R Berland off the hook again in Holland

ANT KATZ

A Dutch court has again refused to accept Israel’s case against R Eliezer Berland, leader of the Shuvu Bonim Breslov sect, and said it would not set a date for another hearing unless Israel provided more evidence.

The Dutch court’s second refusal to grant Israel’s extradition request (the first was because Israel could not produce a warrant and the second because, although they had a warrant, they had insufficient evidence) against Rabbi Berland, begs the question of how the Israeli authorities had managed to get the Hawks in South Africa to agree to arrest him in August.

The Dutch court announced Monday that it will not comply with the request at this time. The rabbi’s legal team dispelled some of the evidence against the rabbi provided by Israel. The court will request that Israel provide additional proof in order to re-evaluate the case in the future but is unwilling to comply with the extradition request at this time.

In the interim, Rabbi Berland will not be extradited and another hearing will not take place until such time Israel submits additional evidence against him.

After his first conditional release In September, R Berland told the media: “I’m done with Israel – It is the State of Hamas not of the Jews!”

A prominent Israeli lawyer had been sent to Amsterdam by the Shuvu Bonim and he recruited two local lawyers. After his release, Rav Berland had a lot to say to the media, including: “(Dutch) Police said all the complaints about me are ‘Bubba Maisas’, there is nothing there.”

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R Berland and many of his followers arrived in Johannesburg in April after being evicted from Zimbabwe for overstaying their three-month welcome there.

During a five-month long highly controversial stay in SA he was making mainstream media headlines weekly and Jewish media news almost daily. After four months, just weeks after R Berland had renewed his three-month tourist visa, the Hawks issued a warrant of arrest for Berland which they said was at the behest of the Israeli Government. Two botched attempts to arrest him followed after which the rabbi, his wife and a friend walked through customs at ORT Airport onto a KLM a commercial airliner headed for Holland.

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 By the time R Berland landed at Schiphol, the Dutch police were waiting to arrest him, also at the behest of Israel. The problem was, it seemed, the Israelis could show the Dutch court no warrant from Israel – where he was supposedly wanted for questioning with regard to an alleged sexual impropriety. Sorry, said the Dutch Court – comeback with a warrant – and promptly released R Berland on his own recognisances (but without his passport).

Immediately after Berland’s original arrest, a prominent Israeli lawyer, Sharon Nahari, was sent by his Shuvu Bonim followers to Amsterdam where he recruited local Dutch lawyers, Louis de Leon and Herman Levenstein – the latter was deeply involved in preventing Holland’s parliament from outlawing shechita in 2012.