Rico, as you will read below, in the United States, Canada, and other countries, Messianic Jews do not go through the persecution that they do in Israel.

According to Mark Bixler of CNN, the Israeli Police are now investigating the burning of hundreds of New Testaments in Or-Yehuda, a city near Tel Aviv.  This incident has alarmed advocates of religious freedom around the world.

Police Investigators said that they will review photographs and video footage of New Testament Bibles being set ablaze, Micky Rosenfeld, a police spokesman said.

The AP, Jerusalem Post, and other Israeli media outlets quoted Uzi Aharon, the Deputy Mayor of Or-Yehuda, stating that he was the organizer of Orthodox religious students who burned hundreds of copies of the New Testaments. Uzi Aharon also gave interviews to Russian, Italian, and French television stations soon afterwards explaining to their highly offended Christian audiences how he had not meant for the New Testaments to be burned.  He did his best to try to undo the damage caused by the media’s portrayal and photographs of the Orthodox Jewish students burning the New Testaments. The event has brought a lot of concern to the Israeli Messianic leadership which oversees Israel's minority population of Messianic Jews.  We are a community of 8,000-10,000 of us who are spread throughout the country in about 80 congregations where we believe that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Jewish Messiah. As well, Evangelical Christians in Canada, the U.S., Europe and around the world have also shown their support by sending emails.  CBN, and other Christian organizations have also publicized what has taken place in the past two weeks.

Calev Myers is an Israeli lawyer and the founder of the Jerusalem Institute of Justice

Calev Myers, an attorney for many of the Israeli Messianic organizations and individual Jewish Believers in Israel, has told CNN that he is filing a formal complaint with authorities.

CNN quoted Calev as saying: “I hope the people who are responsible for breaking the law will be indicted and prosecuted.”  Calev and other Messianic Jewish leadership do not believe that Israeli Messianic Jewish missionaries distributed the New Testaments.  Messianic Jewish organizations distribute Bibles in a sensitive way, and we do not “dump” them in people’s mailboxes/front door steps - as was done in this case.

Calev Myers explained that the complaint he is filing asks the police to investigate possible violations of two Israeli laws.

The first law forbids the destruction or desecration of any religious icon or item that a group holds sacred.  The second law forbids an Israeli from speaking publicly in any way that offends or humiliates any other religion.  Calev Myers explained that both of these laws were put in place to prevent the incitement of religious violence.            

In the email that we sent to you last week Rico, we explained how the New Testament book burnings have followed recent events of discrimination against Messianic Jews in Israel. 

There was the bombing targeted at the home of a Messianic Jewish leader in Ariel.  The son opened up a Purim package which detonated a bomb and severely injured him. Apparently this was done by radical Orthodox Jews. 

A number of Yeshiva rabbis and religious organizations boycotted a Messianic Jewish teenager who was in the National Bible Competition.  Simply because she believed in Yeshua, they did not want her competing in the Bible Quiz competition. 

And not too long ago, a Messianic congregational building in Jerusalem was set ablaze by arsonists.

 

Calev Myers, F ounder of the Jerusalem Institute of Justice and Zev Isaacs, Founder of Bibles For Israel

CNN also interviewed the Anti-Defamation League about the New Testament burning in which they were quoted as saying: "We condemn this heinous act as a violation of the basic Jewish principles and values," said Rabbi Eric J. Greenburg, director of interfaith policy for the Anti-Defamation League. "It is essential that we respect the sacred texts of other faiths. The Jewish people can never forget the tragic burning of sacred Jewish volumes at many points in history." "While there may be legitimate concerns of proselytizing, these matters must be addressed through the proper legal channels," Greenburg said in a statement. "It is unacceptable and not legitimate to burn someone else's sacred texts."

 

 

Rico, stand with us Messianic Jews who live in Israel and who are standing up for the Gospel.

 

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