Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Jewish Teacher Questioned in Dutch School Abuse

Dutch police asked Israel for help in investigating the actions of a Tel Aviv teacher suspected of molesting pupils at an Orthodox Jewish school near Amsterdam.

The man, identified only as Ephraim S., immigrated last year to Israel after being fired from his job as a teacher at the Cheider school in Buitenveldert near Amsterdam, De Telegraaf daily reported on Friday. The school has 200 pupils aged two to 18.

According to De Telegraaf reporter Iris Cohen, the suspect, who is in his twenties, was fired from the Dutch school for “inappropriate conduct” but currently gives private lessons in Israel.

The paper reported that a number of families and pupils filed complaints with the police against the teacher, including a 16-year-old who said he had “sexual contact” with the suspect. The man left the Netherlands for Israel after the complaints were filed, but before authorities had issued an arrest warrant.

Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs, Holland’s chief interprovincial rabbi and a member of the school’s board, said the school, which also sought charges against the teacher, went by the book as soon as the allegations surfaced.

“From the second the first complaint came in, we consulted the lawbook and did everything in accordance to it so nothing gets swept under the carpet here,” he told JTA.

The suspect worked for about a year as a teacher for the primary school, he added. Jacobs told De Telegraaf that the case “aroused panic in some teachers, who are now afraid their children have also been molested.”

De Telegraaf contacted the suspect through his attorney, who declined to comment on the allegations. Jacobs said the man had denied the allegations when they first surfaced.

There was no indication yet whether the Netherlands would seek the man’s extradition.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.