Mondrowitz – When Justice Failed

You'll excuse the comparison, because the alleged crimes are very different, but the inability of the international legal system in over twenty years to bring Abraham Mondrowitz to justice, reminds me of the failure to bring John Demjanjuk to justice.

In both cases, the international legal system, involving extraditions (Israel, USA) and the abject failures of courts on both sides of the Atlantic to deliver justice, have only delivered humiliation for all those who fight for a victim's right to see justice done, and to have the chance to attempt closure, even decades later.

According to The Awareness Center's file on Mondrowitz, he was born in Tel Aviv in 1947 and later moved with his family to Chicago. He is the son of a prominent rabbi.  In the late 1970's Mondrowitz moved to Brooklyn, NY and in the late 1970s presented himself to Orthodox educational institutions as a rabbi and clinical psychologist.

While in New York Mondrowitz provided psychological treatment to children from the mixed Jewish-Italian Borough Park neighborhood where he lived. He also opened a yeshiva for children with behavioral problems.

Four children, all from Italian families and all neighbors of Mondrowitz, complained of sexual abuse perpetrated by Mondrowitz. Jewish victims also eventually testified against him, but only after the statute of limitations had expired.

After many delays (and claims that the Charles Hynes the DA was attempting to 'disappear' the case, in deference to the influential Borough Park community), in 1985 a New York State court charged Mondrowitz with eight counts of child abuse in the first degree, endangering the welfare of a child and five counts of sodomy in the first degree.

Mondrowitz and his family fled to Jerusalem after a warrant was issued for his arrest.

At the time of the indictment, sodomy of boys was not an extraditable crime, since it was not defined as rape under Israeli law. In 1988, the Knesset changed that law, apparently opening the way for Mondrowitz's extradition.

In recent years, more of Mondrowitz' Jewish alleged victims have come forward, especially since the use of blogs and forums has allowed those victims to disclose information and network, without being required to reveal their identities.

Survivors for Justice was established by Ben Hirsch, and rallied abuse survivors of Jewish pedophiles and assembled advocacy resources. Survivors for Justice have been particularly active in tracking down Mondrowitz and promoting an aggressive legal approach to finally bringing him from Israel, to face court in the USA.

It's now 2010, 25 years after the legal system originally stepped in to stop Mondrowitz from allegedly attacking and raping children.

This past Thursday, the Supreme Court in Israel accepted Mondrowitz's appeal against extradition, on the grounds that the statute of limitations had run out, and therefore his right to due process would be compromised in the USA.

This is a devastating blow to those who have waited and fought for over two decades for this alleged pedophile Abraham Mondrowtiz to face a criminal trial, and for his numerous reported victims to finally give their testimony.