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Mexico: Members of ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect escape custody

September 29, 2022

Authorities in southern Mexico say 20 members of the Lev Tahor sect overpowered guards and made off to Honduras. Their leader was arrested last week on organized crime and human trafficking charges.

https://p.dw.com/p/4HYjA
Members of the ultra-orthodox Jewish Lev Tahor sect harassing a guard at a southern Mexican detention facility
Members of the Lev Tahor sect had been in custody following the arrest of their leader on human trafficking chargesImage: Jose Torres/REUTERS

Roughly 20 members of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect escaped detention in southern Mexico late Wednesday night after overpowering guards at the government facility.

They had been held at the site since their leader, Menachem Endel Alter, was arrested last Friday.

Those who escaped were being held by Mexico's National System for Integral Family Development (DIF).

Members of the Lev Tahor sect, mainly women and children wearing long, traditional robes, overpowered guards at a DIF immigrant holding facility. They climbed over one guard who had been pushed to the ground before boarding a truck waiting for them outside.

Police in the southern state of Chiapas said that neither they, the National Guard, nor immigration services pursued the getaway vehicle as it headed toward Honduras.

A male member of the ultra-orthodox Jewish Lev Tahor sect speaks with a member of the Mexican National Guard outside a detention facility.
Lev Tahor adherents had been demanding the release of detained members for nearly a weekImage: Juan Manuel Blanco/EPA-EFE

Anti-Israel 'Jewish Taliban' repeatedly in trouble for human trafficking and kidnapping

Though Lev Tahor members decried the "violation of their freedom and religious rights," Israel's Ministry for Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, issued a statement saying Mexico's raid on the sect's compound, "took place after Mexican police gathered incriminating evidence against several members of the cult on suspicion of drug trafficking, rape and more." 

The statement said two Lev Tahor members were arrested on human trafficking and severe sexual offenses. The ministry also confirmed that several of those arrested were Israeli citizens.

Lev Tahor, which means "Pure Heart" in Hebrew, was founded in 1988 by Shlomo Helbrans, an Israeli. 

It is a fundamentalist sect that practices arranged marriages and calls for full-body coverings for girls as young as three. 

Though its austerity has won fans, others have derided it as the "Jewish Taliban" for its reactionary beliefs. Estimated to consist of between 200 and 300 members, Lev Tahor rejects the state of Israel.

Since its founding, Lev Tahor has faced numerous allegations of kidnapping, child marriage, and physical abuse. 

In June, two Lev Tahor leaders in the US were sentenced to 12 years in prison by a US Federal District Court in New York for kidnapping and sex trafficking.

The group has frequently relocated since its founding, moving between Israel, Canada, the US, Guatemala, Mexico, and parts of Europe.

Three traditionally dressed members of the Lev Tahor sect walk among debris outside a detention facility in southern Mexico
The escape was preceded by riots where Lev Tahor members and their children pelted guards with rocks and garbageImage: Juan Manuel Blanco/EPA-EFE

js/rc (AP, Reuters)