ISRAEL
Jerusalem Post
The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court approved the plea bargain agreed by the State Attorney’s Jerusalem branch and Rabbi Eliezer Berland, in which the rabbi pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault.
Berland was sentenced to 18 months incarceration for his sexual attacks on two women, as well as his instructions to assault the husband of one of the women he sexually assaulted.
Following his sentencing, the rabbi apologized in court for his actions.
“For my deeds in the days of the Bible I would have been stoned and burned, but today laws are different – there are leniencies,” said Berland.
“I regret from the depths of my heart any harm of mine against a man or woman, that was caused directly or indirectly.”
Berland was also given a suspended sentence of 14 months and will have to pay two of his victims NIS 25,000 each and NIS 5,000 to the husband of the complainant who he ordered to be beaten by his followers.
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