A sexual assault case has shaken Israel's ultra-Orthodox community, after the suspect was named and revealed to have volunteered alongside the police in a predominantly religious Jewish city.
A Tel Aviv court on Thursday, July 10, extended by six days the custody of Chaim Rotter, a figure in the ultra-Orthodox community, a week after authorizing the publication of his name. Rotter, 36, was arrested in early July and is suspected of a series of sexual assaults over the course of at least a decade in the city of Bnei Brak − a center for Israel's closed ultra-Orthodox community, which is often reluctant to testify before authorities.
Rotter set up a volunteer organization in the city 15 years ago to help the police track down criminals. "According to the investigation, he is suspected of sexually assaulting young minors and women over a period of at least 10 years," the police said in a statement. In an interview with Israel's public broadcaster, Rotter had said his volunteer organization, called "The Guardians," helped the public protect themselves from theft and also reported suspected pedophiles.
According to Israeli media, at least six people have filed complaints against him. A rabbinical court headed by the chief rabbi of the northern city of Safed called on the victims to testify. "It is a religious obligation to testify, there is no shame in doing so," Shmuel Eliyahu wrote in a letter released by his office on Friday. "These crimes are as serious as murder in the eyes of the Torah."
In 2021, Chaim Walder, a successful ultra-Orthodox author, took his own life after the Haaretz newspaper published allegations, which he denied, of sexual offenses against some 20 people, including children. Another figure in the ultra-Orthodox community, Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, died after spending a year in a coma following a suicide attempt. He had been suspected of hundreds of sexual assaults on adults and minors, but attempted suicide before being questioned by the police.