Posted on 04/20/2010 10:06:23 AM PDT by Nachum
(RNS) As Sholom Rubashkin sits in an Iowa jail awaiting a possible life sentence on fraud charges related to his now-defunct kosher meat business, his ultra-Orthodox Jewish support base has ramped up protests over his case.
Through an online petition, media outreach, Facebook pages and Twitter feeds, some rabbis have called it a "sacred obligation" for Jews to contact the Justice Department before Rubashkin's April 28 sentencing.
While their grassroots efforts stop short of claiming anti-Semitism against the former CEO of Agriprocessors--the Postville, Iowa plant where a 2008 government raid found hundreds of undocumented workers--they believe some discrimination has occurred.
The now infamous raid led to a financial investigation and Rubashkin's conviction last November on 86 counts of money laundering and mail, wire and bank fraud charges. Prosecutors later dropped the immigrant labor charges; Rubashkin and several former Agriprocessors managers still face misdemeanor state charges of child labor violations.
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.beliefnet.com ...
He shouldn’t be convicted because he’s Jewish?
The newspaper (Des Moines Register) reporting the violations went into enough graphic detail to make you want to put off lunch until you get it out of your thoughts.
No. I believe the concern is that bail is being denied when, in similar cases, it is allowed. The conclusion some are reaching is that there’s anti-Semitism involved.
The newspaper (Des Moines Register) reporting the violations...
This MAY be a selective prosecution.
I have seen cooperation between FDA, FBI, IRS, INS and unions in the meat packing industry to force unionization or drive the target out of business.
If the media is involved, and it is a known leftist outlet (the SF Chronicle, for example), it's just too much of a coincidence to be ignored.
I don't know how leftist the Des Moines Register is. but that's the first place I'd look to try and unravel a plot.
The illegal immigrant thing only came up recently...the place has such a history that would make you barf and pledge to never buy a product from there.
Long before the illegal immigrant thing, I was hoping they'd close the place down on the health violations. You'd be surprised how much really gross stuff only brought them "slaps on the wrist" year after year.
“This MAY be a selective prosecution.”
All criminal prosecutions are selective.
a 2008 government raid found hundreds of undocumented workers — Prosecutors later dropped the immigrant labor charges;??????????????
Why because he’s an ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Jew? What’s that go to do what day of the week he goes to jail. He’s been found guilty.
What the hell is going on here? If the guy had wanted special privileges he should have said he was a Muslim.
No, the issue relates to whether a life sentence is appropriate. That's the US Attorney's request.
It’s not a selective prosecution. And he was convicted. The sentencing request, life, is out of line.
Friends, the issue is that people don’t feel that an Orthodox Jew should face the consequences of his wrongdoing, but that if you followed the case closely, you would definitely get a sense that the prosecution was overzealous, way overzealous. Now, I don’t make a charge of anti-Semitism. I’ll leave that to others. But I’ll leave you with one consideration: The prosecution has asked for LIFE IMPRISONMENT for the white collar crimes and NOBODY LOST A DOLLAR!
I think this is screwed up in a major way. Based on this approach to criminal justice, your average congressman should be serving 4,000 life sentences.
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