חשיפה: החשוד העיקרי באונס בקפריסין הוא שמעון יוסופוב. החשודים האחרים הם: ישראל דוד, אלירן יצחק בר, אופיר אביסרור, גיא נתן, אופק ביטון ויאיר יצחק איובי
יוסופוב הוא כדורגלן שלפי טענתו שיחק בקבוצת בית’ר ירושלים
UPDATE: Several reports based on anonmyous sources in the Cyprus police are claiming that the British woman who alleged she was raped by a group of Israeli men, has herself been arrested for filing a false report. Because she changed her account of the incident, it’s reported that police have come to doubt her credibility. Both the Israeli lawyer for the suspects and the police sources say the remaining detained suspects will be released shortly.
Since this report is based on anonymous sources and the defense lawyers, it’s hard to know how much to credit it. But it does appear possible the victim’s account may not hold up. If it does not, she will be among a very small number of women who make false accusations. This should not defame or diminish the credibility of the millions of women who do experience sexual violence. Though it invariably will, because so many men refuse to believe women in such circumstances.
I also note that of the many cases of rape I’ve reported here, this is the only one that may have involved a female victim whose account was deemed lacking in credibility by authorities.
* *
An Israeli source has provided a Hebrew summary of the charges against the seven of the twelve Israeli teens between the ages of 15-18, accused of gang-raping a 19 year-old British woman on Cyprus on July 17th at the Pambo Napa Rocks Hotel. The summary was provided in order to justify extension of the detention of the suspects. Five other suspects were released from custody. The summary identifies seven of the accused rapists. Because their acts are so depraved and because violence against women in Israel is so widespread, I am identifying the suspects in this case. They are:
Shimon Yusufov (Suspect 1)
Yisrael David
Eliran Yitzhak Bar
Ophir Avisrour
Guy Natan
Ofek Biton
Yair Yitzhak Ayubi
Unfortunately, the document names the complainant as well. Because she is a victim of a violent sexual crime, I will not name her (I have removed her name from the charge sheet displayed here). I hope that no other journalist or publication that has access to the same document does so either.
The suspects have not been identified by any media outlet, including any in Israel. Not because there is a gag order, but rather because they are mostly minors. However, the hypocrisy of such reticence is clear when the Israeli government and media willingly identified a Palestinian boy of 12 years of age who had been stomped to within an inch of his life. While he lay chained by the police to a hospital bed, the hospital authorities and media freely circulated not only his picture but his name. Please don’t anyone tell me this isn’t the perfect indication of an apartheid state.
The chief suspect is Shimon Yusufov, an injury-plagued, aspiring professional soccer player. In this 2018 media profile, he tells the interviewer that after suffering a series of injuries he was hoping to return to form by playing for Beitar Jerusalem. This team, by the way, is known for being the most Islamophobic and racist in all of Israeli soccer.
The charges against the Israeli suspects, according to the Cypriot police document, are: conspiring to commit a criminal act and rape. The victim told police that around 12:30 am she entered the hotel room of Suspect 1, Yusufov. She and the suspect engaged in sexual intercourse, during which time he forced her violently to comply with his wishes. She told him to stop and began to cry. He ignored her demand and continued to engage in sex against her will.
He then forced his penis into her mouth and invited his friends into the room. They gathered around the bed to watch and began filming the encounter and laughing. Several others joined in and also engaged in sexual acts. Some of the attackers did not use a condom. Suspect 1 grabbed hold of her legs so that the others could masturbate themselves on her face.
The victim finally succeeded in freeing herself and fled the hotel room naked followed by the accused rapists. However, she met two friends of hers in the hallway and told them what happened. They immediately took her to a private clinic at the hotel and called the police.
They located Suspect 1 who told them that at first that he had not had sexual intercourse with any woman. Later he admitted that he had had sexual intercourse with a woman from England along with one of his friends in his hotel room. He claimed that no other Israeli participated in this activity. Later Suspect 1 changed his story again and said that sexual intercourse had occurred with himself and the woman from England in the presence of many other Israelis. He named the others and showed the police where their hotel rooms were located.
Given that Yusufov plays for one of Israel’s best-known football clubs, it’s quite easy to see how a young girl might be seduced by the allure of an assignation with a professional soccer player.
A lawyer for several of the suspects claims that only three of the 12 claim to have had sex with the victim and that the act had been “‘with love and consent.” Let’s have a bit of a reality check here: does anyone believe a woman agrees to have sex with three men while nine others are watching and laughing at her?
Israeli media are playing the story for maximum sympathy for the suspects, quoting one who returned home from Cyprus and told a reporter at Ben Gurion airport:
“I prayed every day to come here. It was hard, an Israeli kid who doesn’t know English, doesn’t know anything. It’s fun returning to Israel.”
Yes, the poor lad prayed. He got down on his knees and begged the Lord to redeem him, all while a young girl sat recovering from trauma and wounds he’s suspected of helping inflict. More likely he prayed that police hadn’t found the video he and his pals recorded that night of the victim’s suffering.
Tests done at the scene found DNA evidence for one of the teens, who claimed he had not participated in the sex acts. Three DNA samples were identified which did not match any of the detained suspects. In connection with this, the NY Post reports that three suspects not apprehended by Cypriot police escaped the island, returning to Israel. I do not know whether police have requested of their Israeli counterparts that they investigate these individuals. But police from both countries are cooperating in the investigation.
In typical Israeli chauvinist fashion, Cyprus media report that an Israeli website has released a video purporting to show the rape victim participating in consensual sex with the suspects in this case. However, police have determined that the video is a hoax, but only in the sense that it doesn’t involve this incident at all. Of course, it does feature individuals engaged in the sex act, and I can’t imagine any woman agreeing to have herself displayed for all the world to see in such a video. Yet another act of degradation of Israeli women.
As I mentioned above, sexual violence against women is a national pandemic in Israel. I’ve reported far too many stories of women raped by powerful Israeli men who are protected by the system, and by their ability to marshal forces to assault women a second time who file complaints. While it’s true these particular suspects are not necessarily powerful Israeli men, the system will close ranks to protect them as well. Israeli police do a slipshod job of investigating crimes of violence against women. Judges are far too willing to accommodate to the needs and interests of suspects, rather than victims. No Israeli official will want to cooperate with a foreign country prosecuting Israeli citizens abroad. We’ll see what happens in this case. But I have strong doubts about the outcome.
David Sheen posted this fascinating Israeli interview with a female journalist who analyzes candidly her prejudice against a foreign woman victimized by rape perpetrated by Israeli men. She lays out her conscious and unconscious considerations in an honest and deeply disconcerting fashion. She is a far-right journalist known for her homophobic views. So it’s no surprise that she would prefer to believe Israeli rapists over a foreign rape victim. Any liberal Zionist who is also a feminist who can square such views with feminism should win an award for casuistry. Because this video clearly shows that even Israeli women who understand what feminism represents, will take the side of Israeli rapists out of a sense of patriotic duty.
NOTE: My latest Middle East Eye piece analyzes the latest brawl between Trump and The Squad and how it plays well for both sides. Please read and promote via social media.
Your article has nothing to do with Israeli politics, security or gag orders.
This article is a shaming exercise, and no more.
@ P Spot: You ought to read the 20 or so previous posts I’ve written about sexual violence against Israeli women. If you did, you’d realize it’s endemic and pervasive. That is a totally legitimate subject for a blog dealing with Israeli society. In case, you weren’t aware that was the subject of the blog.
Shame is in the eye of the beholder. Do you feel shame for these acts? If so, good it shows you may still have remnants of a conscience. Apparently, there are tens of thousands of Israeli men who’ve engaged in similar acts who have no shame and deserve to be called out for their shameful acts.
So no, I have no qualms about this post. It’s what the blog was meant to do. If you have problems with it you can either take it somewhere else or go to hell. I don’t much care which…
These are bad guys, but the fact they’re Israelis is only tangentially related, unless the Israeli government is trying to shield them from prosecution, which doesn’t appear to be the case according to your article. If, for example, the Israel press starts calling these thugs “victims,” that would be a totally different story. Let’s see if some of the more odious members of the Israeli news media, such as Israel Hayom start doing that.
@ Daniel Silagi: Israelis clearly are trying to shield them from prosecution, as you can see from the hoax sex video being circulated in Israeli media. The suspects are portraying themselves as victims in the Israeli press as well, as I noted in my post.
This post has noting to do with Israeli politics yet, but it has to do a lot with Israeli journalism, which is coward, and boldly judo-centric.
Any mainstrem Israeli media I came across is totally disgusted. Any interview with the parents is taken with a bit more than a grain of salt. Where do you see sympathy? It’s called cherry picking, just to fit your narrative.
@ DH: Did you even bother to read my post, which quoted the statement of the returning Israeli suspect? It was quoted without comment, indicating some sympathy for the ‘poor lad’s’ predicament.
You didn’t watch the video I just uploaded either, did you? It features an Israeli female journalist saying explicitly that she automatically credits the Israeli rapists out of national solidarity, rather than the female victim.
So stop peddling bullshit. I’ve got the goods, you’ve got bupkiss.
” Israelis clearly are trying to shield them from prosecution, as you can see from the hoax sex video being circulated in Israeli media. The suspects are portraying themselves”
Please give a concrete source. They have not even been indicted as of yet all the more so convicted.
I am in no way defending their possible actions.
I believe in capital punishment for murder, rape, and paedophilia.
These 3 crimes destroy peoples lives and IMO they do not deserve to be in any kind of society.
@ avram: Oh please! The police have the video evidence showing the rape. The women is injured and produced DNA evidence of her rape. Do you think police entertain such cases on a whim? For fun?
You are typical of Israeli men who refuse to believe rape victims. Your cluelessness is abominable. Look up #metoo and learn something.
I throw this back at you: since you are trying to chip away at the case against them, offer credible evidence they’re not guilty. And not hoax videos like the one being disseminated on Israeli media which the police have debunked.
You seem to be so sure that the suspects are guilty, that women don’t lie, that presumption of innocence does not exist or apply and that women do not make hoaxes for money. Lot’s of assumptions here. Just wait until a woman accuses you of something. Obviously, you will be guilty, because women don’t lie!
@ Alexander: Oh please. We’ve been over this before with Israeli men like you. I’ve reported previous rape charges and I get the same stupid male comments that women lie all the time.
NO, women don’t lie about rape. They don’t run through hotel hallways naked for fun. They don’t suffer police interrogation and exposure of their personal lives for fun. THey don’t consent to be videotaped while being abused by 14 men. Statistics bear out that somewhere around 5% of sexual charges against men are unfounded. 5%! So yeah. I’ll believe a victim every time.
I don’t have to “wait” till a woman accuses me of “something.” No woman ever has nor ever will. Because I don’t do what these scum have done. Never have, never will.
In fact, I know women who have been rape victims. Try having a close relative or friend be such a victim. You’d never spew this dreck again anywhere. What you are doing is disgusting. You’re raping the poor woman a second time. I don’t accept such behavior. Comment like that again & you’ll be banned.
In Judaism, which you know so much about, there are countless rules about one’s innocence.
In this article you flushed half of פירקו אבות PIRKEY AVOT down the toilet.
@ Judy Green: I didn’t know that Pirkey Avot said anything about protecting rapists from exposure. Did I miss something? IF I did, I’m sure you’ll enlighten me.
Please don’t make me laugh. That anyone could construe a major Jewish ethical text as saying that rapists deserve protection or consideration. You make me want to throw up. And the fact that you are a woman (or appear to want us to believe you are) and would defend rapists is nauseating. But if Aroussi can I suppose you can.
the suspect got released not long ago, (all the suspect) seem like your judged something too early.. its not surprising seeing how you react. hopefull you learn from that not to judge something too early, and maybe to a bit with you conspiracies.
@ amiel: This is an outright lie. Here is news for your miserable Israeli male rape apologists. Anyone who publishes bullshit claims here like the ones you have will be immediately blocked. Read this asshole: https://www.timesofisrael.com/cypriot-police-said-set-to-charge-at-least-3-israeli-teens-in-gang-rape-case/
Three of the 7 suspects still in custody will be charged with rape. The three who fled to Israel are also suspected of rape. That’s fact and truth. You’re reading Rotter or some other shmatteh to get your fake news.
Richard Silverstein, what do you have to say for your defense now that all the suspects have been released and the woman has been arrested for false accusations?
@ yoni shai: It’s a bald-faced lie spread by the Israeli defense lawyers. Why would you believe a defense attorney defending rapists?? Why?
@Richard
Cyprus ‘rape victim’ arrested. Remaining Israeli youth to be freed.
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5558680,00.html
“What you are doing is disgusting. You’re raping the poor woman a second time. I don’t accept such behavior.”
Richard. I know better than to ask, but I think you owe your readers an apology.
@ P Spot: THese are despicable rumors created by the Isaeli defense lawyer. They are not based on CYpriot sources, but on Israeli sources. Your media is lying to you and you believe it. Shameful.
And this is shoddy journalism because it doesn’t specify that this is the Israeli laywer’s claim regarding the Cypriot police. It too is a lie. Cypriot police have claimed nothing of the sort:
I’ve already warned you multiple times you are on the knife-edge of being banned. Publish any more nonsense claims or media reports like this & I will pull the trigger on you. And relish it!
How about you update your article?
ALL Israelis are being released and the girl is arrested of false claims!
What happens is that she is an **ore [also older then they are] that slept with some of them and got angry that they filmed her so she said they raped her.
News from today July 28, they ALL RELEASED!
https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/All-remaining-Israelis-detained-for-alleged-Cyprus-gang-rape-will-be-released-596974
@ Ben: Read my latest post. I am deleting all other comments offering the same point you make here, especially the ones accusing me of being an “anti-Semite,” etc.
But note that the suspects were cleared of criminal charges. That does not mean they are innocent of disgusting, revolting behavior which exploited this woman in the worst way. Any Israeli who celebrates this as a victory or redemption of any sort is sadly mistaken. What they did does not fit the legal definition of rape, perhaps, but it certainly is vile.
@ Richard Silverstein: first i’m not a rape apologist, I’m just someone who understood is not a lawyer and not a judge, and I don’t give myself the right to judge people, and spread their name when they are protected by justice, those why police didn’t publish their name, its also to protect them from people like you who think they can judge and take justice in their hand by themselves.
you call me an “asshole” what a mature way to communicate, are you sure to be the guys in the “about” section, it does not seem like that.
“Three of the 7 suspects still in custody will be charged with rape.” yep they are about to get released this night, if nothing change about them(I speak about what I know, I don’t speak about future, i’m not a medium like you.)
shmatteh to get your fake news. what is a “shmatteh”?
you are very aggressive, I’m not remembering talking to you like that to deserve your kind of answer.
hope you good day sir.
The Cyprus Times today published the main article: The 19-year-old British woman was summoned last night by police investigators to complete an investigation. In the interrogation last night the young woman was broken and admitted that her previous testimony was a lie, and that the sexual relations were made with her consent. The interrogator asked the girl why she had complained in the first place, and she replied that she was angry because she realized that the boys were photographing her without her knowledge. According to the report, the British girl will be brought to court tomorrow for a lie. Then it will be decided whether to extend her detention and / or what steps will be taken against her
So Richard, How do you feel now that the 7 boys you shamed and accused were freed and the “victim” whom you accused may well be charged? The SHAME is on you, trying to be populist and not waiting for the conclusion of the police investigation.
On the other hand, lets ASSUME that the encounter was an “orgy” or “gang bang”, and was consensual or even instigated by girl (I emphasize “ASSUME” – I don’t know the facts). Personally I’m still very disappointed in anyone who may have PARTICIPATED in such event, even if there’ was no criminal element attached to it.
You owe seven young boys an apology for disclosing their names.
@ Samuel D Rabina: I most certainly do not owe the suspects any apology. As you said, they treated a woman in a vile fashion. No man should do that to any woman. Any man who does is not a man, but a ravening beast and does not deserve protection.
I find it very hard to believe that any woman would have voluntary sex with a dozen men. Or boys.
Richard , you make a good case and if the information you have given is accurate, the fact that the girl being arrested over a slight technicality certainly seems to validate you assessment. critical thinking i journalism is such a rarity these days it was refreshing to read your account. thank you
@Richard Silverstein
In USA female 20 something teachers routinely arrested for having sex with 16 and 17 years old “man”.
All of them here are high school pre-army students and she is 19 years old, kinda obvious who is the predator here, sleeping with how many? 3 young boys? Thats a Cougar in my book.
It would be nice for everyone to see her picture, i only seen one with her face censored, she is fat and has 2 inch bimbo plastic fingernails.
@MR DANIEL SILAGI, you are completely clueless and have absolutely no idea about the real world and whats going on. Feel like you live in a small village/cave.
@Richard Silverstein, im sure you are not anti-Semite, you just found a business model/hobby that works for you.
And you can be now subject to a civil law suite since you posted details of minors who are found not guilty after it was found she made up the rape story and lied about the whole situation. Jumping into conclision is wrong….
@ Mike: Bring it on big boy. Bring it on. That wolfpack may have gotten away with it in Cyprus. They’re lucky. If this had been in the U.S. they be on trial as we speak (so to speak). They’re as guilty as sin of degrading a woman and treating her as a conquest. They’re disgusting as are you for defending them.
Thank you Richard, a really good and honest article. The video below is revealing. I was unaware of the extent of misogyny in Israel although the current political and military situation suggests a widespread increase in misogyny, it kind of comes with the territory. It is especially appalling that some women are apparently quite deliberately choosing to support the occupation and all that comes with it, including the persistence of misogynystic attitudes. Culturally and morally speaking Israeli society finds itself within a vaccuum/bubble of its own making where each sector of society struggles to adapt to a separate reality rather than confront it.
Richard, reading the UK Press these days about the Ayia Napa incident – it would appear you knew all a long and had seen through the “smoke screen”. Well done.
Peter Schwalbe
I note you said 5% of women lie about being raped. In the EU the figure is far less than 1%. I think you may mean 0.5%.
As to all the ‘men’ on here who appear to be on the side of the perps, your attitudes are disgraceful and if you lived in Europe you would find yourselves being ostracised from mainstream communities and treated as sexual predators yourselves. If this had happened to your 19 year old sister of daughter I’d imagine you’d blame her for dressing provocatively or other such nonsense. I don’t know much about Israel or Israeli men but having read some of the comments on here I would advise women and girls to never visit your country where animal like you feel entitled to inflict sexual attacks on women and girls.
Triomphant BiBi asked them for a selfie…. They owe him..
Today the woman was convicted in Cyprus for making the false rape allegation against the innocent boys. The previous comments over the last six months are really interesting to read.
@ Daniel Martin: the ruling was corrupt. THe judge was corrupt. The country is corrupt. THe woman was raped. She could not possibly have given consent. She was filmed by the Israeli boys watching the entire show. They disseminated the video online. They are rapists and accessories to rape. She is the victim and continues to be. Her lawyers are threatening to bring the case to the European Court of Justice. I hope they do.
The boys should all be castrated.
If we castrated every Israeli male who raped, assaulted or engaged in violence against women there might not be enough left to Populate the nation (just joking). So I’d prefer a less harsh punishment.
The world watches this case with disgust as Israel shows a failure to act in a civilised fashion
thank you so very much for publishing the information about these hideous men.
horrible story. Not only because of what those sick animals did to her but what the corrupt system did to shield the rapists. And how they made her to change her story.
She was alone against the Israeli rapists, their families with their money and influence, and corrupted Cyprus police and judicial system.
What did the British government did for her? Nothing, and that is also disgusting!
I hope someone somehow someday will make things right, as right as it can be done at this point.
No one can reverse what the Israeli animals did to her but some things would still help.
Also, I am afraid for any girls that will encounter these degenerate perverts in their lifes.
And this is clearly not their first gang rape, it’s clearly by the way they acted and prepared it.
I hope many people would boycott Cyprus because it’s clearly not safe civilized place.