Four wives of a polygamous cult leader who was convicted of sadistic abuse of his family members six years ago officially register a political party to run in September’s election.
In 2013 Daniel Ambash was sentenced to 26 years in jail in what has been described as one of the most shocking abuse cases in the country’s history. His six wives and many children were kept by Ambash and his assistants in slavery conditions, forcibly confined and routinely punished with rape, electric shocks and beatings.
But most of the wives have never renounced Ambash, a Bratslav ultra-Orthodox Jew. They still live together, view themselves as his wives and revere him. The four have claimed the entire case was fabricated.
Four wives of polygamous cult leader Daniel Ambash filing the forms of their new party, Kama, to the Central Elections Committee at the Knesset on August 1, 2019. (Raoul Wootliff/Times of Israel)
Filing forms for the Kama (Advancing Individual Rights) party, Aderet Ambash, chair of the new party and one of the four wives, says that they aim to fight to prevent the government from intervening in Israelis’ private lives.
“We have seen all the ills in the police, in the justice system, in the government, and we realized that it’s not just our problem. It’s a social problem that needs a deep solution,” Aderet Ambash says.
“We believe that if the Torah gives people the ability to choose their own life, the state has no place to intervene and prevent that. And we will fight for that right,” she says, referring to polygamous marriage.
— Raoul Wootliff
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
From the Liveblog of
Thursday, August 1, 2019
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
