Israel’s Zaka Burying The Truth

Israel’s Zaka Burying The Truth

ZAKA is the name for the Israeli volunteer emergency-response group known for their grisly crime-scene photos. This group became every Western newsroom’s favorite source their information in the days after October 7th, 2023. Their volunteers were quoted in dozens of outlets describing horrific scenes that at times even left war reporters speechless.

Just like that, they went from a niche religious NGO to the emotional backbone of an entire war narrative.

There was just one problem: many of those stories didn’t hold up.

Reporters and fact-checkers started quietly walking back the most sensational claims. Some of the group’s most prominent spokespeople were caught contradicting themselves on camera. Yet by the time corrections rolled out, buried somewhere under new headlines about “terror tunnels” and “retaliation”, the damage was done.

The lies had already served their purpose.

Zaka was too busy cashing checks.

Donations poured in from around the world. Politicians posed for photos. Every tear-soaked anecdote turned into another fundraising drive. The group’s official fundraising channels saw millions of dollars in new pledges.

But that wasn’t even the full story.

ZAKA’s founder, and former chairman Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, someone who Western media was more than happy to regularly feature in their interviews, just so happened to be facing serious criminal charges at the time, including allegations of sexual abuse of men, women and children spanning back decades, according to Israeli court filings and local press reports. He was set to receive the Israel Prize in 2021, but forfeited it later that same year, resigned from all public roles, attempted suicide, and had to be hospitalized. According to witnesses and victims, these abuses had been an “open secret” for decades.

Wouldn’t you think that in any sane world, that would be the sort of thing that might make editors pause for a moment and reconsider running his quotes unchecked?

ZAKA operates at a strange intersection between religion, nationalism, and trauma outrage. They built their brand on handling human remains in “acts of holiness,” but after October 7, holiness got replaced with opportunism.

Tragedy is good business if you play it right. Western donors don’t read Hebrew-language court documents. They see a logo, a tearful interview, and the word “terrorism,” and the wallet practically opens itself.