Eliezar Berland, head of
the Shuvu Banim sect, has been accused of committing indecent acts against
several young female followers. Shortly after he fled the country his son and
several other followers were arrested on suspicion of fraud and money
laundering involving the sect's finances.
A source in the Shuvu
Banim movement told the hareidi news outlet Kikar Hashabat that
Berland would be forced to leave Morocco in the near future because local
authorities were not pleased at the fact that dozens of his followers had
arrived in the country with the intention of staying permanently.
“Dozens of people were
coming each week, and hundreds were planning to come on Hannukah… It created an
unsustainable situation,” the source claimed.
Shuvu Banim’s leaders
and Moroccan authorities decided together that the best solution would be for Berland
to leave, he added.
However, Moroccan media
sources said the King had decided to expel Berland after reading a report that
explicitly detailed the charges against him. The king ordered the Shuvu Banim
sect to leave immediately, they reported.
Berland had apparently
planned to remain in the country permanently and rebuild his sect’s various
institutions there rather than face the police in Israel.
It is not clear where
Shuvu Banim plans to go next. The group is looking for a country that does not
have an extradition treaty with Israel, but is also open to accepting dozens of
Hassidic Jews as citizens.
Shuvu Banim made the
papers earlier this year when the movements political “dealers” attempted to
cut a deal with the Palestinian Authority to allow Jews to pray more frequently
at Kever Yosef (the tomb of the Biblical patriarch Joseph) near Shechem.
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