Satmar Crusader against Molestation Says Bleach Was Splashed in His Face, Following Nechemya Weberman’s Landmark Sex Abuse Conviction

By Oren Yaniv
New York Daily News
December 11, 2012

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/satmar-anti-molestation-crusader-bleach-face-article-1.1218045#ixzz2EnIjBdks

Nuchem Rosenberg speaks outside Woodhull Hospital Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012 after being treated for what was apparently bleach thrown in his face earlier that afternoon.

A Hasidic activist who has crusaded against perverts in the ultra-orthodox Jewish community said he was splashed with bleach by an enemy in a violent act of street retribution Tuesday.

Nathan (Nuchem) Rosenberg, 62, said the vicious attack was linked the the bombshell sex abuse conviction Monday of prominent Satmar sect counselor Nechemya Weberman.

Rosenberg attended every day of the trial to support the victim.

"Because of the Weberman case, everything is upside down," he said. "Everybody is crazy."

Rosenberg, who suffered an internal eye burn that limited his vision, runs an information phone line that often names alleged molesters. He said he was walking down Roebling St. in Williamsburg, Brooklyn around noon when he was approached by another man.

"He taps on my shoulder, he says 'whoops' and throws it in my face," Rosenberg recounted after spending three hours at Woodhull Medical Center.

Rosenberg identified the alleged assailant as the son of a man he has accused of abusing boys. Cops were looking for the man Tuesday afternoon, sources said.

The victim's account was confirmed by Primo Santiago, 65, a liquor store owner who witnessed the attack from outside his store.

Santiago told the Daily News he saw someone run across the street with a cup, splash its contents and run away.

Rosenberg insisted the Weberman verdict led to the violence. The guilty verdict has spooked Hasidic community members who "thought for sure (Weberman was) going to walk away, said the outspoken activist, who also blogs against molestation.

A Brooklyn jury found Weberman, 54, guilty of 59 counts of sex abuse against a child, ruling that he violated a teenage girl for three years, starting when she was 12.

The conviction, which carries a maximum sentence of 117 years, sent shockwaves through the insular Williamsburg-based Satmar sect of Judaism.

Rosenberg said he started advocating for sex abuse victims seven years ago and has been booted multiple synagogues since then.

"There is no peaceful day in my life," he told The News on Tuesday. "I'm very much afraid."

— With Amanda Mikelberg

Contact: oyaniv@nydailynews.com