“Minutes before the Hawks came looking”

ANT KATZ

This short video was sent to SAJR Online by followers. They say that the Rabbi and the group are singing the verse “Bring us to Zion your city with song, to Jerusalem Your Holy Temple with eternal joy.”

The video was provided by one of Rabbi Berland’s senior students, Yossi, who told SAJR Online that “This verse has become a common prayer for Rabbi Berland and his followers who wish to see their Rabbi back in Israel teaching Torah.”

An EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with Yossi was published on SAJR Online earlier this week putting the position of rabbi Berland and his followers.

In a note accompanying this video today, Yossi told SAJR that Rav Berland’s followers “say that they are victims of a conspiracy in Israel to get their Rabbi to stop teaching Torah and inspiring secular Israelis to become religious.”

Yossi says that “minutes after the video ends, the Hawks arrive looking for the Rabbi. The followers are sure they were hired by the same thugs who began their efforts to stop the Rabbi from teaching in Israel, continued in Morocco and Zimbabwe with bribes to the Government and police force, and are continuing now in Johannesburg. These thugs,” says Yossi, are “former students of the Rabbi, try using Government and media as a means to stop the Rabbi wherever he may go.”

• Asked for comment today, Chief Rabbi Dr warren Goldstein told SAJR Online that he does not have any further comment at this stage
• SAJR Online has spoken to Hawks spokesman Captain Paul Ramaloka twice and corresponded four times over the past week. While Ramaloka confirmed the Hawks had been involved in some activity but he has not sent SAJR details despite several undertakings to do so