Category: Goel Ratzon

Alleged polygamist cult leader Goel Ratzon will remain in custody until the end of all court proceedings against him, the Tel Aviv District Court decided yesterday.

Ratzon is accused of a litany of sex and assault crimes against his 17 female partners and their children, whom he allegedly subjugated to slave-like conditions.

“The work of the police and the welfare services on this case would have been so much easier if Israel had specific anti-cult legislation,” says Dr Habi Zohar, a specialist on sects who counsels families who have lost members to cult activity.

Zohar also advises the Israeli Center for Cult Victims, which collected testimonies from Goel Ratzon’s wives over the past year.

They tattoo his image on their arms. They give their children, all 89 of them, versions of his name: Saviour. And at night, they – his 32 wives – wait expectantly to be chosen by him to share his bed at one of the four apartment buildings in Tel Aviv where they live together.

How does Mr. Ratzon, an unemployed, pot-bellied, white-haired man almost 60 years old, succeed in making a host of young attractive women dedicate their bodies and lives to him? And how in the world does he get away with it?

“I am perfect,” Mr. Ratzon explained. “I have all the characteristics that a woman wants.”