Rabbinical Court in Service of a Ritual Abuse Cover-Up: The Story of Shmuel Eliyahu
In an official video, Shmuel Eliyahu, one of Israel's leading rabbis and a minister's father, offers a rare glimpse into the shady work of his family-run "Rabbinical Court for Victims of Sexual Abuse"
Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, father of Israeli Minister of Heritage Amichay “Nuke ‘em” Eliyahu, is the Chief Rabbi of Safad and one of the most powerful figures in Israel. He and his children lead an empire of rabbinical organizations and institutions, some are part of the state apparatus, others are backed by the state. They hold massive influence across Israeli institutions - media, municipalities, charities, banks - you name it.
During the ongoing genocide in Palestine, Eliyahu has been calling to “Blot out the memory of Amalek”, to shoot random Palestinians on the street (“if you see them and you have even the smallest legal excuse, empty two magazines on them, not just one”), and has worked closely with the most senior figures in the government to advance the annihilation of Gaza.
According to victims’ accounts, Shmuel Eliyahu also leads a ritual pedophilia ring, one of several operating throughout West Bank settlements and within the 48 territories (“Israel proper”). He is both an accomplice and a rival of Rabbi Zvi Thau*, another highly influential rabbi - one of Thau’s disciples, David Zini, is the new head of the Shin Bet.
In a (rather successful) attempt to silence** the voices of victims of sexual abuse - his own and those of other predators - Eliyahu founded the so-called Rabbinical Court for Victims of Sexual Abuse. The court is run by the rabbi’s daughter, and despite not being an official state body, it receives funding and recognition from the state.
The sole aims of the court are to collect testimonies to be used as leverage against Eliyahu’s opponents, prevent the involvement of the police and other official authorities, and keep the names of the perpetrators out of the public eye, thus allowing them to continue the abuse.
In a video posted last October on the official Facebook page of Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu’s Office, meant to exemplify the “importance” of his work on sexual abuse cases, the rabbi spoke with his daughter, Efrat Rabinowitz, director of the Rabbinical Court, about the court’s work.
Eliyahu described how a mother of two yeshiva students came to him and told him that her sons were systematically abusing their sister. His advice to her was to “Break their glasses... Tear their clothes, break a broomstick over them... You must”. According to him, she did that and more, and not only was the abuse stopped, Eliyahu claims, but it had supposedly “healed” the daughter “more than a thousand therapists”.
*Rabbi Thau runs his own ritual abuse ring, which has been harming countless women and children in West Bank settlements for decades, completely uninterrupted. His victims included the late daughter of Israeli minister Orit Strock, Shoshana Strock, a courageous whistleblower who was murdered earlier this year to prevent her from speaking out any further about the horrific abuse she was subjected to for decades, at the hands of some of the most powerful people in the country, including her mother.
**Eliyahu is currently conducting a million-shekel SLAPP suit against one of his victims, Nehama Te’ana, who grew up with Shoshana Strock in the Jewish settlement of Hebron, and has been leading a campaign for the past few years to arrest her main abuser, Rabbi Zvi Thau. Last year she revealed that Shmuel Eliyahu also took part in her decades-long ritual and non-ritual abuse.
Full transcript of Eliyahu’s words in the video:
“A mother came, her two sons are yeshiva students. They hurt their sister, really hurt her systematically.
I told her “When they come home, you hit them, you break their glasses, you tear their clothes, you break a broomstick over them.”
“How can I do that?”
“You want to save them? You want to save your daughter? You must.”
They came home, she did just that and even more. In the end she threw them out of the house, torn clothes, torn suits, and they slept outside, shivering from the cold. Honestly, that was a tiny punishment compared to what they deserve.
After two days she let them into the house crawling. I think she saved their lives. And her daughter’s life.
Sometimes, “he who spares the rod hates his son.” [Proverbs 13:24]
I met her one day and she said to me, “You have no idea, you saved our family.”
Even the daughter, who saw how she behaved toward the boys, it healed her more than a thousand therapists.”