Messianic Congregation Attacked in Be'er Sheva
Crosswalk reports,
Orthodox Jews disrupted a Messianic congregation’s worship service in the Israeli town of Beersheba on Saturday (December 24).
During the service, two young women from the nearby town of Arad in the southern Negev were to have been baptized. As the service was beginning, more than 300 orthodox Jews, including many children, gathered and entered the private property of the Nachalat Yeshua Messianic Congregation.
According to the congregation’s pastor, Howard Bass, the orthodox were first welcomed to stay and attend the service. Then they started to move around, dance, sing and overturn chairs and tables.
Initially two or three policemen arrived, but “it got out of hand beyond anything they could handle,” Bass said, and they had to call in reinforcements.
The agitators struck Messianic believers in the face, back and stomach. Though one received a blow near his eye, no one needed medical attention.
More from Richard Bartholomew here.
Clearly I’m no fan of so-called “Messianic Judaism,” however this is just vile behavior. It’s one thing to take a firm stand against proselytizing and another thing to physical attack people for their beliefs. So long as they’re not standing on a street corner trying to “save” your children, who gives a damn what they do? And who, in the end, comes off looking worse?
I agree; do people not realize when they’re only making themselves look bad? I’m really saddened that violence continues to go on under the guise of religion. The perpetrators should be ashamed of themselves. If you can’t counter Messianic Judaism except through violence, maybe you should re-consider your own Jewish values.
Jeez, it’s just one pogrom after another over in Israel these days.. first it’s the Israeli police on the Satmars, and now Haredim versus Messianics