The story of the Bnei Brak husband and wife, parents of nine children, who were required by rabbis to divorce after she was raped, which was widely picked up by wire services the world over, and quoted as a credible source by JTA and the AP – is based on a story that never happened.

An article last week by Yediot Acharonot reporter Moshe Suissa about the “anonymous” couple – which quoted no sources – caused a great uproar, and brought the religious community under attack for its “antiquated and cruel” practices.

However, an in-depth investigation among all the recognized and non-recognized Rabbinical courts in the Bnei Brak region has found that no such case occurred.

In addition, Rabbi Yisrael Busso – who was finally “revealed” by Suissa yesterday to be “a rabbi familiar with the case” – notes that his involvement in the so-called case began only when he called a radio station to respond to a report of the story.

Rabbi Busso, who called to protest the anti-religious attitude being created, said on air that he had once heard rumors of such a case; Suissa then told other reporters that “Rabbi Busso is the source” for the story.

Rabbi Busso said on an Israeli radio program on March 3 that “Suissa finally called me this week and asked me who the couple is. I told him that he’s a wise guy – first he writes two articles on the subject, and then he calls me to ask who the couple is?!” Rabbi Busso said that he was told that several radio commentators are “displeased” with Suissa’s behavior in this case.

In Yediot of March 3, Suissa reported that the couple had decided not to divorce after all.

He wrote that “Kiryat Herzog Rabbi Moshe Deri” is familiar with the case.

No such person exists.

All media who relied on this report are cordially requested to issue a correction.

Anyone who has seen this report should let me know exactly where and when the report was “sighted”.

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David Bedein
David Bedein is an MSW community organizer and an investigative journalist.   In 1987, Bedein established the Israel Resource News Agency at Beit Agron to accompany foreign journalists in their coverage of Israel, to balance the media lobbies established by the PLO and their allies.   Mr. Bedein has reported for news outlets such as CNN Radio, Makor Rishon, Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times, BBC and The Jerusalem Post, For four years, Mr. Bedein acted as the Middle East correspondent for The Philadelphia Bulletin, writing 1,062 articles until the newspaper ceased operation in 2010. Bedein has covered breaking Middle East negotiations in Oslo, Ottawa, Shepherdstown, The Wye Plantation, Annapolis, Geneva, Nicosia, Washington, D.C., London, Bonn, and Vienna. Bedein has overseen investigative studies of the Palestinian Authority, the Expulsion Process from Gush Katif and Samaria, The Peres Center for Peace, Peace Now, The International Center for Economic Cooperation of Yossi Beilin, the ISM, Adalah, and the New Israel Fund.   Since 2005, Bedein has also served as Director of the Center for Near East Policy Research.   A focus of the center's investigations is The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). In that context, Bedein authored Roadblock to Peace: How the UN Perpetuates the Arab-Israeli Conflict - UNRWA Policies Reconsidered, which caps Bedein's 28 years of investigations of UNRWA. The Center for Near East Policy Research has been instrumental in reaching elected officials, decision makers and journalists, commissioning studies, reports, news stories and films. In 2009, the center began decided to produce short movies, in addition to monographs, to film every aspect of UNRWA education in a clear and cogent fashion.   The center has so far produced seven short documentary pieces n UNRWA which have received international acclaim and recognition, showing how which UNRWA promotes anti-Semitism and incitement to violence in their education'   In sum, Bedein has pioneered The UNRWA Reform Initiative, a strategy which calls for donor nations to insist on reasonable reforms of UNRWA. Bedein and his team of experts provide timely briefings to members to legislative bodies world wide, bringing the results of his investigations to donor nations, while demanding reforms based on transparency, refugee resettlement and the demand that terrorists be removed from the UNRWA schools and UNRWA payroll.   Bedein's work can be found at: www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com and www.cfnepr.com. A new site,unrwa-monitor.com, will be launched very soon.