Meron rabbi arrested after cult watchdog warned of sex abuse in strictly run group

A leading communal rabbi from Meron in northern Israel has been arrested for alleged “serious sexual offenses,” police said on Thursday, a week after he was accused by a cult watchdog of managing a tightly controlled group since at least 2011.

A statement from the Israel Police said Rabbi Yosef Shoveli, 54, was arrested overnight Wednesday-Thursday following a covert investigation after multiple complaints were received.

Shoveli is said to have maintained tight control over his followers, although it was unclear how many adherents he had.

Sources familiar with the details of the case told the Walla news site that according to complaints that had accumulated over time, Shoveli presented his control over followers as spiritual.

“He succeeded in entering into the lives of people and making them completely dependent on him. He controlled their daily routines, distanced them from their families, and some of them effectively became his servants,” a source with knowledge of the probe told Walla.

Shoveli was expected to be brought before a court for a remand hearing later on Thursday.

Police called on anyone who may also have been harmed by the suspect or have any knowledge of alleged crimes to come forward.

Last week, the Israeli Center for Cult Victims posted a warning about Shoveli, saying it had collected 16 testimonies against him, including from five people who were directly involved in the group’s inner circle, as well as from family members from the Haredi community.

The witnesses described “worrying patterns of dependence, control, harm to family ties, exploitation, an atmosphere of fear” and sexual exploitation in the group, with the earliest witness complaint being filed in 2011, according to the center.

Four of those who came forward said they were sexually assaulted by Shoveli, who presented the acts as “spiritual.” They said they were witnesses to assaults on other members, indicating a pattern of abuse in the group.

The center described an inner group of heightened control, and an external group among whose members “dependence, high piety, and harm to family ties” began to take shape.

In the internal group, members’ lives are intensely controlled, with the center noting some members wouldn’t even establish their own family without Shoveli’s approval.

Some even changed their last name to Shoveli, according to the center.

Members carry out daily chores for Shoveli, such as cleaning and caring for his children, without pay, the center said, adding that members viewed their servitude as a “privilege” and “mission.”

Shoveli said he “absolutely disavows all of the above and rejects the matters outright,” in response to the center’s claims.

Last year, survivors told a Knesset hearing harrowing tales of sexual abuse primarily taking place in ultra-Orthodox and national-religious communities, with abusers using the mantle of religion to justify the acts.