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| Benjamin Ze'evi, arrested on suspicion of the murder case of Avraham Edri and Nissim Shitrit 30 years ago, is brought for a court hearing, outside the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court on October 19, 2021. |
New details have emerged involving last week’s indictments of two members of the Shuvu Banim Chasidic sect in the disappearance of Nissim Shitrit.
The identity of the second suspect has been released–the son of former minister Rechavam Ze’evi. Binyamin Ze’evi was indicted Friday along with Baruch Sharvit over the alleged murder of the 17-year-old in 1986. Both were members of Rabbi Eliezer Berland’s “Shuvu Bonim” sect.
These charges are the first made in connection with the alleged kidnapping and murder. Due to the severity of the charges, prosecutors are requesting that the suspects be kept behind bars while proceedings play out. However this is the first time in Israel’s history that murder charges have been submitted without a dead body.
A statement on behalf of Ze’evi said, “I did not murder anyone and the truth will eventually be revealed.”
It added that the “suspicions against Mr. Ze’evi are based on a single testimony of one of the community members (Baruch Sharvit) on the basis of instructions he received from a rabbi at a meeting while detained.”
Sharvit also denied ever having touched Shitrit, stating that he had been present at the scene but did not have any physical contact with Shitrit. Sharvit implicated three other people in the abduction, including Zeevi, but did not accuse them of murdering the youth.
The indictment provided new details about the case, claiming that Rabbi Berland’s son-in-law, Tzvika Tzuker, organized “tznius squads,” and ordered them to threaten Mr. Shitrit. Mr. Shitrit was abducted from his school in Ashdod four months before he disappeared, taken to a secluded location on the Ashdod beach, and beaten.
Mr. Shitrit then filed a complaint, and one of his suspected killers was temporarily detained by police. According to Channel 12, that person escaped the country after the murder to create an alibi.
Four months later, Mr. Shitrit was allegedly lured to an address by someone connected with the sect, and was beaten to death by the same group of abductors. In a documentary in 2020, a former student claimed that the sect buried his body near Beit Shemesh, although his remains were never found.
Rechavam Ze’evi was a member of the right-wing Moledet party, known by the nickname “Gandhi.” He was shot and killed in 2001 by Palestinian terrorists at Jerusalem’s Hyatt Hotel..
Police decided last week not to press charges against Rabbi Berland or against his son-in-law, Tzvi Tzucker, and another suspect — an Charedi mayor whose name has not been disclosed — who were freed with restrictions.
Rabbi Berland himself remains in jail over a scheme to extort money from dying people in return for promises of recovery.
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| Rechavam Ze’evi |
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