The police began investigating the allegations against ZAKA chairman Yehuda Meshi Zahav regarding sexual offenses he committed. This was reported today (Friday) by News 12 and 13.
As you may recall, an investigation published yesterday on the Haaretz website revealed a series of harsh testimonies about cases of alleged sexual assault by ZAKA chairman Yehuda Meshi Zahav against children, boys, girls and women – which occurred over many years, according to the allegations. It was recently decided to award the Golden Silk Israel Prize for Lifetime Achievement for a special contribution to society and the state.
Evidence presented in the investigation shows that for decades, beginning in the 1980s, Golden Silk took advantage of his status, power, money and even the organization he heads – to attack children and boys, girls and women, ostensibly.
According to the investigation, there were many who knew about the attacks attributed to gold silk throughout the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Mea Shearim, Shmuel Hanavi and Sanhedria, and were also among the members of the chastity guards who knew but did not report to law enforcement. According to the victims’ testimonies, Gold Silk even used to brag about his “sexual conquests,” and in some cases allegedly paid money to his victims.
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Golden Silk was investigated at the beginning of the previous decade on suspicion of sexually assaulting a woman, but she then refused to file a complaint, and the investigation was closed for lack of evidence. The event was not announced at all, and the name of Gold Silk remained clean. The same ultra-Orthodox woman who refused to complain, Ch, was then in financial distress. According to her testimony, Golden Silk promised her financial aid, and used it to get closer to her, much more than she wanted.
“He forcibly stripped my clothes,” she told two of her friends and police investigators. She begged him to stop, but he did not stop, forcibly pinning her to the couch and forcing himself on her. “If you talk,” he warned her later, “a ZKA jeep will run over you.”
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Labor Party, MK Merav Michaeli, and Education Minister Yoav Galant demanded that the Israel Prize for Judea immediately be suspended until the end of the police investigation into his case.
Michaeli said that “it is good that the Israeli police respond quickly. I hope that the investigation will be completed soon. This is how the police should behave in any case of suspicion of sexual assault.
The Knesset member also said that “I demand that the Minister of Education suspend the awarding of the Israel Prize is a necessary step in light of the publication of the investigation until the end of the police investigation into the matter. “One in the public space and in the private space. The Labor Party I lead has a detailed plan to eradicate sexual violence in the country and it will be presented at the beginning of the week.”