Israelis with relatives in the Lev Tahor cult, who are currently trying to reach Iran, are terrified of the possible consequences of hundreds of Jews congregated in an area frequented by ISIS terrorists, close to the Iranian border.

As YWN reported, hundreds of Lev Tahor members are attempting to leave Guatemala and move to Iran. Their Israeli relatives have urgently appealed to Israel’s Foreign Ministry to intervene and US relatives of cult members are appealing to the US State Department.

“If they reach the Iranian-Kurdistan border, it can lead to a mega political-security incident,” the relatives warned. “The Shalit deal will be like child’s play compared to this.”

Israel’s Foreign Ministry has appealed via the Israeli Ambassador to Guatemala Matti Cohen to Guatemalan Attorney General Consuelo Porras, to prevent the Lev Tahor members from leaving the country. They also requested that legal proceedings be advanced against the cult leaders, following the testimony of several Israeli and Canadian victims of the cult to Guatemalan authorities.

Several days ago, Guatemalan authorities detained another group of Lev Tahor members with US passports, including small children, on the way to Iran, where they plan on requesting political asylum. It was the US that reportedly intervened and requested that Guatemalan security officials stop them from leaving the country. The Jews in that group are reportedly back in the Lev Tahor compound.

Rabbi Tzvi Gluck, the director of the Amudim organization, is involving in trying to assist the families. He told Ynet that the cult has 280 members with Israeli, US or Canadian citizenship, and many of them have dual citizenship.

“Most of them are Israeli citizens so I expect the Israeli government to do everything in its power to find a way to help these people,” he said. He added that in the past three years, the babies born into the cult aren’t officially registered in any country “so if a raid takes place, they won’t be able to take the children since there’s no documentation of their existence. Additionally, when a new family joins them, they confiscate all their passports.”

The cult has begun preparations for the move to the Kurdish region, to northeastern Iraq (Erbil area) which borders Iran. Cult leaders believe that the area is the biblical Bavel and Moshiach will arrive there first. Some cult members are already in the area seeking to purchase land and begin building a living compound. Others are in the process of leaving Guatemala in groups, both via the airport and by land, via Mexico and El Salvador.

Rabbi Gluck said that the cult members are currently trying to leave Guatemala in groups of 70. “I appealed to the Israeli authorities – a family with five children who were born in Israel and are Israeli citizens, are there. The Israeli officials said that they’re aware of what’s going on and they’re taking care of it but they cannot reveal any details. They emphasized that they’re doing everything they can to prevent cult members from reaching Iran.”

Lev Tahor members previously sought “political asylum” in the Islamic Republic, sending a letter to Iran in Hebrew, English and Arabic in 2018 requesting political asylum, in which the cult members “declared their loyalty and submission to the Supreme Leader and Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran.” They presented themselves as “Jews faithful to Hashem and Toras Emes, bearers of the battle against Zionists and their rule over Eretz HaKodesh and the Am Yehudi” and claimed that they are being persecuted for their faith.

Rabbi Gluck said that they received a response to their letter in Arabic inviting them to Iran.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)