Kabbalah Cancer Cure
• Gossip
The head of a religious centre which hosted Madonna's visit to Israel was last night under arrest on suspicion of promising to cure a woman's cancer in return for more than £30,000.
Kabbalah leader arrested over '£30,000 charge for fraudulent cancer cure'
When the couple said they could pay no more, the rabbis are said to have suggested the husband work for the centre. He refused and complained to the police. Mrs Zonis, a 50-year-old with two children, subsequently died. Mr Zonis said: "She was a sick person, on the verge of despair. In that state a patient grabs at any straw to be saved. They were our straw until we realised we had been exploited."
Madonna's Kabbala guru accused of extorting money
Madonna has defended her interest in the mystical Jewish teachings of Kabbalah, saying media descriptions of it as a cult make her angry.