Two suspects have been named in connection with the police investigation of Likud MK Hanoch Milwidsky, who is accused of rape.
Milwidsky was questioned Friday about allegations that he raped a woman while he was serving as a legal adviser to the New Age religious association “Bnei Baruch — Kabbalah La’Am.” According to the allegations, he was coaching a woman, identified by the Hebrew initial Aleph, to testify falsely to protect the group’s leader, Michael Laitman, from charges of sexual assault. During their meetings, Aleph told police, Milwidsky raped her.
Now, police have revealed that Zvi Gelman, another lawyer working for Bnei Baruch, is accused of witness tampering in that case, which was tried in 2018- 2019. So is Eli Vinokur, a scholar of education who serves as a vice president at the Gordon Academic College of Education in Haifa.
Neither Gelman, a specialist in media law, nor Vinokur is accused of sexual assault. They were brought in for questioning on Friday by the police’s Lahav 433 major crimes unit, which is also investigating Milwidsky.
The publication of their names adds another layer to the accusations against Milwidsky, which he has denied. The lawmaker entered Knesset in 2022, after the police had already begun investigating him for encouraging perjury in the Bnei Baruch case. He was set to replace MK Moshe Gafni as chair of the powerful Knesset Finance Committee when the news of the probe became public on Friday.
Likud, whose coalition is seeking to oust Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara over a series of disputes, is backing Milwidsky. The party accused the attorney general of publicizing the accusations against the MK for political reasons.
Eli Vinokur gives a lecture in 2020. (Screenshot/YouTube)
“This is a witch hunt, seeking to undermine the people’s democratic choice, with only one goal — harming the government, its members, and its function in every way possible,” the party said in a statement on Sunday. Nonetheless, some Likud lawmakers have been urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to delay Milwidsky’s appointment to chair the Finance Committee due to the allegations.
Gelman denied the allegations against him, saying in a statement reported by Hebrew media that, in the case in question, he “acted professionally and according to all the accepted rules regarding taking testimony in a legal procedure.” He added that he has sent supporting documents to the police and will cooperate with the investigation.
Gordon Academic College told the Walla news outlet that it learned about the investigation of its vice president through the media and noted, “Everyone is innocent until proven guilty, so we will wait before making additional decisions.”
Is The Times of Israel important to you?
If so, we have a request.
Every day, even during war, our journalists keep you abreast of the most important developments that merit your attention. Millions of people rely on ToI for fast, fair and free coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
We care about Israel – and we know you do too. So today, we have an ask: show your appreciation for our work by joining The Times of Israel Community, an exclusive group for readers like you who appreciate and financially support our work.
Yes, I’ll give
Yes, I’ll give
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You appreciate our journalism
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
You clearly find our careful reporting valuable, in a time when facts are often distorted and news coverage often lacks context.
Your support is essential to continue our work. We want to continue delivering the professional journalism you value, even as the demands on our newsroom have grown dramatically since October 7.
So today, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6 a month you’ll become our partners while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘272776440645465’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
