Rabbi charged with raping 12-year-old girl
Netanya rabbi tells minor she's fated to be 'messiah's mother,' must have sex with him to atone for sins
A Netanya rabbi was charged on Monday with raping a 12-year-old girl. David Hafuta, 64, who prayed at the same synagogue as the minor, allegedly assaulted her on several occasions between July 2010 and May of this year.
According to the indictment, the girl asked Hafuta questions about religious matters. In response, he told her that he wants to "reveal her purpose in the world," and for that she has to meet him.
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Last July, the defendant asked the victim to wait for him early in morning at a Netanya intersection. He picked her up in his car and drove her to the beach. There he told her that she is fated "to become the messiah's mother," and that she must "atone for all the bad deeds that she has done so far" by having sexual relations with him.
He then conducted a marriage ceremony with the girl while still in the car, and swore her to secrecy. At one point he asked her to take her clothes off, and assaulted her.
Rabbi David Hafuta at court (Photo: Ido Erez)
Rabbi 'abuse girl's trust'
The rabbi told the girl on several occasions that she possesses "destructive forces that might erupt and cause people to die," and that in order to control these "forces" she must have intercourse with him. He also said that she would save her mother by having sex with him. He reportedly assaulted her at several locations, including his office.
Moreover, the rabbi asked the girl to bring friends to him, and so she lead two other girls to his office. He told each one that "the war of Gog and Magog (Armageddon) is near," and that she is fated to "become the mother of the messiah and save the people of Israel."
The Central District Prosecutor's Office has motioned to extend his remand until the completion of the legal proceedings. "As a neighborhood rabbi and a familiar figure with a reputation in the field, the rabbi abused the girl's trust to have his way with her on several occasions," the attorney said.
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