Israeli police on the West Bank arrested four top members of a messianic cult because the group allegedly exploited women by coercing them to become prostitutes to "save the Nation of Israel and bring about its salvation.”
Israel Police Bust Messianic Prostitution Cult
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Turning tricks to hasten the redemption?
Israeli police on the West Bank arrested four top members of a hasidic messianic cult because the group allegedly exploited women by coercing them to become prostitutes to "save the Nation of Israel and bring about its salvation,” Ha'aretz and the Jerusalem Post reported.
Police made the arrests after an undercover investigation that began four months ago when police received reports about the exploitation of the women.
Police found the women were brainwashed into believing “redemption” would come to the "Nation of Israel" through having sex with non-Jews and thereby redeeming holy "sparks." The cult reportedly got the women addicted to drugs and alcohol and had them perform the sex acts while intoxicated. The cult took the money “non-Jews” paid the women for sex.
The women were also ordered to infiltrate the Orthodox community and spread the cult’s beliefs to help bring the “redemption” and tried to make the women "newly religious" ba'al teshuvas through having sex with the non-Jewish men.
The arrested cult members are a 47-year-old resident of Ashkelon; a 40-year-old female and and a 60-year-old male, both residents of the West Bank Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba; and a 39-year-old female resident of Jerusalem.
According to Ha'aretz, a spokesperson for the Kiryat Arba-Hebron Council said "the family is known [to] the social services in the local authority, but the level of cooperation between the sides is negligible, and completely rejected by the family."
The spokesperson said that social services investigated the Kiryat Arba man and woman (who are apparently married to each other) over six months ago. The couple reportedly strongly denied any wrongdoing.
"Despite this, the social services department handed over the matter to the Israel Police. The Judea and Samaria District Police conducted an investigation into the matter and the couple was arrested this morning. Care for the couple's children is the responsibility of the social services department," the council's spokesperson said.
Malachi Levinger, the Kiryat Arba-Hebron council's head, called for the "full weight of the law" to be brought to bear on the couple.
"If the suspicions turn out to be true, then I call on the authorities to use the full weight of the law. We as a civilized society will not tolerate these or similar kinds of offenses," Levinger said.
The cult allegedly operated across the entire country.