- Scores of Israeli women have come forward, describing years of sadistic child sex abuse that they say was disguised as Jewish rituals.
- The women report that the sex abuse they endured as children had been compounded by systemic silencing and neglect from authorities.
Israeli Law enforcement authorities have launched a criminal investigation into hundreds of allegations of organised ritual child sexual abuse cases in Israel. This follows deeply distressing testimonies of torture, rape, and disturbing “religious ritualistic” activities presented to the Knesset.
However, the parliamentary hearing, which commenced on 27th July and remains ongoing, has featured accounts from alleged victims testifying that the alleged perpetrators themselves have been amongst active Knesset members. The alleged victims who are now adults have described enduring severe abuse during their childhoods, predominantly within ultra-Orthodox and national-religious communities in Jerusalem, Bnei Brak, Haifa, Safed, and additional locales.
The women recounted tales of the abhorrent sexual abuse they experienced as children, usually by groups of people, involving ritualistic, religious rhetoric and iconography. The abuse took place in synagogues, private homes, schools, warehouses, cemeteries and forests, they alleged.
Yael Ariel, testified that she had heard accounts from hundreds of women claiming that “doctors, educators, police officers, and both former and current Knesset members” took part.
Others shared their experiences only under the condition of anonymity, allowing them to speak freely about the horrific torture they endured.
“I was around 15, tied to a torture bed in basements in the Tel Aviv area,” said one women, recounting an incident in which her abusers, including family members…
…slaughtered a snake, mixed its blood with hers and drank it, while raping her and calling her a “holy vessel.”
“They tied me up in every possible way, using whips and electric shocks, raping me,” said another survivor, who stated that she was just 5 years old when she “began suffering unbearable abuse, including by religious leaders and educators who told her that she was “defective” and needed to be “fixed.”
Another accuser said that her father and others abused and trafficked her as a child in “sadistic networks involving rituals,” allegedly including well-known figures, including politicians.
Alarmingly, many victims said that the incidents were filmed on cameras or phones.
“It’s hard to explain what happens there,” she said. “There are children, cameras, blood, and death.”
Three hearings so far have centred on allegations of systemic failure to protect vulnerable children. Victims and advocates claimed that authorities, including teachers, social workers, and police, were informed of the crimes but did nothing.
Prosecutors were accused of disregarding complaints as unimportant, while some community leaders were themselves alleged to have been involved in the abuse.
“The police received material about this a year ago, and said they would investigate, but they didn’t,” said Orit Sulitzeanu, the executive director of the Association of Rape Crisis Centres in Israel. Sulitzeanu has been working with victims of organised ritual sexual abuse for over a year to bring their claims to light.
“There are many problems in the Israel Police. Complaints often aren’t followed up on. Cases are closed quickly. As a result, victims feel like there’s no point in going to the police,” she said.
A police representative told the July 27 hearing that the department was conducting a review of closed cases spanning more than a decade.
Much about the organised ritual sexual abuse remains obscure, including the scope of the alleged phenomenon. Critics contend that police have yet to grasp the true gravity of the issue.
“When we asked police how many complaints had been received related to this phenomenon, they told us they didn’t know,” said a Knesset source with direct knowledge. “The police representative openly admitted they had no idea how to identify or distinguish ritual sexual abuse cases from others.”
Evidence suggests that ritual sexual abuse is being carried out in a systematic and organised manner, making it an issue the police cannot address on a case-by-case basis, the Knesset source said.
“This isn’t just a series of individual cases of sexual assault,” they said. “It needs to be treated like organised crime. Like with the mafia or any other criminal network, you have to connect the dots.”
In Israel, the phenomenon continues to go largely unnoticed, the source said.
After the first hearing, police informed lawmakers that they had opened an investigation under Lahav 105, the cybercrime and child exploitation unit. However, this is a move many MKs argued falls far short of what is needed. “If you don’t identify the ritualistic element, it’s doomed to fail,” noted MK Naama Lazimi, who heads the Special Committee on Youth Affairs.
Both Tamano-Shata and Lazimi highlighted the irony of debating sexual abuse while Likud MK Hanoch Milwidsky had just been appointed to chair the influential Knesset Finance Committee, even as he faced a police investigation for rape.
“I sent a letter to the Knesset speaker stating that MK Hanoch Milwidsky, who is in the midst of major investigations and serious allegations — though the presumption of innocence applies — should not be appointed to such a powerful position while under investigation for such grave offenses, including sexual offenses and extortion.”
“It cannot be that this place ignores such a serious phenomenon,” Lazimi said of Milwidsky’s appointment during the hearing. “The chair of the Finance Committee cannot be a suspect in such extreme cases.”
A second lawmaker, Avraham Bezalel, recently resigned from the Knesset, following what a Haaretz report described as “allegations of inappropriate acts.”
Another case remains cloaked in secrecy. In April, the daughter of a government minister accused the minister of sexual abuse.
Sulitzeanu pointed out that allegations are frequently made against individuals in positions of power, who may exploit their influence to suppress such claims.
“These are group assaults involving multiple perpetrators, including rabbis. In some cases, the parents knew. There is, in many cases, also child trafficking,” she said.
