On Tuesday, the Tel Aviv District Court ordered the remand of the arrest of a notorious polygamist up until the termination of all legal proceedings currently being held against him. The 59-year-old cult leader from south Tel Aviv was romantically involved with 32 women and fathered 40 children.
Goel Ratzon has been charged with rape, enslavement, indecent acts and fraud.
Judge Hayuta Kochan who issued the verdict for Ratzon’s remand, called him
“A base and contemptible man with a sick and perverted personality”.
“In his twisted and perverse way, and his complete control of every aspect of these women’s lives, he mutilated their thoughts and castrated their personalities until they totally lost their free will. His baseness and contemptibility soar to new heights with the sexual relations he forced upon them.”
She added that the women members of the cult were:
“Weak, vulnerable, and mainly young and innocent, so it was an easy task for him to instill in them the faith that the world he created around him was all good, while the world outside was entirely evil and corrupt.”
Judge Kochan also wrote that Ratzon brainwashed the women into the belief that engaging in sexual relations with him would secure their entry into heaven:
“He introduced a reign of terror and fear, and those who did not do as he commanded were painfully and humiliatingly punished in a manner that made use of manipulation and severe chastisement…He forced them to dress modestly and work only in the home, and they were not allowed to be delayed if he did not permit it, not even while buying water at the grocery store. Ratzon never worked and these women provided him with all of his needs. For example, they bought homes for him, trips abroad, and all the luxuries he desired.”
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