Mobster, rabbis, mayor entangled in Netivot election scandal

The Magistrates' Court in Rishon Lezion extended Rabbi Yoram Abergel's detention by three days, following his arrest on Sunday over suspicions of extortion from Rabbi Ya'akov Yisrael Ifergan during the mayoral election in the southern city of Netivot. The extension came in tandem with that of crime boss Shalom Domrani, also suspected of participating in the Netivot election rig.

Both Abergel and Ifergan have large followings in Netivot, and are known for their long-standing rivalry. Abergel's followers supported incumbent Mayor Yehiel Zohar, who won the Oct. 22 mayoral election, while followers of Ifergan, known as the "X-ray rabbi" because of his purported diagnostic and healing capabilities, backed candidate Eyal Mesika.

Police conducted an undercover investigation prior to the election, and accused Abergel of using his relationship with Domrani to rig the election by way of threats and extortion.

Abergel was arrested at Ben-Gurion Airport as he was preparing to fly to China, and has denied police allegations. His defense attorney, Menachem Rubinstein, claimed that Abergel and Ifergan last met during the Sukkot holiday.

"They met in the sukkah and spoke about calming tensions and staying away from those who act belligerently," Rubinstein said. "People come to this rabbi to receive blessings. Domrani also arrived to receive blessings. That is the extent of their connection to one another. There is no criminal connection."

Police Superintendent Yisrael Hazan from the Lahav 433 crime-fighting investigations unit said Sunday: "Within the framework of the Israeli police's ongoing struggle with the war on serious organized crime, we are conducting an undercover investigation of several weeks' length in suspicion of extortion and threats made in an attempt to interfere with the Netivot mayoral elections." According to him, seven suspects were arrested. Five suspects had their detentions extended this week.

"In light of the claims made during the trial, I would like to clarify that it is my impression that the arrest was not some tranquilizer for the public or the media, as has been claimed, but rather [based on] an independent investigation, backed by evidence," Judge Menachem Mizrahi ruled on Sunday, in an attempt to halt rumors spread by Domrani's lawyers and supporters that the arrest was made to pacify the public over the recent fatal underworld car bombings in Ashkelon and an attempted assassination of a public prosecutor in Tel Aviv.

Domrani's attorney, Moshe Sherman, said that the meeting with Ifergan was a police initiative and that the investigators planted the idea of Domrani wanting to hurt the rabbi among his associates.

In the trial, it was claimed that Ifergan's sister spoke with Domrani on the phone, telling him that she had heard he wanted to kill the rabbi.

Domrani rejected the claim, saying, "Bruria [the rabbi's sister] called and said that there are all kinds of people saying we want to hurt the rabbi. I said we are people of faith and would not do bad things, God forbid, to a man like that."

According to Domrani, he spoke to and met with Ifergan following the phone call.

"At the end of our meeting he kissed my hand. Is that how a man acts when someone wants to harm him-" Domrani said, adding that his goal was to ease tensions between the followers of both rabbis after the election.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, a source close to Ifergan said the rabbi would prefer to play down the affair.

"All this business is not fitting to the rabbi's honor and standing. He wants to forget what happened and is not interested in continuing to be involved in this affair. He gave his version of events to the police," the source said.

Abergel's followers criticize police for arresting a respected rabbi in front of his followers and in public at the airport. They claim the arrest was made to pacify the public following a wave of underworld crime.

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