Ultra-Orthodox cult leader released for house arrest

Before the arrest, Ramati was asked on how he expected his case to proceed this time, answering that he expected it to go “just like last time. When the police decide this thing is over.”

By IDAN ZONSHINE, LEON SVERDLOV
Rabbi Aaron Ramati (photo credit: SCREENSHOT KNESSET CHANNEL)
Rabbi Aaron Ramati
(photo credit: SCREENSHOT KNESSET CHANNEL)
Aharon Ramati, who is suspected of leading and operating an ultra-Orthodox cult in Jerusalem, was released on house arrest on Wednesday, under restricted conditions, by the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court, after being detained for two weeks.
Ramati, 60, was arrested two weeks ago following reports filed to the Jerusalem District Fraud and Economic Crime Unit, suspecting the existence of a community of women in the Geula neighborhood of Jerusalem, operating under the guise of a women's seminar, living with their children in dire straits and cramped housing.
The testimony of four women who stayed in the cult for a long time but decided to leave was the main reason for his arrest.
The girls who were recruited by the sect “were taught to disassociate themselves from their parents, their families and their friends,” the police said.
To reinforce “multiple lessons of modesty,” the girls’ fingers were thrust into a fire “to make them understand what hell is.”
Witnesses said they “would see girls sleeping on mattresses on the roof in the cold, sometimes in the rain. We tried to call them, but they did not answer.” They said a cover was later placed over the roof “so we would not see what was happening.”
Ramati was previously arrested in 2015 following complaints issued by the Israeli Center for Cult Survivors.
Upon his release in 2015, he spoke to Channel 12’s (then Channel 2) Oded Ben-Ami, saying that “the vast majority of the girls go to work in the morning, and in the afternoon they take part in lessons for maybe three hours... When there were girls who did not like it in the house, I was cruel to them and forced them to try again and again and again.
Before his latest arrest, Ramati was asked on how he expected his case to proceed this time, answering that he expected it to go “just like last time. When the police decide this thing is over.”
Hagay Hacohen contributed to this report.