About a year after an indictment was filed against Haim Rotter, the former head of the Hashomrim organization, another complaint alleging sex offenses has been submitted against him, according to a Monday morning report by Kan News on Reshet Bet. In recent days, another man said Rotter won his trust by virtue of his role leading Hashomrim.
Rotter was already indicted in July 2025 on sex offenses involving four young men, including a 15-year-old minor. The new complainant said he was about 17 and a half at the time, a yeshiva student, and that Rotter contacted him and made him feel comfortable being around him. He said he believed Rotter and never imagined he was being exploited: “I did not think for a second there was a chance he was taking advantage of me.”
According to the complainant, Rotter later forced him to perform sexual acts while exerting control over him. He said Rotter constantly built trust and projected power, including through his ability to carry out arrests of undocumented workers in buildings, which made him seem “really powerful” to a teenager like him. The man said it took him three years of total silence before he finally gathered the strength to go to the police. He said the issue surfaced only after troubling situations, therapy with psychiatric professionals, and support from others: “I was very afraid at first. It was not pleasant. In the end, a police investigator is not my friend, but little by little I opened up to another professional and a friend, and then I went to the police station.”
Rotter’s trial is still ongoing in the Tel Aviv District Court, and next month the court is expected to consider whether to release him under restrictive conditions. Meanwhile, additional complaints against him are being reviewed by the State Attorney’s Office. Sha'na Aharonson, CEO of the Magen support center, which is assisting the complainant and other victims, said the new filing shows that reporting abuse is often a gradual process requiring great courage and time. Rotter’s lawyer had not responded by the time of publication.
