Israel Wants US-Based Cult Deported
Associated Press/January 4, 1999
By Dana Budeiri
PETAH TIKVAH, Israel--Israel today ordered 11 members of a Denver-based doomsday cult deported and brought two others before a magistrate on suspicion they plotted a Jerusalem shootout in hopes it would bring Jesus Christ's return.
Fourteen members of the Concerned Christians cult -eight adults and six children -were arrested Sunday in raids on two homes in the Jerusalem suburbs of Moza and Mevasseret. Officials said investigations were continuing concerning three of the men arrested; the 11 ordered deported to the United States include six children.
The arrests three days into 1999 raised the curtain on what Israeli authorities fear could be months of turbulence leading up to the turn of the millennium.
Some 4.5 million tourists, including many Christian pilgrims, are expected to visit the Holy Land this year and there are concerns that among them will be scores of extremists seeking to live out apocalyptic fantasies.
The Denver cultists were arrested by a newly formed Israeli task force consisting of police, agents of the domestic Shin Bet security service and the Mossad spy agency.
A task force spokesman has told an Israeli government committee overseeing millennium preparations that some cults based in the United States may decide to commit mass suicide on the Mount of Olives, which some Christians believe is the designated site for Jesus' return at the start of the next millennium.
Members of the Concerned Christians, a cult which counts several dozen members, began selling their homes in and around Denver this fall. Their leader, Monte Kim Miller, believes he will die on the streets of Jerusalem in December and be resurrected. He was not among those detained, and police said he was not in Israel.
Fourteen cult members arrived in Israel in small groups in September and settled in two spacious suburban homes in Moza and Mevasseret. They were under police surveillance for several weeks.
Today, a magistrate in the Tel Aviv suburb of Petah Tikvah ordered one of the cult members, identified in court documents as John Bayles, held for another two days.
A second cult member, whose name was not immediately available, was also brought before the judge, and a third man was to appear in court later today. The three were not allowed to be represented by lawyers, according to court documents.
Israeli police have said the cult members planned to provoke a bloody shootout by opening fire on police. Members of the group believe that this catastrophic act would hasten the Second Coming.
In response to a question by the Petah Tikvah judge, Nira Diskin, a police officer said there was concern Bayles might try to commit suicide and that he was being watched closely.
Bayles said he was innocent.
"I am not here to hurt anybody," said Bayles, who looked dejected and spoke in a soft voice as he sat in the courtroom, one hand cuffed to a plainclothes security agent.
"I don't feel I pose a threat to anybody," he said as he pulled his jacket over his brown curly hair to hide his face from photographers.
The Interior Ministry, meanwhile, issued deportation orders against 11 of the cult members, including the six children and several women. Police said the three men in detention would also be deported once the investigation against them was completed.
The 11 against whom a deportation order was served have three days to appeal, said Interior Ministry spokesman Tova Eilinson. If they decide to leave voluntarily, they would be returned to the United States sooner, but will remain in custody until then, she said.
U.S. consular officials met with three women and six children this afternoon and would see two men on Tuesday, said U.S. Embassy spokesman Larry Schwartz.
The cult's Mevasseret home was locked today.
In the garden, there were four holes, each about 18 inches in diameter, which were dug by residents, neighbors said. Police had also searched the garden, but it was not clear what they were seeking.
In a bedroom, suitcases were stacked in the corner, perched on a dresser and strewn across the floor. A half-full package of diapers was twisted in the bed sheets.
No one has gone in or out since dozens of police and security officers swooped down on the two-story house Sunday, arresting five adults and three children, said neighbor Aliza Hanouni.
Mrs. Hanouni said she thought something was strange about the eight residents of the house. They kept their distance, they were home all the time, and they didn't seem to be one family as they claimed. But Hanouni said her suspicions were aroused last Friday, when she saw cult members dig up their garden.
"They turned over all the plants, everything," Hanouni said.
On Sunday night, police lugged cartons of evidence out of the house but would not say what they found.
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