Israeli Court Approves Extradition of Former Mexican Diplomat

Facts

• The Jerusalem District Court ruled on Thursday that former Mexican diplomat Andrés Roemer is eligible for extradition on charges of sexual abuse and rape in a high-profile case.¹
• Roemer, who has 30 days to appeal the decision, has been placed under house arrest as the Israeli Justice Ministry decides whether or not to sign off on his extradition.²
• This comes after the former Mexican UNESCO ambassador, who has a street named after him in the outskirts of Tel Aviv, was arrested last October.³
• While Mexico claims to have demanded his arrest in 2021, Israel says that the request was received only in 2022. If he ends up being extradited, Roemer could spend many years in prison.⁴
• Dozens of women have publicly leveled charges of sexual harrasment, abuse and rape against the once-powerful man in the media and on social media.⁵
• At least eight women have formally accused him of sex crimes amid Mexico's #MeToo movement. Roemer, who used to host a television program in Mexico, has been living in Israel for years.⁶

Sources: ¹I24news, ²Reuters, ³Times of Israel, ⁴Vice, ⁵Time and ⁶Associated Press.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Haaretz.com. Roemer may finally be on the verge of being extradited to face sex-crimes charges in Mexico, but Israel still has a much bigger problem to deal with. Alleged foreign sexual predators have arrived in droves, abusing the country's openness to Jewish immigration to flee from justice. It's utterly unacceptable that Israel has become a safe haven for criminals.
• Narrative B, as provided by The Washington Outsider. The media has ignored the key principle of impartiality when it comes to reporting unverified — not to mention poorly supported — allegations against Roemer, effectively depriving him of his presumption of innocence. He fled to Israel due to political persecution in Mexico, and his extradition to his home country would be unethical.