Friday, August 29th, 2008

Hillel director won’t face charges

The city attorney’s office decided Thursday not to press criminal charges against Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller, director of UCLA Hillel, for an alleged assault on Oct. 21.

Seidler-Feller and the alleged victim, Rachel Neuwirth, will attend a city attorney hearing set for Dec. 1, said Eric Moses, a spokesman for the office of the Los Angeles city attorney.

During the hearing, each party will meet separately with the city attorney to discuss the incident and try to reach a resolution outside of normal court procedure.

“We usually try to settle these kind of cases outside the criminal justice system,” Moses said.

Results of the hearing could include a recommendation for the two parties to stay away from each other, or be mandated to attend anger management classes.

The recommendations will not be official court orders, but the parties will sign binding contracts to follow through and report back to the city attorney’s office, Moses said.

Donald Etra, Seidler-Feller’s attorney, said his client is extremely gratified that no criminal charges are being filed.

“His goal at this point is to make peace, not war,” he said.

Neuwirth’s attorney, Robert Esensten, was not available for comment on Thursday.

The alleged assault on Neuwirth occurred outside a Royce Hall presentation by Alan Dershowitz on Oct. 21.

Neuwirth, a freelance reporter, reported to police that Seidler-Feller grabbed her wrist and kicked her after she approached him to criticize Palestinian Authority Commissioner Sari Nusseibeh, whose upcoming campus appearance Seidler-Feller had been discussing.

During the confrontation, eyewitnesses said Neuwirth called Seidler-Feller a “capo,” a derogatory term for Jews who were forced to work with the Nazis against other Jews in death camps during World War II.