JTA.org -- Extradition ruling puts focus on alleged = abuser

NEW YORK (JTA) -- An Israeli = court's=20 decision this week to extradite an accused pedophile = to the=20 United States is giving renewed impetus to another sex = abuse=20 case that activists say has languished for more than = two=20 decades.

On Friday, activists on sexual abuse = in the=20 Orthodox community =20

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will=20 hold a news conference in New York to renew pressure = for=20 action in the case of Avrohom Mondrowitz, who fled to = Israel=20 in the 1980s to escape prosecution for abusing several = underage boys.

The news conference comes just = days=20 after a Jerusalem court ruled that Stefan Colmer, who = was=20 indicted on charges he abused two fervently Orthodox = boys in=20 Brooklyn, should be extradited to the United States.

Colmer, 30, who fled to Israel to avoid arrest, is = the=20 first American to be returned under a revised treaty = that=20 permits the extradition of suspected sex offenders = charged=20 with crimes less severe than rape.

Mondrowitz, = an=20 Israel native who lived in Brooklyn before fleeing, = was=20 indicted by a Brooklyn grand jury on eight counts of = sexual=20 molestation, including oral and anal sodomy. The = Brooklyn=20 district attorney at the time, Elizabeth Holtzman, = requested=20 Mondrowitz's arrest, but the request appears to have=20 floundered due to a technicality of Israeli = law.

Last=20 month it emerged that the current Brooklyn district = attorney,=20 Charles Hynes, issued a new request for the = extradition of=20 Mondrowitz. According to Hynes' office, the request = was issued=20 early this year, in January or February, after the = U.S.-Israel=20 extradition treaty was amended.

But according = to a=20 copy of the indictment, the charges against Mondrowitz = included forced sodomy. As a result, claims Michael = Lesher, a=20 lawyer for several of Mondrowitz's alleged victims, = Mondrowitz=20 could have been extradited since 1988. A cable that = year from=20 the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv obtained by Lesher = similarly=20 argues that a new Israeli law made the Mondrowitz case = worth=20 pursuing.

Nevertheless, Hynes did not pursue = the case=20 until this year. Critics charge that he was influenced = by a=20 group of Orthodox rabbis who informally advise him.=20

"I'm certain of that," Lesher told JTA. "We = know that=20 the Orthodox community didn't want this case pursued. = Even=20 today I'm experiencing a lot of reluctance from rabbis = familiar with the case."

Hynes' office refused = JTA's=20 request for comment.

Sexual abuse has been a = mounting=20 concern in the Orthodox community, a trend propelled = by=20 several high-profile cases of rabbis with long = histories of=20 abuse that allegedly were swept under the carpet by = religious=20 leaders.

In recent years the efforts of several = activists, as well as a number of bloggers whose = anonymity=20 provided abuse victims with a venue to speak about = their=20 experiences with discretion, have brought a number of=20 instances of abuse to light.

"I think in fact = that the=20 Colmer case would have gone a similar way," Lesher = said, "if=20 it hadn't been for the fact that a lot of people = behind the=20 scenes were so fed up with cases like Mondrowitz that = they=20 were willing to work with victims and with people like = me to=20 see that the case did go public."