JERUSALEM (AP) – For decades, Yehuda Meshi-Zahav was one of Israel’s most recognized faces, widely respected for founding an ultra-Orthodox rescue service that cared for the victims of Palestinian attacks and saved the division between religious Israelis and lay people.
But in recent days, Meshi-Zahav has faced a growing list of prosecutors who say he committed horrific acts of sexual abuse of men, women and children for several decades.
The scandal has almost destroyed the reputation of a man who a few weeks ago received the Israel Award, the country’s highest civilian honor, for his lifelong achievements. It has also shed light on the scourge of sexual abuse in the island world of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox community.
“When it comes especially to the ultra-Orthodox, there is a very strong code of silence,” said Manny Waks, an advocate for victims of sexual abuse in Jewish communities and himself a survivor of the abuse in his native Australia.
“There is a closed community mentality, we against them. Putting all these things together is a recipe for disaster, especially in the context of child sexual abuse, ”he said.
While Meshi-Zahav has denied the allegations, his accusers have handed out similar accounts. They say that Meshi-Zahav exploited his public prominence to sexually harass and exploit women, boys and girls, and that the ultra-Orthodox community protected him with a wall of silence.
A victim identified by the letter “N” told the Yedioth Ahronot newspaper on Sunday that she met Meshi-Zahav in 1996 when she was 16 and that Meshi-Zahav was 20 years old.
“Everyone close to him during those years knew that I was his escort boy. I became a prostitute in the full sense of the word, ”she said.
Meshi-Zahav was a member of an ultra-Orthodox radical sect that opposed the existence of Israel, believing that a Jewish state could only be established after the arrival of the Messiah. Their views changed after a devastating 1989 attack near Jerusalem killed 16 people.
Meshi-Zahav joined volunteers who helped collect the remains of the victims, in accordance with the Jewish custom of honoring the dead. He said the experience taught him that everyone’s pain was the same.
These efforts led to the formation in 1995 of ZAKA, whose volunteers helped identify victims of disasters and suicide bombings and collected their remains for a Jewish burial. Over time, the group expanded to include first responder paramedics and gained broad respect for Israel.
Meshi-Zahav has received numerous honors and has become a symbol of moderation in the often strained relations between Israel’s secular and ultra-Orthodox Jews.
He was invited to light a ceremonial torch at Israel’s Independence Day celebrations and recently implored other members of the ultra-Orthodox community to respect coronavirus safety precautions after their parents died of COVID-19. At the time, he said the rabbis who encouraged followers to ignore safety rules had “blood on their hands.”
Earlier this month, Meshi-Zahav, 61, was awarded the Israel Prize for Lifetime Achievement. She broke down in tears when Education Minister Yoav Gallant broke the news, saying the award belonged to thousands of ZAKA volunteers.
This recognition seems to have been the trigger that has led his accusers to appear after years of silence.
It began last Thursday, when the Haaretz newspaper published reports of six alleged victims accusing Meshi-Zahav of rape, sexual harassment and harassment.
In response, Meshi-Zahav wrote a letter saying that “these libels have no basis and appear more as gossip and account closures against me.” He said he was taking a break as director of ZAKA and waived the Israel award, but denied any wrongdoing.
Since then, the thread of witnesses has become a torrent.
On Sunday, Israeli police announced that their main crime unit, Lahav 433, had opened a formal investigation. On Monday, Jewish media reported that police had investigated similar allegations against him in 2013, but that they closed the investigation for lack of evidence.
ZAKA, meanwhile, issued a statement expressing “shock and surprise,” saying the allegations against Meshi-Zahav “arouse deep disgust, shock and disgust, light years away from the values that characterize the organization.”
It is difficult to obtain statistics on sexual abuse in the ultra-Orthodox world.
Waks, who leads the advocacy group VoiCSA, said the general estimate of Israeli society is that one in six boys and one in four girls have experienced sexual abuse. He said there is nothing to suggest that the figures are different in the ultra-Orthodox world.
“Many of us would argue that there are more vulnerabilities that would result in more abuse,” he said. These include lack of sex education, the inability to maintain close control of children due to large families, and the general level of trust among adults in close communities.
He described the allegations against Meshi-Zahav as “shocking but not surprising” and said he hoped they would encourage other alleged victims to come forward. He also urged Israel to abolish the statute of limitations in such cases.
The current regulation of limitations on sexual abuse in the family or with a close member of the community, such as a teacher or doctor, is set at 20 years from the time the victim turns 18 years old. For other cases, the statute of limitations for harassment is three to five years and 10 years in rape cases.
In an iconic case that illuminated the abuses of the ultra-Orthodox world, Israel extradited Malka Leifer in January, a former ultra-Orthodox teacher who wanted to make 74 cases of child sexual abuse in Australia after a lengthy legal battle.
Shana Aaronson, executive director of Magen for Jewish Communities, an Israeli group advocating for survivors of sexual abuse, said at least six people have approached the organization about Meshi-Zahav. He said the first allegations surfaced about six years ago.
“The person wasn’t willing to talk about it anymore, go to the police or anything of that nature,” he said.
He said the spectrum of complaints against Meshi-Zahav “draws a picture of a certain personality of someone who was incredibly confident that he would only get away with it”.
The Israeli Ministry of Education, which awards the Israel Prize, has not yet commented on Meshi-Zahav. But Miriam Peretz, a member of the award committee and winner of the Israel Award, has spoken out.
“All members of the committee categorically condemn all this horrible thing,” he told Israeli public broadcaster Kan.