Knesset panel meeting reveals shocking testimonies of ritual abuse on minors

The meeting was a follow-up discussion since the first Knesset committee meeting on ritual abuse toward minors, which took place in June.

MK Pnina Tamano-Shata, head of the Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality, and MK Naama Lazimi (The Democrats) led the committee discussion.

The two opened the meeting by condemning Milwidsky’s upcoming appointment to become chairperson of the Finance Committee amid such investigations for sexual abuse.

The testimonies of the ritual abuse victims mentioned the government’s lack of action in investigating and preventing the abuse of minors from taking place.

One of the survivors of ritual abuse, under the pseudonym “S,” described the abuse she endured at the age of five.

“I was a small child, five years old, and suffered four years of unbearable abuse,” she began.

“Other children were present – I hear their screams in my head. They said I was born broken and needed fixing, or the world would suffer. They tied me in every possible way, used whips and electric shockers, and raped in bizarre ways,” she continued.

Another survivor, under the pseudonym “A,” described the abuse she endured between the ages of four and 20.

At the age of 15, she said that she “was tied to a torture bed in Tel Aviv basements. They held a snake, inserted it into me, and I saw it covered in blood.”

“They slaughtered it into a vessel, mixed its blood with mine, and drank it. They said I was now a sacred gate. I believe one of my parents was involved. They picked me up from school. In my case, the police were empathetic, but the prosecutor closed the case, saying that it wasted too much time,” she explained.

A. also criticized the Education Ministry for not doing enough to help her.

“The Education Ministry could have helped. In seventh grade, they realized something was wrong,” she said.

An additional testimony by victim Yael Ariel described how she was forced to harm other victims.

“We underwent training and paid a very heavy price for leaving. For years, we lived broken and lost. There were boys who were also harmed. I’m certain some victims committed suicide. Others are hospitalized in psychiatric wards,” she said.

“There was the rape of children. Some children witnessed murders. I have around 60 testimonies from all sectors of society. I had approached the police,” Ariel said.

“There is fear among complainants who were forced to harm others and are afraid they’ll be accused themselves,” she explained.

MK Shelly Tal Meron (Yesh Atid) said one of the victims who previously testified in the last committee discussion withdrew her testimony due to threats she received.

Tamano-Shata sharply criticized the government and police representatives who attended the meeting, questioning the legislation and investigative work that had been done regarding the cults.

The representatives said that there have been ongoing investigations conducted by the police’s Lahav 105 unit, in charge of investigating crimes against minors.

“It’s clear that Israel does not treat cults as it should,” Tamano-Shata said.

“You need to bring legislation on cults. It must come from the Justice Ministry, and it keeps falling through,” the committee chairwoman told the representatives.

Hearing the testimonies of the victims, Tamano-Shata called on Israel Police to “move themselves.”

She also explained to the attending state representatives the importance of going back at least a decade to break down the sexual offense reports from each year while investigating to find ritual abuse.

During the meeting, Lazimi also underscored to the representatives the importance of looking into the ritual aspect of sexual abuse crimes.

“If you don’t identify the ritualistic nature, this [investigation] is doomed to fail,” she said.