The scandal surrounding Yehuda Meshi-Zahav continues to deepen, as one of his alleged victims claimed on Monday that unknown suspects identifying themselves as Meshi-Zahav supporters have threatened her, KAN reported.
With more testimonies coming in against the former ZAKA head, one victim is saying that she is being threatened to drop her testimony against Meshi-Zahav.
The victim says she has received text messages that read: “You better shut your mouth.”
Police investigators have been trying to prove the allegations against Meshi-Zahav since 2013, and even managed to locate more than 10 of his victims over the years. But none were willing to testify and the cases were closed time and time again.
While Meshi-Zahav has rejected all allegations made against him, he has forfeited his position as head of ZAKA as well as the Israel Prize he was set to receive this year.
Meshi-Zahav’s attorney on Monday said that the allegations made against his client are rumors meant to hurt him. “He never attacked children and didn’t hurt anyone,” attorney Ephraim Damari told N12. “These are all malicious rumors made by someone who is trying to hurt him,” he added.
In the past few days, however, several people of different ages, including men, women, teenage boys and girls, came forward to recall their abusive experiences with Meshi-Zahav over the years.
The Lahav 433 police unit announced Saturday its intention to open the investigation into the sexual assault allegations on Meshi-Zahav, and on Sunday the Israel Police announced that it was opening a formal investigation.
As part of the investigation, the police indicated that investigators are planning to fly abroad to speak to victims abused by Meshi-Zahav and convince them to testify.