Category Archives: anti-Christian bigotry

Binyamin Regional Rabbis Fear Christian Money!

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christian-network-marketers-money-crossAnti-Messianic and Anti-Christian group Jewish Israel announce, to their obvious glee, a Halachic ruling about accepting Gentile (Christian) support, either monetary or volunteer here. This document starts by declaring its desire to be of global application:

פעילותם של נוצרים אדוקים בדתם בארץ ובחו”ל

The religious activities of devote Christians in Israel and abroad.

A document of principles regarding the acceptance of monetary and manpower assistance from Christian organizations or individuals has been formulated by the Committee of Binyamin Region Rabbis. Members of the committee include Rabbis Yechezkiel Kupfeld, Jonathan Blass, Elchanan Bin Nun, Ben Zion Amar, and Yair Frank.

The halachic document which can be read in full in Hebrew is addressed to the residents, rabbis, and community activists and leaders of Judea and Samaria.  In addition, it has been disseminated to rabbis throughout Israel.

It goes on to claim that accepting most kinds of support from Christians or even any appreciation of the Christian faith, would be to empower idolatry. As I read this I just imagined the storm caused if this were written by a Christian pastor about Judaism!

… Very sensitive prohibitions with regards to avodah zarah, empowering Christianity, participation in Jewish-Christian gatherings, expressing admiration for Christian belief, and expressing gratitude are addressed in an unequivocal manner by the committee.  The rabbis involved express great concern about the blurring of the line between Christianity and the Jewish faith, the dangers of strengthening Christianity in Eretz Yisrael, and problems inherent in becoming dependent on Christian sources.

There is a sense in which we at RPP agree that any money offered to support any cause, must be offered with no strings attached. Religious conviction, worship and service of the Almighty must not be coerced or induced by material gain, or else it is not a genuine religious conviction and defeats the object of true faith. However, that said, the Binyamin Regional Rabbis demonstrate just a tad of hysterical intolerance to Christians and not a little fear that such love and support will be enough to sway many Israelis into being convinced that Jesus might very well be for them if his followers are not the rampant anti-Semites many of their forefathers were!

Sadly such intolerance of other faith convictions demonstrated by this overbearing decree only plays into the hands of those who hate Israel and rub their hands with glee at the prospect of such rabbinic decisions nullifying Christian support of Israel. Such rulings will achieve what anti-Zionist vicar Stephen Sizer and the Christ at the Checkpoint conference has thus far failed to obtain, the alienation of Evangelical Christian supporters of Israel from Israel.

Simon Wiesenthal Center Decries Attacks on Christian Religious Sites in Israel

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December 12, 2012

The Simon Wiesenthal Center voices its outrage over the recent desecration of Christian religious sites in Israel, as well as vandalism of an Arab village.

Overnight, offensive graffiti were painted at an Armenian cemetery and the Valley of the Cross monastery in Jerusalem. Cars were also spray-painted and tires slashed at the monastery, and at Shukba, near Ramallah.

“The desecration of religious sites in a democratic Israel pains us as Jews as much as it pains the intended victims,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean of the Wiesenthal Center. “Our outrage is mitigated only by the unequivocal response from the highest places in Israeli society,” he continued. He referred to the “Quick expression of ‘disgust’ by Prime Minister Netanyahu, and his commitment to apprehend and prosecute those responsible, and to redoubling Israel’s educational emphasis on its core values of tolerance and respect for all people.”

“The perpetrators added ‘Happy Hanukah’ slogans in their vandalism,” remarked Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein, the Center’s director of interfaith affairs, “but there was nothing happy and nothing Hanukah about these attacks. At a time that Jews commemorate winning religious freedom from their ancient oppressors, they are mindful of not violating the welcome mat that Israel extends to all other religious groups. How tragic that while the vast majority of Jews celebrate their own religious values, misguided people would resort to such ugly and un-Jewish tactics.”

Member of Israeli Knesset Rips-Up New Testament

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MK Michael Ben Ari member of Israeli Parliament destroying a copy of the Bible, presumably just the New Testament section. Photo: Itamar Ben-Gvir

Following on from our comments on the story about the fuss some Israeli politicians were making for receiving a copy of the Holy Bible in Hebrew, one far right member of the Israeli parliament has destroyed his copy in front of the cameras.

MK Michael Ben Ari of the Religious Right Wing National Union party, chose to defile the holy book of another faith in front of the camera, citing persecution he believes was caused by the New Testament, as justification for his act.

Ynet reports:

However, while most MK’s chose to ignore the book or return it to its sender, the rightist lawmaker chose to term the book a “provocation,” tore it up into shreds and then threw it out.

“This abominable book (the New Testament) galvanized the murder of millions of Jews during the Inquisition and during auto da fe instances,” Ben Ari said adding that “Sending the book to MK’s is a provocation. There is no doubt that this book and all it represents belongs in the garbage can of history.”

However his excuse did not wash with the government who gave this unequivocal response:

Government spokesman Mark Regev said, “We totally deplore this behavior and condemn it outright. This action stands in complete contrast to our values and our traditions. Israel is a tolerant society, but we have zero tolerance for this despicable and hateful act.”

The Jerusalem Post also reported that Knesset member Masud Gnaim (a Muslim) commented on the issue:

“I got a copy of the New Testament in the mail, too, but I never thought to rip it up or burn it,” “As a Muslim, I respect all religions’ holy books.”

The Knesset’s only Christian MK called for legal action against Ben Ari:

Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein should press incitement charges against MK Michael Ben-Ari (National Union) for tearing a New Testament and throwing it in the trash, the Knesset’s sole Christian MK, Hanna Sweid (Hadash), said Wednesday.

The ADL also commented:

In a statement by the Anti-Defamation League, the organization said it “was horrified” by the act and called on Ben-Ari to publicly apologize for his actions.

“As Jews, we expect others to treat our holy books with respect and understanding,” said Abraham H. Foxman, the ADL’s national director. “We should likewise show respect for the holy books of other faiths.”

Foxman said that “a member of parliament and a representative of the State of Israel ” was even more obligated than the average person to act with respect. ”His actions run counter to Jewish values and the standards of Israel’s democratic society,” Foxman said.

The MK is not alone in his desecration of the New Testament

Amnon Yitzhak, a leading Rabbi officiated at the ritual burning of a New Testament here.

Anti-Christian organisation Jewish Israel encourages New Testament burning here.

MIna Fenton, former Jerusalem councilor advocated burning Christian books here.

Chief Rabbi of Kiriat Motzkin claims New Testament too dangerous to keep at home and should be burnt, here.

Mayor of Ohr Yehuda burnt New Testaments in public, here

Kosher Jesus discussed by anti-Messianics

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The Debate on Arutz 7.

JewishIsrael’s Ellen Horowitz who spend her time worrying about Israel accepting Christian money and encouraging people to burn the New Testament, along with former Messianic Jew Penina Taylor, discuss Rabbi Boteach’s book Kosher Jesus with Eve Harrow on Arutz7 . Listen here.

At least Ellen says Jesus instead of J.

Penina and Eve have a reasonably fair discussion, well done ladies.

Thugs in Israel beat up 70 year old woman they think is a missionary

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Ynet reports this disturbing story.

In a case of mistaken identity a 70 years old is mercilessly beaten by Orthodox Jewish anti-missionary zealots only for it to turn out she is not that kind of missionary at all, she helps women convert to Judaism! Even if she were that kind of missionary there is no justification for this any kind of violent attack. And if she were that kind of missionary, would there be the outcry that there is now over this vile attack?

‘Modesty Patrol lynched me’

Elderly Jerusalem woman brutalized by thugs who evidently thought she was a missionary; police source: Assailants wanted to send a message

A 70-year-old ultra-Orthodox woman found herself the target of a brutal religious hate crime on Monday night, when four thugs broke into her home and beat her up before leaving her handcuffed and bleeding.

“They were sent by the Modesty Patrol,” the woman, S., told Yedioth Ahronoth. “They told me, ‘You are destroying the neighborhood with you missionary teachings.”

The thugs hit her repeatedly with a metal rod, breaking her right hand, crushing her left leg and injuring her face. They used their cell phones to document the attack, evidently to report back to those who sent them.

Jerusalem police investigators confirmed that the attack was religiously-motivated.

“It’s clear that this wasn’t a robbery,” a source close to the investigation said. “The suspects didn’t come to the apartment to steal property, but to send a message.”

S. made aliyah from the United States two decades ago. She has two sons, one of whom resides in Israel, while the other lives in the US. On Sunday, she was supposed to travel to the US to attend her grandson’s Brit Milah. Instead, she was hospitalized at the Hadassah-Ein Kerem Medical Center in Jerusalem.

Over the past eight years, S. has been living alone at a primarily haredi area of Jerusalem’s Nachlaot neighborhood, and has been teaching women who wish to convert to Judaism.

“They thought that I’m a missionary because I teach non-Jewish women,” S. said.

Read full story here

Ellen Horowitz on Israel’s twisted devotion to evangelicalism!

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Ellen Horowitz

Jewish Israel’s Ellen Horowitz has written this prime example of her typically over-the-top anti-Christian hysteria: Israel’s twisted devotion to evangelicalism for The Jerusalem Observer  (“Hamashkif“), a new, free weekly Hebrew/English publication in Israel.

It is ironic that we have the Christ at the Checkpoint people arguing against what they see as Evangelicalism’s twisted devotion to Israel and on the other extreme Jewish Israel holding forth against Israel’s twisted devotion to evangelicalism!

Horowitz’ paranoid world-view is revealed in her first paragraph where she admits she was ready to have her son face an Arab enemy in the Israeli army over have him face missionaries in America! Horowitz is a classic isolationist wanting the rest of Israel to be like her and be suspicious of every aspect of Christian support of Israel. However she is more than happy to have the help of neo-Christian “idolators” in her quest against Jesus as she enlists Noahides in the fight against the dreaded missionary menace! The ranks of Jewish Israel are replete with former Gentile Christians who have either converted to Judaism or the Noahide nations!

Yad L’Achim’s new welcome to Israel campaign

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Yad L’Achim are welcoming Christian tourists to Israel with this new leaflet. Welcome but shut up!

The cornerstone of any democracy is freedom of speech and religious conviction, even for tourists, and dare I suggest it, even for evil alluring missionaries who Yad L’Achim are so seemingly frightened of as they surreptitiously ’trick’ Jews with their ‘misleading’ banners with the name of Jesus plastered all over them!

I am not saying that over-enthusiastic tourists trying to tell people about Jesus as they drive up to junctions may not be annoying at times, as are various Haredi evangelists collecting for their various causes at junctions too. However to demonize them in this way as spiritual Nazis and a threat to Israel’s very existence, is not only a ridiculous exaggeration but dangerously reckless in light of the rising right-wing ‘Price Tag‘ revenge movement.

There is not much morality in responding that, they are only missionaries and deserve all they get, or they are a class of people who have less human rights than others. That kind of attitude was the kind of thing that racist despots have always said of the groups they have wanted to silence and destroy.

See their explanatory article here 

Yad L’Achim head wants to go to war

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Rabbi Dov Shalom Lifshitz at Chabad Meshichist meeting

Head of Anti-Missionary organisation Yad L’Achim, Rabbi Lipschitz, complains about the secular education system in the secular democracy of Israel. He bemoans the thousands of children who don’t know the Shema and also the 80,000 children in Israeli schools who are not halachically Jewish. He considers these children to be a great threat that may lead to the levels of assimilation experienced in the USA. So if it is not bad enough for Lifshitz that there are so many naughty secular children in Israel whom he blames for the possible future destruction of the Jewish people, he throws in the missionaries for good measure. He claims there are 25,000 “missionaries” in Israel, however his definition is about the same as tele-evangelists’ elastic definition as they claim you are born-again in their meeting just because you blinked, kind of like having an itchy nose at an auction and at the end you inadvertently spent a million on John Lennon’s socks!

“And if that weren’t enough,” continued Rabbi Lipschitz, “there are 25,000 members of missionary communities in Israel now. They open one after another, funded by generous budgets. Israel has turned into a center of international missionary activity, where they now train missionaries to be sent abroad.

“This is not the time to engage in just a defensive war,” said Rabbi Lipschitz. “We must go out to war, invading his ‘lands,’ so he does not conquer ours.”

Rabbi Lipschitz demanded religious and hareidi Knesset members do more to include Jewish identity content in the secular school system.

Lipschitz wants to undercut the values and parenting choices of these secular parents and force the government into teaching his religious values to these children. Ironically the anti-missionaries accuse missionaries and Messianic Jews of targeting children and vulnerable people, however that is precisely what they do. But they think they are allowed to do it because they have soul-rights on all Jewish neshamot.

read full article here

Yediot HaDarom poll on Rabbi Sheinin’s Hitler/Messianic Jews comparision

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Rabbi Sheinin

The Caspari Israeli News Review reports that local Israeli newspaper, Yediot HaDarom(February 25), conducted a poll of its readers’ attitudes toward Yosef Sheinin’s comparison of Messianic Jews with Hitler at the anti-Messianic demonstration in Ashdod last week. Readers were asked to choose the following statements, with the results due to be published next week:

1) Every day he serves as a public officer is a mark of shame for Ashdod.

2) An unfortunate statement. It’s very sad that the taxpayers’ money, including that of Holocaust survivors, is going to fund such a black [clothed] person.

3) The statement is perhaps disturbing, but it’s good that someone is looking out for the Jewish character of the city.

4) The highest commandment of the Torah is ‘You shall love thy neighbor as thyself.’ The eminent rabbi appears not to have gotten to this text yet.”

We await the result of this poll. However it is interesting to note that none of the options are positive endorsements of what Rabbi Sheinin said!