Posted to Chabad News on
by Naftali Cohen

Left: Rabbi Tomer Rotem. Right: Dani Dinur.

The man who kidnapped the Shliach to Ecuador, Rabbi Tomer Rotem, is now claiming that he was the victim of a Chabad conspiracy. Even more surprisingly, Israel’s Channel 10 News believes his story.

Shliach’s Kidnapper Convinces Media He Is the Victim

by Naftali Cohen

Left: Rabbi Tomer Rotem. Right: Dani Dinur.

The man who kidnapped the Shliach to Ecuador, Rabbi Tomer Rotem, is now claiming that he was the victim of a Chabad conspiracy. Even more surprisingly, Israel’s Channel 10 News believes his story.

Here is what we know happened:

• An Israeli man named Dani Dinur, a known international drug smuggler who spent many years in Austrian and Israeli Prisons, befriended the Shliach to Ecuador, Rabbi Tomer Rotem.

• Dani came to the Rabbi’s house one night with a suitcase filled with $150,000 cash, and asked if he could keep it there until the next day. The Rabbi refused, knowing Dani’s history and associations, but after much begging he reluctantly agreed.

• That night, the suitcase disappeared.

• The next day, when Dani was told what happened, he immediately accused the Rabbi of stealing the money, something which the Rabbi vehemently denied.

• Dani convinced those who loaned him the money – a Turkish drug cartel – that the Rabbi stole the money, and thus it could not be paid back.

• Rabbi Rotem was kidnapped by Dani and the cartel, and his family received a ransom note that he will not be freed until they receive payment of half million dollars.

• Miraculously, Rabbi Rotem was freed a few days later, after convincing Dani and the kidnappers that he would come up with the money.

• In a joint operation between Israeli and Ecuadorian law enforcement, Dani Dinur was apprehended, and awaits his trial in an Ecuadorian prison.

It seems to be a pretty clear cut story of a brazen outlaw taking advantage of a Rabbi’s kindness, until justice finally prevailed. But apparently, five months in an Ecuadorian prison was enough time for Mr. Dinur to concoct a marvelous tale, and concoct he did.

Although the story he came up with would not be very convincing to any intelligent person, nobody ever uses that adjective to describe Israel’s rabidly anti-religious media, who pounced on an opportunity to defame an entire religious movement.

Here is Dani’s version of events:

Dani decided that he had enough of a life filled with crime; he would turn his life around once and for all, and live by the letter of the law. He decided to enter into an honest and open market business endeavor: he was going to buy and sell a certain type of flower, called the ‘protea.’ He obtained $150 thousand dollars from a Turkish cartel, and decided (inexplicably) to keep it for the night in the Rabbi’s house. The Rabbi stole his money, and (for some reason) arranged with the cartel to have himself kidnapped, so that he could frame Dani and have him arrested. With the 150,000 in hand, the Rabbi disappeared from Ecuador, never to be seen again.

Why would Rabbi Rotem want to have himself kidnapped by a drug gang for a few days, instead of just making off with the money? And why would he risk his life and abandon his home and Chabad House (which cost him many years of hard work, and hundreds of thousands of dollars to build) for a measly $150,000?

Israel’s Channel 10 news does not bother with such pesky questions, because there is a religious organization’s reputation to besmirch. Facts and intelligence cannot be allowed to get in the way. The career criminal’s word of honor will just have to do.

The reason the Israeli Channel chose to believe Dani Dinur’s version of events, is because of one single piece of damning evidence: A Polygraph test.

Apparently, having accused the Shliach of stealing the money, Dani Dinur arranged for a polygraphist from Israel to come and interview Rabbi Rotem. He was asked if he stole the money, and he answered in the negative. According to polygraphist, Rabbi Rotem was 99.9 percent certain to be lying.

Again the news report conveniently forgets to mention a few facts:

1. Polygraph tests are considered by most scientists to be completely bogus – a pseudoscience – with absolutely no basis in reality. Results of polygraph tests have been proven to be no more accurate than 50/50 guesswork. This is why no country in the world with a modern justice system accepts polygraph results as evidence in court.

2. The people who administered the test were hired by Dani himself. If he paid them to take the trip and administer the test, perhaps he paid a little extra for some good old storytelling.

3. A polygraph test measures a person’s heartbeat and perspiration levels to determine if they are nervous when answering the question, which would seemingly point to a lie. Someone who just discovered that he is being accused by a dangerous cartel of stealing their money will probably be just a little bit nervous, even if he is 100% innocent.

But to the Israeli news channel, the word of the polygraphist was enough to convince them without the slightest shred of any doubt that the Shliach made off with the money.

The news report shows video footage taken by the kidnappers of Rabbi Rotem talking to the camera in Spanish. In the video, clad with a Turkish flag around his neck, he admits to stealing the money, apologizes for all the trouble he caused and promises to return the money. But what the News report fails to mention is that Rabbi Rotem has a gun to his head, and he is clearly reading remarks prepared for him by Dani or the cartel. If you watch his eyes, you can see he is reading off a document from behind the camera; you can also see that he is absolutely terrified, hardly a reaction you would see from someone who had just arranged his own kidnapping.

Of course, in order to put on the appearance of objectivity, the news channel says they wanted to interview Rabbi Rotem to get his word on the matter, but they had no idea where to find him. It did not occur to them that someone who had just been saved from a kidnapping by a drug cartel (having promised to come back and pay the ransom) would not publicize his new home address to the media. In fact, to them, the fact that Chabad Headquarters (both in Israel and in Crown Heights) didn’t go ahead and give them Rabbi Rotem’s new address, and claimed to have no knowledge of their interesting tale, was proof enough that the whole Chabad organization is in on the cover up.

That’s right: a respected worldwide organization, which spent close to $1 million dollars just for a banquet a month ago, was behind the robbery of $150,000 from an innocent unsuspecting Israeli, and then had him thrown in jail to cover it up.

For those who understand Hebrew, here is the news report; you have to see it to believe it:

Related Articles

29 Comments

  • CH resident

    Not so fast!!!

    This whole story was suspicious from the beginning.

    I don’t know whose telling the truth, but when I heard Rotem side of the story months ago, it didn’t sit good with me.

  • What is the world coming to?

    This is INSANE!!!! The poor shluchim have been through enough with the kidnapping, they don’t need this as well.

  • Funny Money

    I’ve seen this Rotem fellow walking around the neighborhood (crown heights), he does not look like he experience a life threating ordeal. He walks around bouncing and smiling like Daisy down the yellow brick road.

  • Sammy

    Rule number 1 in polygraph tests: Establish a base line. That means, it is necessary to ask questions that the tester knows the answer to and sees how the person answers and reacts to those questions.

    If, as in the report, they only asked questions about the robbery, they could not have known if Rabbi Rotem would react as a liar would react even when telling the truth. Not establishing the base line, entirely flaws the process (even according to the few people who do believe in the polygraph test – i.e. those in the business).

    Basically, the Israelis who administered the test were a bunch of idiots. But, to be fair, I am shocked that Rotem actually allowed them to administer the test.

  • Mendy Hecht

    One backhanded source of verification that the rabbi is telling the truth is the fact that a certain website–whose name deserves no publicity–that always has negative stories about frum people doesn’t have anything on this.

    If there was any truth about the claim that an Orthodox Jew was dishonest or unethical, this site would have had it up in a second.

  • To the Author

    A few points you missed. This shliach had a bad reputation, and was known to be involved in shady businesses. Secondly, a polygraph is not a 50/50! Please, let’s stick to the truth. The FBI, CIA and many other agencies rely on it. At worst it has a 95 percent accuracy rate if not higher. Again, let us not destort facts.

  • Mendel Mendel

    Guess what? I believe the Channel 10 story. And so do a lot of other people. It’s not the first time a Chabad shaliach made off with the cash.

  • din

    Was he a shomer Chinam or a Shomer Sachar? If he was a Shomer Sachar he is chayav for Genaiva,he owes him the 150k from the break in. If he was only a shomer chinam he is pator released exempt from any break in as long as he had locked the door and closed the windows.

  • Nobody

    #8,

    A polygraph is baloney. It is not admissible in court for a reason. The CIA and FBI use it as a tool because people are afraid of it, and that fear can vet (some) people who might compromise security.

  • very weird....

    i may not belive the prisoners story but wich sane human being agrees to watch 150 000$ to start with
    especially if u know its dirty money
    something definately smells fishy…..

  • Moshe

    B’H

    Why are you so surprised? How is it that every accusation against a Chabad Shliach is automatically deemed “untrue”? Shluchim are not perfect, and we all know that some of them are committing mistakes and things which are not Kosher. The thnigs I experienced first hand will be too numerous to tell The most suspicious thing in that story is that the Shliach decided to move in the Medinah. Why? And how could this guy decide all of a sudden to kidnap the Shliach? Something tells me that the Shliach is not telling the whole truth.

  • TO NUMBERS 1 & 5

    TO COMMENT NUMBERS 1 AND 5. WELCOME TO THE CLUB. YOU BOTH QUALIFY FOR THE JEWISH ANTI SEMITES CLUB. I FEEL MUCH SAFER WITH MY NONE JEWISH NEIGHBORS THAN I WOULD WITH YOU. HEAVEN HELP US

  • A open mind to understand

    To ALL of you who are reading this article,
    With all due respect to you individually, I am close friends with the Rotem family, they are special people, with hearts of gold, who would go out of their way to help ANYONE.
    Without even reading the article, hearing the news or what not, to actually think for a moment that these people would take part in such an act is deserving of humilitation! in the very least. This is a crazy story bec we are living in a crazy world-NOTHING to do with these holy people!
    And yes, they are walking around CH with simcha and that is because they are BELIEVERS and trust Hashem that for WHATEVER reason this happened to them, they will not be miserable and angry. They will RISE above it all and take the challenge with strength and integrity.
    May Hashem bless you all that you dont have to undergo horrific tribulations in your life as this, and if you do, pray that noone judges you in the respect that you have.
    A Happy Chanuka filled with true light and spirit,
    Henny Chanina

  • HELLO????????????????????//

    Did it ever dawn on any of you brilliant doubters, that if there was a shred of truth to this gangsters story he would and should have said so the second he was arrested. But for five months he allowed himself to sit in jail without a word of his supposed innocence. People, where are your brains (never mind common sense)??????? think about it!!!!!!!!!

  • Remember the Shomrim Six

    My dearest Mrs. Chanina,

    I have only one question for you.

    Does that include Schneur Rotem, bother of this man and family with hearts of ‘gold’, who sat in court at 320 Jay Street and sat on the witness stand and pointed at the Shomrim Six and said ‘them’ – like the Nazis did when they pointed out at Jews to be sent to the gas chambers – and treid to have them all sent away to prison for 15 years?

    Is this that same Rotem family? (Hint: Yes, it is!)

    I believe the guy is scum, and his shinanegens caught up with him. Busted – as the cops like to say…

    The entire Rotem family is scum for enabling what their son and brother tried to do to six Jews.

  • Good job!

    There is no question that Rotem, who was only accepted as a shaliach after quite a few years in Ecuador, led a double life.

    However, the drug dealer’s story makes no sense either.

    Bottom line:

    A worthless Israeli drug dealer is back in prison where he belongs.
    A stain on Chabad is out of his shlichus.

    All’s well that ends well.

  • i agree with # 12

    wich normal person would keep 150k for a night when he knows its not kosher money

  • Jewish dude

    One hundred procent jail time in Israel for this professional criminal. These criminals must be treated like a terrorist. Which they are how dare he endanger the well being of the shliach.

  • Third Party

    Both sides here are lying.

    The following comment is just my opinion, I have no proof or evidence to back up my claim, again it’s just an opinion. Only time will expose the truth.

    There is obviously a third party to which the money really belonged to.
    Dani Dinur and Tamir Rotem conspired to screw the third party out of $150,000, a plan which obviously failed. Now they are both afraid for their lives. Each one is attempting to throw the other under the bus.

    They are both lying that for-sure. They both worked together in shady business thats for-sure.

  • Apple Tree

    To #17

    The apple does not fall far from the tree.

    Both Rotem are branches from the same tree.

    The Rotem family are a family of Mossrim and criminals.

  • To #11 and #6

    You’re wrong! the FBI and CIA use it to make a backround check on their prospective employees.

    To #6 You don’t make an ounce of sense. It’s not a polygraph if they don’t establish a bash line. No one gives a polygraph without doing that. Do you ever sit back and think or do you always rush to type something that does not even make sense for this website – and that says a lot.

  • all i have to say is..

    AD MOSAI..DO WE HAVE TO WAIT, WE WANT MOSHIACH NOW, WE DON’T WANA WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • if israeli television say so must be tru

    right for sure its joowish TV? well NO.

    sorry for danny dinor if he had any truth to his story, which i do not know, then to me it lost any credibility while being processed thru israeli tv,
    not taking any side, just think: 12 minutes of carefully picked thru & cut out video clips that they want the viewers to see, the rotem side of the story is not there at all.

    so should i draw a conclusion from, picked & chosen pieces, & one side of the story.

    ‘the’ guy in the video clearly says he is dinor’s friend, well lets see maybe he’s a business friend too, & israeli journalist’s never ever take any presents to slander a story.
    r i g h t