Person of Interest Arrested in Disappearance of Israeli Teenager

By Hamodia Staff

A person of interest has been arrested in connection with the disappearance of Moishe Kleinerman, who has been missing for three months since he left his home for a Shabbos with friends on Har Meron. Little information concerning the arrest is available since a gag order has been placed on the case by the government.

On 22 Adar II of this year, 16-year-old Moishe Kleinerman left his house for Shabbos with friends on Har Meron. On Motzaei Shabbos, Moishe was supposed to return to the yeshivah where he studies, but did not return — and since then, all contact has been lost.

After Moishe’s disappearance, the family was quick to involve the police, who began collecting testimony from family members. Meanwhile, time was going by and searches in the Meron area had not commenced, despite sources reporting dozens of eyewitnesses who have claimed to have seen Moishe, and thousands of security cameras in the area that could have been checked by the police for clues but were not.

The Kleinerman family launched a fundraising campaign to fund private investigators which have cost hundreds of thousands of shekels.

It was only 82 days after Moishe’s disappearance that Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai announced the establishment of a special investigative team of the Criminal Investigation Unit in the Shomron, along with teams from the Investigations and Intelligence Division, to track down the youth.

Over the last month, a public outcry has begun over police inaction. MKs are demanding answers, wondering if some missing persons are “less equal than others.”

Hamodia will report developments in this case as they happen.