He will be brought before a grand jury in a Federal court in Miami tomorrow for the extension of his custody. His trial on drug-dealing charges is scheduled to begin in July, and is expected to last only two weeks.
Rosenstein has been indicted in the Florida court for allegedly dealing some 700,000 ecstasy tablets. He is expected to be sentenced to 20 years in prison; his partner in the drug deals, Shem-Tov Machtabi, received that sentence in the U.S. in 2004.
The decision to extradite Rosenstein to the U.S. was made in November 2004. The U.S. Department of Justice announced at the time that his arrest "marks the culmination of a lengthy collaborative effort by the U.S. Department of Justice and Israeli Ministry of Justice prosecutors and investigators from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and Israeli National Police." The U.S. interest in the case, as expressed by the DEA Administrator, was that Rosenstein "is a drug trafficker who poured hundreds of thousands of deadly Ecstasy pills into America's neighborhoods. DEA and our Israeli partners banded together like never before to make the children of our nations safer."
A leader of organized crime in Israel, Rosenstein was targeted by a bombing in Tel Aviv two years ago; three innocent bystanders were killed instead. He survived a number of other attempts on his life as well. He is assumed to have ordered the murder of some of his underworld gambling competitors.
The extradition request was approved over the past several months, as required by law, by an Israeli court and the Justice Minister. According to the extradition agreement with the U.S., Rosenstein will serve his prison sentence in Israel.
Jewish law [Halakhah] on the matter of extraditing a Jew to a foreign country is not clear-cut, but a discussion of the matter in Vol. 8 of the scholarly Halakhic annual publication Techumin [in English: Crossroads: Vol. III, Published by Zomet Institute (Alon Shvut-Gush Etzion, Israel)] leaned towards the more stringent conclusion.
Though former Supreme Court Deputy President Menachem Elon, an ordained rabbi, reached the conclusion that it is permissible under many circumstances, Rabbis Sha'ul Yisrael and Yehuda David Bleich disagreed. Rabbi Yisraeli wrote that it is prohibited Biblically to hand over a Jew to non-Jewish courts, and that it is not dependent on time, place, or attitude toward the Jews in the country in question.
Arutz-7 asked Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, Chief Rabbi of Ramat Gan, about this issue. Rabbi Ariel said,
"It is essentially forbidden, but does the State of Israel ask anyone [of rabbinic stature]? So what can we do? - There are elections coming up; change the government!"
Asked if Israel, as a member of the world community in which criminals are routinely extradited as part of the world effort to maintain law and order, might endanger itself by not taking part in this arrangement, Rabbi Ariel said,
"There are situations in which extradition could be permitted, such as when there are specific agreements between countries. But even then, the punishment to be meted out in the foreign country must not be more severe than that which would be handed down according to Halakhah. In this case [regarding Rosenstein], I don't know the exact details, but certainly drug-dealing would be considered a very grave crime.
"In addition, however, the extradition agreement must be made contingent upon appropriate guidelines for accepting testimony and the like." Rabbi Ariel explained that if the foreign court's guidelines do not follow Torah law, then they must at least be in accordance with the Noahide laws.
A-7: "As someone who has come out in favor of door-to-door activity for the coming elections to 'democratically influence [and] prevent catastrophes for the Nation, People and Torah,' would you call on [religious parties] to champion this issue of extradition?"
Rabbi Ariel: "There are so many issues! Sabbath, modesty, slander, and so much more - is the issue of extradition the most important one? ... A party that champions the Land of Israel, however, means that it wants Adamah [Land] that sprouts the true Adam [man] - a Jew and a Jewish nation that is perfect in all respects of Torah life - including all the laws that I mentioned above."
Rosenstein has been indicted in the Florida court for allegedly dealing some 700,000 ecstasy tablets. He is expected to be sentenced to 20 years in prison; his partner in the drug deals, Shem-Tov Machtabi, received that sentence in the U.S. in 2004.
The decision to extradite Rosenstein to the U.S. was made in November 2004. The U.S. Department of Justice announced at the time that his arrest "marks the culmination of a lengthy collaborative effort by the U.S. Department of Justice and Israeli Ministry of Justice prosecutors and investigators from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and Israeli National Police." The U.S. interest in the case, as expressed by the DEA Administrator, was that Rosenstein "is a drug trafficker who poured hundreds of thousands of deadly Ecstasy pills into America's neighborhoods. DEA and our Israeli partners banded together like never before to make the children of our nations safer."
A leader of organized crime in Israel, Rosenstein was targeted by a bombing in Tel Aviv two years ago; three innocent bystanders were killed instead. He survived a number of other attempts on his life as well. He is assumed to have ordered the murder of some of his underworld gambling competitors.
The extradition request was approved over the past several months, as required by law, by an Israeli court and the Justice Minister. According to the extradition agreement with the U.S., Rosenstein will serve his prison sentence in Israel.
Jewish law [Halakhah] on the matter of extraditing a Jew to a foreign country is not clear-cut, but a discussion of the matter in Vol. 8 of the scholarly Halakhic annual publication Techumin [in English: Crossroads: Vol. III, Published by Zomet Institute (Alon Shvut-Gush Etzion, Israel)] leaned towards the more stringent conclusion.
Though former Supreme Court Deputy President Menachem Elon, an ordained rabbi, reached the conclusion that it is permissible under many circumstances, Rabbis Sha'ul Yisrael and Yehuda David Bleich disagreed. Rabbi Yisraeli wrote that it is prohibited Biblically to hand over a Jew to non-Jewish courts, and that it is not dependent on time, place, or attitude toward the Jews in the country in question.
Arutz-7 asked Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, Chief Rabbi of Ramat Gan, about this issue. Rabbi Ariel said,
"It is essentially forbidden, but does the State of Israel ask anyone [of rabbinic stature]? So what can we do? - There are elections coming up; change the government!"
Asked if Israel, as a member of the world community in which criminals are routinely extradited as part of the world effort to maintain law and order, might endanger itself by not taking part in this arrangement, Rabbi Ariel said,
"There are situations in which extradition could be permitted, such as when there are specific agreements between countries. But even then, the punishment to be meted out in the foreign country must not be more severe than that which would be handed down according to Halakhah. In this case [regarding Rosenstein], I don't know the exact details, but certainly drug-dealing would be considered a very grave crime.
"In addition, however, the extradition agreement must be made contingent upon appropriate guidelines for accepting testimony and the like." Rabbi Ariel explained that if the foreign court's guidelines do not follow Torah law, then they must at least be in accordance with the Noahide laws.
A-7: "As someone who has come out in favor of door-to-door activity for the coming elections to 'democratically influence [and] prevent catastrophes for the Nation, People and Torah,' would you call on [religious parties] to champion this issue of extradition?"
Rabbi Ariel: "There are so many issues! Sabbath, modesty, slander, and so much more - is the issue of extradition the most important one? ... A party that champions the Land of Israel, however, means that it wants Adamah [Land] that sprouts the true Adam [man] - a Jew and a Jewish nation that is perfect in all respects of Torah life - including all the laws that I mentioned above."