Following on the AJN's shameful front page report last week - we have just received the following:
Media release from Rabbi Yosef Feldman
On 27 July 2011 and on 29 July 2011, a series of false and defamatory allegations were published by the Australian Jewish News concerning Rabbi Yosef Feldman .
The article, published under the byline of the AJN’s senior Sydney journalist, Joshua Levi, imputed that Rabbi Feldman was in favour of covering up acts of paedophilia by not reporting those acts to the police.
Those statements in the Australian Jewish News were false and are highly damaging to the Rabbi's high reputation. The Rabbi is presently considering the commencement of legal proceedings against the Australian Jewish News, its editor Zeddy Lawrence and Joshua Levi for defamation.
Rabbi Yosef Feldman has, at all times, publicly endorsed the unanimous view of the Rabbinical Council of New South Wales under his Presidency - that all acts of abuse must be reported to the police.
It would appear that the AJN obtained, by means unknown, an internal email exchange among Rabbis in which there was academic discussion of a range of views held by international scholars on how to deal with situations not subject to mandatory reporting. The AJN took extracts from that exchange and constructed a story and an editorial which attributed to the Rabbi views and opinions which he simply does not hold.
The Rabbi does not wish to speculate upon the AJN's motivation in publishing such a scandalously false piece of journalism. His only concern is to repair the damage done to his good name.
The true position is that Rabbi Feldman, like all other right thinking Australian citizens, believes that acts of paedophilia should and must be reported to the police for investigation and, if warranted, prosecution. It is not, and has never been, his view that criminal conduct of this kind should be covered up. The Rabbi's stance is that suspected paedophiles must face the Australian legal system.
There is no suggestion that any abuse has occurred in any Jewish establishment in New South Wales. However, the unanimous view of Rabbi Feldman and the Rabbinical Council of New South Wales is that suspected paedophiles must, if discovered, be reported to the police.
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