Bechadrei is reporting that indictments were filed yesterday against 11 people of the Kehillas HaMasmidim group for fraud, money laundering and other illegal activities.

Kehillas HaMasmidim is an anti-Zionist group in Jerusalem (and Beitar). The accusation is that they stole 48 million NIS from the state by forging identity papers and filing them to claim money from the State as subsidies for kollel learning in institutional support, and that fraud then led to the cover-up attempts which involved money laundering, and eventually obstructing justice in various forms when they tried to keep the investigators from figuring it out.

That is a shocking story, and that is how it is meant to appear. These people stole so much money from the State. fraud. money laundering. nasty stuff.

But that isnt what bothers me about this case. It does not bother me [so much] that they defrauded the State out of 48 million. I mean, they could have had that money (or a good percentage of it, presumably) anyway, if they wanted it and were willing to go through the legal process. What they did was bad, clearly, but I think there was something about it that is even worse than the theft of 48 million. And that is the deception to their own people.

they come off as holier than thou. They claim they don't take money from the State. they make themselves look so altruistic. they keep their own people in poverty, compelling them to reject welfare assistance and other forms of government subsidies and help. All in the name of religion and holiness. And all this time, they are taking the money through the backdoor, in a way that nobody knows about it. Everyone thinks they are so pure and religious; they have ideals and are willing to stick to them despite the hardships they cause. And all along they are secretly taking the money from the State. The deception of their own people, and their duping of the general public as to their ideals and religiosity, is, in my opinion, worse than the actual teft.