“We should struggle with all our power and by no means hand over,” says Oded Twik, creator of the guide The Cult, who beforehand rescued his sister and her youngsters from Lev Tahor in Canada.
Over the previous weekend, a large-scale rescue operation was carried out on the Lev Tahor cult compound in Guatemala following testimonies from youngsters and youngsters, non-residents of Guatemala, who escaped the compound final month. The youngsters reported abuse and human trafficking.
During the operation, roughly 160 youngsters and 40 girls had been rescued, with the kids who had been dressed within the cult’s distinctive clothes. Buried our bodies had been additionally found on the website. The rescued people had been transferred to a welfare facility in Guatemala City.
“These persons are brainwashed, depressing; they have been by way of a holocaust,” Twik stated. In 2011, Twik determined to go to his sister in Canada, whom he had not seen for seven years. Upon returning to Israel, he first heard rumors concerning the group being an excessive cult that abused its members. “I gave it my all,” he shared. “There had been nights I’d sit up all night time speaking, making calls overseas. All night time, and within the morning, I’d proceed working and speaking right here too.”
In May 2015, when members of the cult moved into an workplace constructing in Guatemala City, Twik undertook a daring rescue operation. “In a covert and armed operation, I took my sister and her 4 youngsters and moved them to a motel. Within a couple of hours, we had been already on a flight to Argentina.”
“In my case, I accompanied my sister 12 hours a day,” Twik recounts. “We didn’t have a funds for psychologists, however even at this time, years later, they nonetheless want psychological therapy. It doesn’t fade or go away. Some youngsters are much less affected, and a few are extra, nevertheless it leaves a mark.”
Twik referred to as for presidency involvement in circumstances of “new households”—households who’ve fallen sufferer lately: “Families who used to work for a lot of officers, paid social safety, did all the pieces as they need to, however ended up entangled with such criminals, with offenders, in a harmful cult. Yes, they had been brainwashed; sure, they made a mistake with their youngsters. But they are often saved, they are often rehabilitated—they’re fantastic individuals.”
“This was a narrative that value me vital sources,” Twik shares, “particularly an immense period of time. I needed to neglect my circle of relatives right here. It was actually painful, however I did it for trigger. I didn’t do it for my sister; I did it for her youngsters, whom I noticed there, and I couldn’t cease crying out of ache.”
Twik emotionally described essentially the most significant second within the rescue course of.
“The victory was when these youngsters, who had been brainwashed to assume I used to be some form of monster, realized I used to be the nice one, not the unhealthy one, and gave me items. Those are essentially the most excellent moments on this story—simply realizing how worthwhile the hassle was, that they respect you in a method that’s indescribable.”
History of legal investigations and fees
Lev Tahor was established by the late Shlomo Helbrans within the Nineteen Eighties, ultimately settling in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts in Quebec, Canada, earlier than fleeing for Ontario’s Chatham-Kent in November 2013 amid authorities amid allegations of kid neglect.
Senior Lev Tahor leaders Nachman Helbrans and Mayer Rosner had been charged with youngster kidnapping by US authorities in December 2018 earlier than being sentenced to 12 years in jail in March 2022 for youngster sexual exploitation.
Further, in March 2024, further management, specifically the Weingarten brothers, Yoil, Yakov, and Shmiel, had been convicted for worldwide parental kidnapping, youngster exploitation, and conspiracy to defraud the US for his or her function within the December 2018 kidnapping.
