Teens meeting in Internet chat rooms is nothing new. But a scandal involving two such teens is making international headlines because it involves the family of Israel’s Sephardi chief rabbi.
The rabbi, Shlomo Amar, said in a statement Sunday that he was not involved in the bizarre kidnapping and physical assault of an Internet acquaintance of his daughter. The boy is a fervently Orthodox 17-year-old from B’nai Brak.
Police arrested Amar’s wife, Mazal; their 18-year-old daughter Ayala; and their 31-year-old son, Meir, for their alleged roles in the incident. Mazal and Ayala Amar are under house arrest.
According to Israeli news reports, the family decided to take action against the boy because they were opposed to his relationship with Ayala.
The alleged relationship between the two, which began in a chat room several months ago, reportedly had led to several platonic dates. In the religious world, such meetings go against strict religious prohibitions limiting contact between single members of the opposite sex.
When Ayala continued the friendship despite family protests, her mother reportedly got in touch with Meir, who has been estranged from the family since he became secular as a teenager, to ask for help finding a solution to the problem.
Meir Amar has a criminal record, according to media reports, and police suspect he may be behind the plot to kidnap and beat the youth.
On Sunday police said they had no evidence against the chief rabbi, but said he most likely would be brought in to give a statement, Army Radio reported.
According to the police, Ayala Amar said she was forced to bring the unidentified youth to a car where her brother and two Israeli Arabs sat waiting. One of the men grabbed the youth at knifepoint and they all drove off together to the Arab village of Kalansua, where the two Israeli Arabs apparently live.
At a house in Kalansua, the youth was allegedly beaten and verbally assaulted for several hours. The youth said his side locks were cut off and yarmulke ripped off his head by his attackers during the beating. He was then allegedly taken to the Amars’ home, where he was beaten again, he told police.
It is not clear whether the chief rabbi or his wife were home at the time. The youth, however, implicated the chief rabbi in his statements to the police.
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