative things have been said or written about him. But unlike in the United States, he does not have to prove his reputation, livelihood or social standing have been harmed, according to legal experts.
The Weinberg case
Weinberg was a licensed social worker and bar mitzvah tutor in Brooklyn who was convicted in 2009 of molesting the two boys. New York City police are seeking him on a misdemeanor charge that he physically assaulted a third child, shoving and elbowing him into a coat rack and hurting his back, according to records obtained by The Journal News.
The child had filed an earlier molestation complaint against Weinberg with the police, but the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office did not charge him in that instance.
Karliner said Horowitz tells people at schools, synagogues and community centers in Israel not to associate with his client.
“Horowitz does everything he can to ruin this man’s life,” Karliner said, noting that his client is married and has young children. “I don’t know the value of destroying grade-school children’s lives for a misdemeanor conviction of their father.”
Karliner said he’s not aware of any charges against his client, but if Weinberg were charged, he would surrender.
“In the event he returns to New York, he will be charged,” said spokesman Oren Yaniv of the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.
Since Horowitz has been writing about Weinberg, two men have come forward with complaints, alleging Weinberg acted inappropriately around them when they were children.
Sex offenders in Israel
It’s unlikely that Weinberg would be extradited on a misdemeanor charge, experts say. He is one of many Jewish pedophiles from around the world who have moved to Israel.
The country’s Law of Return offers an open door to anyone who is Jewish to come to Israel without a rigorous background check, said Manny Waks, founder of Kol v’Oz, an Israel-based nonprofit that aims to prevent child sexual abuse among Jews worldwide. Passed in 1950, the law grants automatic Israeli citizenship to those who meet the nation’s definition of a Jew.
“While the vast majority of Jews are law-abiding citizens and immigrate to Israel for legitimate reasons, some do exploit the system,” Waks said.
Karliner said Weinberg wasn’t fleeing from law enforcement.
“My client left the United States with consent and knowledge of the New York City Police Department, with the Israeli government knowing that he was coming, with the Israeli government knowing his background,” he said.
Horowitz, who faces thousands of dollars in legal fees, in addition to the threat of a judgement against him, pledged to continue his defense to protect families who have a right to know a predator is in their midst.
“I will fight to the end,” he said.
Originally published at USA Today.
Weinberg’s lawsuit takes issue with the content of Horowitz’s tweets. On Twitter, Horowitz warned Weinberg’s neighbors of his Level 3 sex-offender status in New York, a designation for those most likely to re-offend.
Horowitz contends that many didn’t know of Weinberg’s conviction because Israel doesn’t have a public sex-offender registry.
An email from Magen, a child-protection agency in Israel, prompted his involvement. It warned that Weinberg settled in Jerusalem’s Har Nof neighborhood, home to thousands of children.
Horowitz, who regularly shares information on sex offenders’ whereabouts, tweeted about it. In general, he said the close-knit nature of the Orthodox Jewish community, which can be so mutually supportive in many circumstances, can also lead to denial and disbelief.
In January 2015, when Horowitz became concerned that some residents weren’t taking adequate precautions, he wrote, “Har Nof residents, Convicted sex offender Yona Weinberg is LEVEL 3. Treat him as a terrorist with a machete.”
Six people were killed in a bloody 2014 attack on a Har Nof synagogue by men wielding axes, knives and guns. Horowitz said he invoked the incident to make a crucial point: Weinberg was extremely dangerous to children.
“I believe, personally, if a child has been molested, it’s almost a death sentence,” he said. “When children get violated, it’s not just that they’re just messed around with, their lives are changed forever.”
Weinberg’s suit claims the rabbi went too far.
“How dare Horowitz use the Har Nof massacre, when everyone is on high alert, to compare my client to such people?” wrote Weinberg’s lawyer, Eitan Lehman.
Weinberg contends that the tweets have ruined his peace and caused people to photograph and bother him. He denied fleeing the United States, saying he simply moved to Israel as previously planned.
“How can you slander a sex offender?” asked Horowitz, who also is founder and director a mentor program for at-risk teens called the Center for Jewish Family Life/Project Youth Enrichment Services. “If somebody is out there (molesting) children, how do you ruin his reputation?”
In June 2015, a $55,000 default judgment was issued against Horowitz after he didn’t show up in court in Israel, unaware he was being sued. He said the judgment was removed, but the case is set to go to trial in November.
In Israel, a plaintiff can win a defamation suit by showing that negative things have been said or written about him. But unlike in the United States, he does not have to prove his reputation, livelihood or social standing have been harmed, according to legal experts.
The Weinberg case
Weinberg was a licensed social worker and bar mitzvah tutor in Brooklyn who was convicted in 2009 of molesting the two boys. New York City police are seeking him on a misdemeanor charge that he physically assaulted a third child, shoving and elbowing him into a coat rack and hurting his back, according to records obtained by The Journal News.
The child had filed an earlier molestation complaint against Weinberg with the police, but the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office did not charge him in that instance.
Karliner said Horowitz tells people at schools, synagogues and community centers in Israel not to associate with his client.
“Horowitz does everything he can to ruin this man’s life,” Karliner said, noting that his client is married and has young children. “I don’t know the value of destroying grade-school children’s lives for a misdemeanor conviction of their father.”
Karliner said he’s not aware of any charges against his client, but if Weinberg were charged, he would surrender.
“In the event he returns to New York, he will be charged,” said spokesman Oren Yaniv of the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.
Since Horowitz has been writing about Weinberg, two men have come forward with complaints, alleging Weinberg acted inappropriately around them when they were children.
Sex offenders in Israel
It’s unlikely that Weinberg would be extradited on a misdemeanor charge, experts say. He is one of many Jewish pedophiles from around the world who have moved to Israel.
The country’s Law of Return offers an open door to anyone who is Jewish to come to Israel without a rigorous background check, said Manny Waks, founder of Kol v’Oz, an Israel-based nonprofit that aims to prevent child sexual abuse among Jews worldwide. Passed in 1950, the law grants automatic Israeli citizenship to those who meet the nation’s definition of a Jew.
“While the vast majority of Jews are law-abiding citizens and immigrate to Israel for legitimate reasons, some do exploit the system,” Waks said.
Karliner said Weinberg wasn’t fleeing from law enforcement.
“My client left the United States with consent and knowledge of the New York City Police Department, with the Israeli government knowing that he was coming, with the Israeli government knowing his background,” he said.
Horowitz, who faces thousands of dollars in legal fees, in addition to the threat of a judgement against him, pledged to continue his defense to protect families who have a right to know a predator is in their midst.
“I will fight to the end,” he said.
Originally published at USA Today.