Israel on Sunday indicted a cult leader on a myriad of charges of enslaving and sexually abusing about 21 "wives" and the dozens of children he had with them.

Goel Ratzon, 59, is accused of having taken "control over the lives" of the women since the early 1990s, holding them in a number of apartments in the Tel Aviv area.

Accused ... Goel Ratzon. Credit:Reuters

Among the charges against him are rape, enslavement and indecent assault.

"The defendant entrapped the women in a social group that took the form of a pseudo-family evolving around the cult of himself," according to the indictment submitted to a Tel Aviv court.