Co-founder and chairman of the ZAKA volunteer emergency response organization, Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, who resigned from the organization after allegations of sexual assault had surfaced against him, attempted suicide on Thursday.
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Magen David Adom paramedics were called to the family home in the Jerusalem suburb of Givat Ze'ev in the early hours of Thursday morning and carried out resuscitation efforts on Meshi-Zahav, who was rushed to the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. He is said to be in critical condition.
On noon Thursday, the hospital said Meshi-Zahav's condition was critical but stable and that he was sedated and intubated. It is believed the suicide attempt has left him with a hypoxic brain injury.
The scandal involving Meshi-Zahav broke in early March, days after he was nominated for the Israel Prize over his activities as ZAKA's chief, with the Israel Police's Major Crimes Unit tasked with investigating sexual assault, rape, and abuse allegations brought against him by six people.
Meshi-Zahav denied any wrongdoing, but nonetheless, he relinquished the prize and resigned his position in ZAKA.
The suicide attempt came ahead of a Channel 12 News special slated to air on Thursday evening on the award-winning investigative journalism show Uvda ("Fact") which explored what it called the silencing of Meshi-Zahav's actions by Haredi society.
A police official said that investigators found a suicide note in Meshi-Zahav's home.
Channel 12 News issued a statement saying that given recent developments, its editors "will debate whether to air the show at this time" and later said that it would continue with the airing of the investigation as planned.
A neighbor of the former ZAKA told the Walla news site that Meshi-Zahav was "very concerned" about the show and "said they it was going to be the end of him."
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