Certain Jewish lawyers and civil rights advocates were appalled when an Iowa judge in the case of Agriprocessors Sholom Rubashkin denied him bail on the grounds that he could flee to Israel and automatically receive citizenship there. This, it was claimed, potentially rendered every Jewish citizen of the US unequal before the law.
The point is well taken and Rubashkin is now out on bail. And, no, he hasnt skipped the country.
However, the matter is not so simple. Denvers own indicted kosher-industry criminal, Arnie Zaler, did flee to Israel. He did directly flout the order of the federal court, did directly try to evade justice in the US, and did directly try to take advantage of Israel as a refuge for any Jew.
As circumstances would have it, both Rubashkins and Zalers alleged crimes are grounded in the blatantly Jewish industry of kosher food. With Zaler pulling the Israel card, its not so simple to claim that an Iowa judges worries are unfounded.
One could argue that because Zalers gambit did not work both Israel and various US agencies worked to extradite him back to the US the potential out that Jewish American citizens have in Israel is, in fact, not at out at all. If only matters were so cut-and-dried. Zaler actually returned to the US on his own accord, perhaps because the music he potentially faced in Israel loomed worse than the charges he faces here. Technically, he was not extradited a long, complicated and tedious process.
Nor is extradition guaranteed. Other Jewish Americans charged with crimes in the US have remained in Israel for years.
We agree that it is wrong for an American judge to regard bail for American Jews as a qualitatively different consideration from bail for American non-Jews. It is discriminatory on its face. Yet, the realities, as recently demonstrated by the behavior of Arnie Zaler, are more complicated. It will take a legal defense much more sophisticated than a simple plea for equality to be persuasive in court on bail hearings for high profile Jewish indictees.
It is in Israels interest, no less than in the interest of Jewish Americans and their lawyerly advocates, to work out a standard, predictable protocol for handling America Jews who flee to Israel to escape legal problems here. This is a potential black eye for Israel. Israel doesnt want to be known in the US as an easy getaway for Jewish criminals. A predictable protocol is also the only guaranteed, universal defense against discriminatory bail for American Jews. Otherwise, Rubashkins defense of his right to bail falls on Zalers sword.
Read the related blog entries, “Bail denied” and “Arnie Zaler – out and about in Israel” on Rocky Mountain Jew.
