In mid-May, a young woman called the Israel Center for Cult Victims, asking that her identity be kept secret. "I live in a Jerusalem collective," she told center director Rachel Lichtenstein. "I'm not certain, but I think it's a cult."
That call led to the exposure of the Jerusalem cult whose ringleader, D., was indicted yesterday along with two other members.
In several meetings with center staffers, the caller, in her early twenties, revealed the story of her life in D.'s house. She later agreed to complain to the police. Her detailed testimony about the physical, sexual and emotional abuse inflicted on the household's women and children led to an investigation that ended with the police and welfare authorities raiding the house. The women and children were sent to shelters; D. and two others were arrested.
Now, according to her lawyer, Ami Savir, the complainant will be the key prosecution witness in the trial.
