
Israel Police received a report of suspected abuse of children in a daycare center in northern Tel Aviv, Behadrey Haredim reported.
Upon receipt of the complaint, police officers opened an investigation and began collecting evidence.
On Sunday morning, police officers arrived at the daycare and arrested the owner and two assistants. The owner has been identified as a woman in her 40s; one of the assistants is in her 30s and the other is in her 60s.
All three were taken for questioning and will be brought to the Magistrates Court in Tel Aviv for an extension of their arrests.
Last month, Levana Shem Tov, a preschool teacher from Hadera, was arrested on suspicion of abusing the children in her care.
Shem Tov, 64, runs "Hagan Shel Levana," a private daycare center, and was arrested after parents filed complaints with the police. A police investigation later confiscated the daycare center's security cameras.
In one of the recordings, Shem Tov can be heard speaking with her assistant, as the two discuss what to tell the parents of a child who was hurt by the zip tie on her playpen, Ynet reported. Among other things, the two can be heard saying, "It's not logical to say that she did it to herself, she has no nails. Let's say that one of the kids did it to her after she took something from him." To make her claim sound more reasonable, Shem Tov sent a message to all the parents asking them to clip their children's fingernails.
Attorney Guy Maimon, who represents Shem Tov, said: "My client is a 64-year-old woman, a mother and grandmother, who has run preschools for 47 years impeccably, and in the past few days has been through the hardest trial of her life. There is a doubt as to whether the existing proofes in the case point to any crime at all. It is true that the honorable court has decided that there is a reasonable suspicion, but it is not at the required level to form an indictment. My client is cooperating with the investigation and she also has an inerest in the truth coming to light and her name being cleared."