For five years, we exposed sexual and ethical abuse in the world of alternative therapy. We published investigative reports, gave a voice to survivors, and brought issues no one wanted to touch into public discourse. It worked — and now those we exposed are trying to silence us.

They have filed SLAPP suits against us totaling over 2 million NIS. The lawsuits were filed to wear us down, intimidate others, and send a message: those who speak out, pay the price.

They believe the public has no right to know or to ask questions about their actions or their therapeutic practices.

We have no intention of staying silent. But this time, we need help.

Nice to meet you — we're Shany Kedar and Mordechai Braunstein, a couple and activists who have been fighting sexual abuse and exploitation in the alternative therapy world for over five years.

We met through our shared work exposing a man named Erez Arjuna, who presented himself as a therapist but turned out to be a serial rapist who operated unhindered for three decades — in Pardes Hanna, in Amirim, and at an ashram in the desert.

For thirty years, the stories were passed by word of mouth, and no one stopped him. The exposé we generated received wide media coverage, and following it, dozens — and then hundreds — of stories of abuse came to light. For years, and still to this day, difficult stories and pleas for help keep reaching us from survivors who have nowhere else to turn.

Entirely as volunteers — through sleepless nights, with no budget and no institutional backing — we spent long hours listening to survivors' stories, in conversations with professionals such as the Israeli Center for Cult Victims and the Sexual Assault Crisis Centers, and chasing journalists in an effort to put an end to these terrible phenomena.

We did not stay silent. We wrote on our Facebook profiles and anywhere else we could. We challenged problematic practices that operate in the legal gray zone of therapy, contributed to the publication of investigative reports about people against whom testimonies and complaints had been gathered, and broadly speaking, brought the issues of abuse in alternative therapy, manipulation tactics, and sexual violence in therapeutic settings into public discourse.

Shani wrote investigative pieces about abusive therapists on the website "Politically Korelet," and created a podcast and group called "What's Happening in My Therapy?" — dedicated to creating a safe space around mental health treatment and providing a platform for survivors' stories. Mordechai wrote extensively online, kept in contact with journalists, activists, and action groups, and worked to spread the articles and reports published in the media.

Together, we made a lot of noise: we created a space where survivors could speak, and we pushed those who caused harm to face accountability.

And the work bore fruit:

Over the years of our activism, many investigative reports were published in Israel and abroad as a result of conversations and connections we created. Awareness rose on social media — the conversation about what counts as legitimate and proper in mental health treatment took center stage. In the alternative therapy world, a wave of exposés began that brought to light destructive therapists and exploitative methods, which thrive thanks to the absence of regulation in the field.

This year, the Sexual Assault Crisis Center reported a 35% increase in reports of sexual abuse occurring in therapeutic settings among adults. For minors, this number doubled (!) to a 100% increase in reports.

We believe this is, in large part, thanks to our work as well. Women who once kept silent are now speaking. The shame is shifting from the survivors to the abusers. This tells us that reality can be changed with a lot of courage and a bit of audacity. But it comes at a high cost.

The Hardest Battle

Among everything we exposed, one struggle stands out as particularly cruel. Insiders from one of the alternative communities began sending us testimonies and information about an organization that the Israeli Center for Cult Victims defined in 2023 as having "concerning characteristics with the potential to harm participants." From the testimonies we received, difficult stories emerged, and once we saw that this was a pattern, we helped advance investigative reports on the subject in the media.

When the reports started coming out, the response was not long in coming.

At first, it was background noise: phone calls in the middle of the night and at dawn, threats in private messages, and attempts to smear us publicly. When that didn't deter us, it escalated. Lawsuits with astronomical sums were filed against us — SLAPP suits in nature, designed to exhaust us financially and emotionally. More than 10 lawsuits were filed against various people involved in the issue — former patients, journalists, online commenters, and media organizations. The cumulative sum of lawsuits from this community alone, against us, has reached close to one million NIS — and that's before counting lawsuits from other figures in the alternative therapy world we wrote about (see list at the end of the text).

This is a common tactic among those in power: instead of taking responsibility for the abuse that occurred in their community, the stories that were published, the legitimate questions that were raised — they created an "enemy" and claimed there was a "smear campaign" by those who spoke out, exposed, and put themselves at risk. But despite all this, we continued.

These investigative reports — which were published and are, for now, still online — are now at risk of being silenced.

It needs to be understood that to this day, victims of alternative therapy — whether the harm is sexual abuse, negligence, exploitation, or psychological violence — are not recognized by any state body. The Ministry of Health rejects complaints because it considers alternative therapy a "private domain." On top of that, there is enormous victim-blaming, both from the authorities and in public discourse. Survivors often hear sentences like "What were you thinking when you went to that therapist?" SLAPP suits, in essence, prevent the public from knowing whether the therapist they are going to is a violent and abusive person. This is a matter of public health.

But despite all the threats and smears over the years, we continued.

On the personal cost of exposing and confronting a serial abuser: from the podcast "What's Happening in My Therapy?"

Until now, we've survived.

We survived because there was no other choice. Every time we said "enough" — another story arrived, another survivor with nowhere to turn. We kept writing, connecting people, helping investigative reports get published. We received help from legal clinics, volunteer lawyers, and good people — and we are grateful for every bit of help we got. We also paid out of our own pockets for the legal harassment they put us through, which yielded them nothing.

But standing against us are organized parties with money, patience, and an entire community that funds them — who know how to use the legal system to deter and silence. This is not a private struggle. It touches on fundamental questions about the limits of the law, about the state's responsibility, and about how harm can operate for years under the radar when it's wrapped in the manipulative language of "healing."

For the first time in five years, we are asking for help. And we want to do something bigger than ourselves — to change the reality in Israel.

We want to fight back. To send the message that SLAPP suits are not a useful strategy. That they come at a price. What we really want is the strength to confront these lawsuits head-on, rather than seek mediation and settlements that would simply "get us out of it."

We want, for the first time, for the courts to grapple with the hard questions: What is proper therapy? What is informed consent? And when a therapeutic practice operates in the gray zone between law and morality — doesn't the public deserve to know about it and discuss it openly?

To that end, we've set three goals:

First milestone — up to 170,000 NIS: A legal defense fund against SLAPP suits. The money will go toward covering our legal expenses and the costs of mounting a defense that will allow us to see the legal proceedings through to the end. We believe in and stand behind what we published, and we want to fight for it in court.

Second milestone — from 170,000 to 500,000 NIS: Money raised above 170,000 NIS will go toward funding tort lawsuits on behalf of survivors who were failed by the establishment. These lawsuits will hopefully create precedents and enable the legal system to deal with future cases of abuse, and will also allow survivors of alternative therapies in Israel — particularly survivors of "Sacred Sexuality" who have been left without protection — to receive compensation that will allow them to heal from years of harm.

Third milestone — over 500,000 NIS: Establishing a body that will work in collaboration with existing organizations on legislation: protection for patients, changing Israeli law, truth in advertising, and informed consent. Everything we've done until now as volunteers, but with more wind in the sails — and a budget.

This concerns all of us.

If we can be silenced today — tomorrow it could be anyone who tries to expose abuse. Any journalist, any activist, any survivor who dares to speak. Criticism of problematic therapeutic practices and exposing therapists who have caused harm is not defamation — it is a public service.

Help us keep fighting — and don't let this silencing succeed.

Key investigative reports, articles, and posts we wrote or were involved in publishing:

• "He told me that if I caressed him, men would want me": The dark truth of the Sacred Sexuality community — Neta Halperin, Haaretz Magazine, 27.07.2022. [link]
• They were harmed by these therapists, and now they've discovered they're volunteering with Nova survivors — Neta Halperin, Family section, Haaretz, 28.12.2023. [link]
• "And so is he!" — Erez Arjuna, spiritual healer: A chronicle of violence spanning decades — Shany Kedar, 17.06.2021. [link]
• David Aton: Aggression disguised as love — Politically Korret, Shany Kedar, 04.09.2021. [link]
• Bad Trip — Politically Korret, Shany Kedar, 29.03.2022. [link]
• Post criticizing the code of ethics of the ALMA association, which permits sexual therapy through sexual touch — Shany Kedar, Facebook, 23.08.2022. [link]
• Ashram in the Desert: On a dream and its shattering — Kelly Rosen, Politically Korret, 30.08.2022. [link]
• "A therapist touching my genitals and licking my whole body is sexual assault, period." — Illy Pe'eri, 12.06.2023. [link]