At Kineti L’Tziyon, Judah Gabriel discusses the implications of a recent arrest in the case of Ami Ortiz:

First, it confirms the suspicion of anti-missionary vigilante violence carried out by ultra-Orthodox Shamer groups like Yad L’achim.

Second, vindication! The police were initially sitting on their hands, dismissing this as a accidental firecracker accident (!), and the media chimed in with agreement, excusing the violence by claiming Messianic Jews are part of a cult. For example, here’s an original article from the left-leaning, secular Haaretz newspaper that all but excused the bombing:

Police are investigating the possibility that the explosion occurred while the boy was opening a Purim gift basket. Police reportedly believe the blast was caused by some sort of firecracker used during Purim celebrations.

The Parents of the victim are members of the Messianic Jews movement, which the police classify as a cult. The boy’s father is considered to be one of the movement’s leaders.

After previous attempts to harm the family, a security camera was installed at the family’s home. The police were checking the footage to see whether the explosion was documented by the cameras. The police emphasized that there was no proof to support the theory that the explosion was deliberate and malicious.

Fine blog readers, notice the non-sequitur arguments used here: “This cult family has been targeted by attacks before. Therefore, it’s probably a firecracker accident.” (What kind of journalism and police detective work is this?!)

And the article failed to mention that the family’s security cameras caught a man in Orthodox Jewish garb dropping off the bomb at the family home. Yet the police, and apparently the author of this Haaretz article, cite no proof of malicious intent.

This highlights the extreme anti-Messianic bias witnessed in the Israeli media: Messianics are portrayed as a cult, violence against us is denied or excused, and finally dismissed. No one wants to be on the side of the ugly Messianics.

A great goodness has come out of this!

Things are changing. With the Jerusalem Institute of Justice standing up in court on behalf of persecuted Messianics, and the Israeli courts cracking down on evil vigilante anti-missionary Shamer groups, we’ve seen a turn in the Israeli media, with a few lone voices speaking up for the plight of Messianic Jews, praise God.

Additionally, many Jews in the Israeli Orthodox community are distancing themselves from these shameful anti-missionary groups. The Ami Ortiz family reports that when Ami was hospitalized after the bombing, many from the surrounding Orthodox Jewish communities came to visit Ami, and denounced and apologized for whomever carried out this bombing.

In word, the Orthodox communities were denouncing vigilante anti-missionary groups, whether knowingly or not. Praise God!