Guilty: Rabbi Motti Elon Convicted of Sexual Assault

By Yori Yanover
The Jewish Press
August 7, 2013

http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/guilty-rabbi-motti-elon-convicted-of-sexual-assault/2013/08/07/

Three years after the scandal exploded, shaking up the Religious Zionist movement, a magistrate court in Jerusalem found Rabbi Motti Elon, scion of an exulted family of scholars and public servants, and himself a charismatic teacher and leader, guilty of sex crimes.

Any attempt to argue as if I ever admitted such an act is a despicable lie," was Rabbi Elon's initial response to the allegations.

Three years after the scandal exploded, shaking up the Religious Zionist movement, a magistrate court in Jerusalem found Rabbi Motti Elon, scion of an exulted family of scholars and public servants, and himself a charismatic teacher and leader, guilty of sexual assault on a minor. The indictment against Rabbi Elon charged him with indecent assault and indecent assault against a minor using his position as the victim’s mentor. Another young man who initially wanted to testify about crimes committed against him recanted during the trial, and the State Attorney was forced to delete some of the charges against the defendant. The prosecution said in the indictment that the alleged acts were perpetrated against a young man in distress, but Rabbi Elon said he did not recall any such a meeting and argued that even if there were such a meeting, all he must have done was hug the young man and stroke his face with affection, the way he used to hug all his students, and not because of sexual stimulation. The affair was being managed initially by the Takana forum, a group of rabbis and politicians dealing with incidents of sexual irregularities in the National Religious population. Its purpose is to investigate problematic cases before they mushroom into big scandals, and to employ education and social pressure to bring a halt to cases that could end up in the headlines. But lest the habitual attackers of religious Jews start crying cover-up, according to Takana, they acted in the case in complete cooperation with the Attorney General’s office, as early as 2006, and the A.G. gave his blessings to their attempt to avoid media attention to a case that had a chance to be resolved quietly. And so, in 2010, Takana came out with a public report about complaints they had accumulated, attributing events to Rabbi Motti Elon contact of a sexual nature, over several years, with young people who sought his counsel. According to Takana members, Rabbi Elon confessed before them the acts that were attributed to him, and undertook to retire from public life and go into exile from Jerusalem to the Migdal community near the Kinneret, because of “acts that are contrary to the values ​​of sanctity and morality.” The Takana Forum message that revealed the entire affair came after Rabbi Elon had broken his commitment to them and continued to counsel young people. Takana decided to publicize the allegations and the complaints, shocking a public that only remembered the good rabbi from his pre-Shabbat show on Friday afternoon, and recalled his brother the MK and his father the Supreme Court Justice. Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein ordered the police to look into the allegations against Rabbi Elon, who denied everything. “Any attempt to argue as if I ever admitted such an act is a despicable lie,” was Rabbi Elon’s initial response to the Takana Forum allegations. Almost a year after the affair was exposed, and after Rabbi Elon refused a plea bargain, an indictment against him was filed which included two charges of sexual offenses committed against two complainants, both minors, in 2003 and 2005.