Tel Aviv – An Israeli court sentenced a polygamous cult leader to 30 years’ imprisonment on Tuesday for sex crimes against his wives and daughters as part of what prosecutors described as a mind-boggling saga of dominance and delusions of deity.
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The defendant, Goel Ratzon, 64, had denied the charges of rape and indecent assault. Tel Aviv District Court had acquitted him of separate counts of enslavement regarding 21 spouses and 38 children he had kept in various homes around the city.
Sporting shoulder-length white hair and a beard, Ratzon had argued that the women, many of whom had his name and portrait tattooed on their bodies, lived with him of their own accord.
One of the wives, identified only as Maayan, welcomed the sentence in an interview to Israel’s Army Radio, saying it would prevent another Ratzon cult “rising from the depths” of the daughters’ generation.
OMG…..
Unbelievable. I have a friend dating for 5 years who cant get a single girl to say yes. And my friend is well groomed.
I feel sorry for the poor guy having 21 mothers in law. No wonder his hair turnred grey.
I can throw up from this. and #3–that was a funny line!
I can’t even handle one wife. This guy is a tzaddick.
This guy was merely doing his hishtadlus to alleviate the Shidduch Crisis. He is the ultimate NASI!
I am inspired by his stamina.
King Solomon had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines – I really don’t understand the disgust and outrage being shown here.
Some of you seem to delight in making jokes about this miscreant. In reality, he is a sick, perverted, weird sex offender, and this matter is a shanda!!
Having many wives is called polygamy, having 2 wives is called bigamy , having one wife is called monotony
definitions:
1. bigamy – having one wife too many
2. monogamy – see #1
In the picture it looks like he wants to ask that woman to marry him
Hmm … this sounds like the start of a case in Y’vomois.
He seems to have done some awful things, but jail is cruel. Of course the Israeli authorities don’t see their own evil/faults, neither does Mr. Goel Ratzon. Jail separates mothers &/or fathers from children….from parents, friends from friends…what purpose does it serve except to enhance some criminal justice system…selfish and stupid. Better flogging in this case. But, since (Probably like America) most Israelis feel flogging is cruel…we’re back to square one.
same type of “cult” as Lev Tahor?
What took the Israeli authorities so long? This cult has been around for 20+ years and only became an issue when the media got hold of it two years ago.
Because they know full well that this is only an issue of sex abuse, and not religion, they were not interested in pursuing it. Had religion been involved, all hell would have broken loose long ago. Even now, it hardly makes the news.
Anybody know what this guy’s real name is? Or was he legitimately named “Goel Ratzon” at birth? Somehow I doubt it.
Once again authorities are punishing someone who is different than society, but harmed no one.
These women live in a free country, were not tied up, and were free to come and go as they pleased. Yet they all choose their lifestyle, because they believed him to be the messiah. There is nothing illegal about that. Gay marriage it’s ok yet polygamy isn’t. Give it a few years and polygamy will become acceptable. The new keyword is “plural marriages”.
Shalom, I certainly appreciate the power of personality coercion, but is that a legal concept? It seems to me that it will be difficult to eke out a legal definition of psychological coercion.
So who pays all these bills????? It costs a lot of money to have one wife and children – who is bankrolling this? Please don’t tell me he sends them all to work. Oy –