Abuse (illustration)
Abuse (illustration)Thinkstock

A media gag order was lifted on Monday on the testimony of the main complainant against the extremist Messianic cult exposed the day before, which brain-washed Jewish women into taking drugs and having sex with Arab men in order to "bring the redemption."

The Lehava anti-assimilation organization led police in gathering evidence and exposing the cult, which has led to the arrest of at least six key figures on suspicion of pressuring women into prostitution, trafficking of women, rape, providing drugs and holding people in conditions of slavery.

"I was so captive, I didn't have the option to get out of there," revealed the main complainant in her chilling testimony. "I don't know how many (other women) were in my condition, I do know of two others. Not everyone can reach such places, to reach the situation I was in is to be completely erased."

Even now, two years after managing to extract herself from the brain-washing and manipulation of the cult, the victim noted "I'm not where I was, but I still have a lot of damage. I was erased on many levels, but I have something very strong in me. I fought by the skin of my teeth and I'm in a different place, I'm in a fight for my life."

Recalling her experiences with the cult, the woman stated "one time I met someone and told him everything, and he told me 'you have no idea where you are, I've never seen anyone with brain-washing on this kind of level. I've seen everything in my life but I've never seen anything like this - when you get out you'll understand.'"

"Afterwards, a friend saw how G. treated me," said the victim, referring to the main suspect who headed the cult. "He wouldn't speak, instead he whistled at me, and when he whistled I'd come and (my friend) didn't know what was going on."

The woman lived with G. before escaping two years ago. In order to entrap her, she reports that G. promised to marry her, but said he would do so "only after you finish all the spiritual sparks" - namely having sex with Arab men to "purify the non-Jews" under the warped ideology he brain-washed her with.

At one point she recalls "I left, but I returned to live with him. My brain was trapped there. ...That a woman reaches a point where she's with eight Arabs she needs to be at a stage of serious (spiritual) deletion - that a man would whistle and I would come, that a man would sleep on the bed and I would sleep underneath the bed (on the floor)."

"I asked him (G.) 'why can't I sleep with you on the bed?' He answered 'your brain disturbs my holy brain, sleep on the floor.' When I asked 'why on the floor? I can sleep in the other room on the bed,' he answered that my brain helped him, and that I need to be near him," she recalled. "When I remember these little examples it's horrifying."

The woman noted that when she eventually started to see his manipulation for what it was she couldn't take it anymore and left, going to the police to report of violence at which they issued a distancing order against him. After he tried to get her back in the cult and failed, she says G. started threatening her parents.

"For ten years I supported him financially," she recalled. "I also took money from my parents to bring to them (at the cult). After ten years he also started telling my father that he had cardiac problems, but I cut him off completely."

"It was a matter of saving lives"

Bentzi and Anat Gopshtain, directors of the Lehava organization, played a key role in exposing the cult after receiving complaints about a Kiryat Arba-based man manipulating Jewish women from around Israel and forcing them to have sex with Arab men.

"This is a shocking incident," reported Anat Gopshtain. "We didn't rest until we checked all of the details. From the moment we heard the shocking testimony it was clear that in the name of 'hassidism' horrific crimes were committed, and that we had to stop it as soon as possible."

"We explained to one of the complainants about the seriousness of the matter. We went to rabbis to have them explain to others that there is no crime in complaining, but rather the opposite - the Torah of Israel requires that we act against magicians and false prophets," added Gopshtain.

Noting on the success of their actions, Gopshtain concluded "from our view it (was a matter of) saving lives, and now it seems even those who disagree with Lehava understand the importance of the organization. We will continue to act for the sanctity of the nation of Israel on all fronts without bias."

Bentzi Gopshtain likewise commented "This is a shocking incident and we didn't rest or stay silent until the leader of the cult was arrested. A phenomenon like this must be gotten rid of."

Speaking about the victims of the cult, Gopshtain added "these are good women, the vast majority of whom returned to Judaism, and who were innocently manipulated by someone saying he was acting in the name of hassidism. There isn't a single thing in common between these things and hassidism, so we got involved."

Bentzi Gopshtain
Bentzi GopshtainPublic Relations