Several women alleged that religious and community leaders had participated in the abuse. One woman named Yael Ariel testified that she had heard accounts from several women alleging that “doctors, educators, police officers, and both former and current Knesset members” took part.

“I was around 15, tied to a torture bed in basements in the Tel Aviv area,” said one women, recalling an incident in which her abusers — including family members — slaughtered a snake, mixed its blood with hers and drank it, while raping her and calling her a “holy vessel.”

“They tied me up in every possible way, using whips and electric shocks, raping me,” said another survivor, who testified that she was 5 years old when she began suffering “unbearable abuse,” including by religious leaders and educators who told her that she was “defective” and needed to be “fixed.”

    • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
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      21 hours ago

      They’ve got this, we’ve got the Epstein Files, in Afghanistan we had troops deployed to protect local warlords who were open pedophiles, etc. These people have always been with us, and now one of them is in the White House.

  • limer@lemmy.ml
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    1 day ago

    Ritual abuse is prevalent in most countries.

    There is still an aversion to talking about it, even when the abusers hold little influence in society.

    Everything is many times worse when the perpetrators hold real power