Around 200 members of the Lev Tahor community, who practice an strict form of Judaism, have fled their homes in San Juan village near Guatemala city.<br /><br />They say they have been persecuted for their beliefs and claim San Juan village elders threatened to cut water and electricity if they didn’t leave town. <br /><br />But leaders of the indigenous elders’ council said the Lev Tahor group was expelled because its members refused to have contact with the community.<br /><br />“This attitude that they have taken against us, to accuse us of something we didn’t do,” said Misael Santos, a spokesperson for the ultra-Orthodox Jewish group.<br /><br />“Legally we, as Guatemalans, who are the majority here .. and also foreigners have the right to live where we want to live. Let’s respect the country’s laws,” said Santos.<br /><br />The small community arrived just five months ago from Canada where they clashed with authorities.<br /><br />According to Canda’s CBC, the group had been accused of keeping children in unsanitary conditions while living there, promoting underage marriage and physical abuse.<br /><br />Leaders of the group dismissed the allegations and said the members of Lev Tahor were being persecuted for their religious beliefs.<br /><br />The group rejects the state of Israel because they say it views Jews as a people in exile, so they are hoping to find somewhere else to settle in Guatemala.
