Israel’s Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs is sending a delegation this week to Guatemala to help local authorities counter the Lev Tahor (“Pure Heart”) cult.
The delegation, which includes senior professionals, will share knowledge and experience gained treating cult victims and their families, Arutz 7 reported.
Meetings are scheduled with welfare, mental health and law enforcement officials in Guatemala to develop a professional and culturally appropriate response system, the news outlet reported.
“The Ministry of Social Affairs has been following the affair of the Lev Tahor cult for about a decade,” said ministry director-general Yinon Aharoni.
“Sharing professional knowledge with Guatemalan authorities is another important step in our ongoing efforts to assist victims of the cult and prevent further harm to children,” he said.
The decision follows an international arrest warrant issued by Interpol on Dec. 28 at the request of Guatemala for a leader of the cult.
Jonathan Emmanuel Cardona Castillo, 23, is wanted by Guatemala on charges including human trafficking, rape and abuse of minors, Interpol said in a Red Notice.
On Dec. 20, security authorities in Guatemala raided the Lev Tahor cult compound.
“The operation led to the rescue of 160 minors who were allegedly being abused by a member of the Lev Tahor sect,” Interior Minister Francisco Jiménez tweeted after the raid on the property, a farmhouse located in the municipality of Oratorio, some 37 miles southwest of the capital.
The raid was the most aggressive action to date by Guatemalan authorities against the Lev Tahor community, which has attracted legal scrutiny since establishing a presence in the Central American country in 2013.
The cult has moved through several countries, and even attempted to reach Iran, before returning to Guatemala, according to Ilan Sharif, the director of the Israeli ministry’s Cult Victims Department.
The radical group has been accused of child and sexual abuse charges in several countries. Its women wear black burkas similar to those worn by some Muslim women.
Sect leaders have described the investigations as “religious persecution,” AFP reported.
In 2022, Mexican authorities arrested a sect leader near the Guatemalan border and removed women and children from a compound.
In March, a New York court sentenced three leaders of Lev Tahor—Yoil Weingarten, Yakov Weingarten and Shmiel Weingarten—for child exploitation and kidnapping two children from the Catskills home of their mother in 2018.
The cult was founded by anti-Zionist rabbi Shlomo Helbrans in Jerusalem in 1988.
