Israel: Update to ISR22164.E of 14 November 1995 on the situation of Messianic Jews (1997-1998)

A number of reports published since 1997 provide a glimpse of the Messianic Jewish community in Israel.

Opposition to the Messianic Jews in Israel tends to come mainly, but not exclusively, from a small number of "extremists" in the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community (also called Haredim), especially from the religious political party Shas, according to the President of Messianic Jeiwsh Alliance of America (MJAA) (3 Feb. 1999). As the following quotes demonstrate, they tend not only to identify them as Christians, but to focus on the highly sensitive issue of conversion from Judaism. The Jerusalem Post quotes a Rabbi who stressed

that while he respected Christians' right to live undisturbed in Beersheba or any other city, he would not tolerate them "trying to exploit Jewish children and poor Jewish families, especially Russian and Bukharan immigrants, and trying to convert them to another religion" (4 Dec. 1998).

According to MAOZ Israel Report, a Messianic Jewish newsletter based in Tel Aviv, Israel

On Friday, the day before the attack [in Beersheva, see details below], Yehuda Deri [the Beersheva Rabbi from the Shas Party] called for a "demonstration" against Beersheva Christians and Messianic Jews in his Friday afternoon sermon on Shas' local radio station, "Voice of the Soul" (Jan. 1999).

The Jerusalem Post also reported that

Though they [Messianic Jews] are Jews, they often worship with Christians, and many anti-cult and anti-missionary movements regard them as converts to Christianity (4 Dec. 1998).

Regarding the community's relations with the Israeli government, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch indicated that

The primary dispute between the Israeli government and the Messianic Jews involves Who is a Jew for the purpose of immigrating to Israel. Although Israel's law of return bestows citizenship rights to anyone who is Jewish or has a single Jewish grandparent, the Israeli Supreme Court has ruled twice, in 1989 and 1992, that Messianic Jews need not apply  (22 Feb. 1998).

There are Messianic Jewish congregations in virtually every major city in Israel (The Jerusalem Post  4 Dec. 1998). According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "Israel has 53 different congregations of Messianic Jews with perhaps 5,000 members" and their numbers are growing rapidly (22 Feb. 1998; President of MJAA  3 Feb. 1999). The St. Louis Post-Dispatch also provides details of their methods and places of worship indicating that, for example,

In Rishon Lezion, the Messianic Jews meet in a discreet office tucked behind a bakery in an industrial park. They call it the Congregation of Grace and Truth, but it bears little resemblance to what most people would identify as a church.

There is no cross in sight; most Messianic Jews reject traditional Christianity and its symbols. Instead, there is a large menorah burning a single candle for the first night of Hanukkah and children playing with dreidels. Some congregants wear Stars of David. The walls are plastered with quotes from the Old Testament in Hebrew, English and Russian. The congregation in Rishon Lezion is a melting pot of modern Israel: Ukrainians, Russians, Ethiopians, Americans, Israeli yuppies. There are several non-Jewish spouses of Jewish Israelis and even a few Christian Arabs.

Exact practices and terminology vary widely among congregations. Some observe kosher dietary rules. Although Messianic Jew is the most popular name, some people prefer Hebrew Christians or Jewish Christians. They blanch at Jews for Jesus, a California-based group known for its confrontational, missionary approach.

Some call their house of worship a church; others say synagogue. Services are on Fridays or Saturdays, never on Sunday. The Jewish holidays described in the Scriptures are observed, rarely the Christian.

The homes of Messianic Jews look more or less the same as any other in Israel. In Gan Yavneh, south of Tel Aviv, Eitan and Orit Kashtan have a mezzuzah (small door ornament) on the front-door frame, two menorahs on the living room piano. Even as they host weekly readings of the Old and New Testaments in their home, they are helping their oldest son prepare for his bar mitzvah (22 Feb. 1998).

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the Messianic Jewish movement is making inroads in the Russian immigrant community (ibid.). The reason stated was that many members of this community in Israel are from "mixed Christian-Jewish marriages and find Messianic Judaism a comfortable middle ground" (ibid.).

The following information was provided during a 3 February 1998 telephone interview with the President of the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America (MJAA) who is also the Secretary-General of the International Messianic Jewish Alliance (IMJA).

The representative stated that in the last two years, there has been an increase in harassment, threats and physical intimidation against members of the various Messianic Jewish congregations in Israel.

Several reports provided information on an incident that occurred in Beersheba on 29 November 1998 where the police had to rescue a group of Messianic Jews from their compound which had been surrounded by Haredim Jews accusing them of baptizing young Jewish children, a charge denied by members of the Messianic Jews (President of MJAA  3 Feb. 1999; The Jerusalem Post 4 Dec. 1998; MAOZ Israel Report Jan. 1999). As reported in The Jerusalem Post,

The crowd showed up at about 10 a.m., and a little over two hours later police drove three vans near the gate to evacuate the people inside. Debbie said that out of fear of the crowd, she and her husband refused at first to go out, but finally agreed, and followed a policeman and policewoman five meters or so through the crowd to the van (4 Dec. 1998).

In an earlier report following the Beersheba incident, The Jerusalem Post provided some information on police behaviour,

Christian leaders yesterday responded angrily to being told to hire their own security guards after an incident on Saturday in which hundreds of angry haredim attacked a Beersheba Messianic congregation.

Beersheba police spokesman Shalom Ben-Hemo said that a crowd of hundreds had surrounded the building in which the congregation meets. He said that the police told the worshippers they would keep an eye on the building during their regular patrols, but that the congregation itself should be on the lookout for possible troublemakers.

Olavi Syvanto, a member of the congregation, said that considering the size of the crowd and the relatively small number of police, the latter did their job well, preventing the crowd from entering the building... (30 Nov. 1998).

MAOZ Israel Report also provided information from members of the Messianic Jewish community regarding the police intervention in Beersheba,

Finally, the police brought in reinforcements and drove up with vans to evacuate the children first, and after that, mothers and older children. One of the demonstrators was himself a policeman, and the rest kept a low profile doing little to disperse the crowd, according to the Beersheva believers (Jan. 1999).

Following the Beersheba incident, members of other Messianic Jewish congregations joined members of the Beersheba community in an act of solidarity, an event that received "fairly sympathetic" press coverage (MAOZ Israel Report  Jan. 1999).

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that there have been sporadic incidents of violence directed at Messianic Jews, especially one near Haifa that occurred in January 1998 during which a building was firebombed (22 Feb. 1998). MAOZ Israel Report indicated that the name of the targeted congregation was "Tents of Mercy" (Jan. 1999). The community was able to relocate and conduct its religious activities as of December 1998 (ibid.). The publication also reports that the Tel Aviv congregation called "Adonai Roi" is being harassed by members of the Yad L'Achim (an Ultra-Orthodox group dedicated to preventing Christian missionary activities among Israeli Jews).

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "although not exactly persecuted in Israel, the Messianic Jews are unpopular" (22 Feb. 1998). A representative of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) stated that Messianic Jews enjoy freedom of religion in Israel, but face difficulties from certain Ultra-Orthodox radicals when conducting missionary activities (ACRI  1 Feb. 1999). The ACRI representative added that Messianic Jews are not the target of state-sponsored repression. This assessment is corroborated by the President of MJAA. The President of MJAA wanted to underline that violent behaviour against Messianic Jews in Israel should not be equated with all members of the Ultra-Orthodox and Orthodox community in Israel. He also added that members of the Messianic Jewish community have brought their complaints to the police who have heard them and taken notice. However, the police have not made any accusations or arrests of the perpetrators of these acts of intimidation. A similar assessment is provided by MAOZ Israel Report which reported that following the incident in Beersheba formal complaints by a member of the community regarding damage to his car as well as a collective complaint by the community were brought to the police,

However, Chief Superintendent for the police, Shlomo Abutbul, told the press that no complaints had been made. "There were a few dozen people praying, dancing and singing," according to Abutbul. "They weren't threatening anybody, so nobody was arrested" (Jan. 1999).

Chief Superintendent Abutbul also assured the leaders of the Beersheva congregation that the police will protect the Messianic congregation and reiterated that the police had the  responsibility to uphold Israeli law and promised to provide whatever protection is needed under the circumstances (MAOZ Israel Report  Jan. 1999).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

References

Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), Jerusalem. 1 February 1999. Telephone interview with representative.

The Jerusalem Post. 4 December 1998. Larry Derfner. "Quiet Protest or 'Pogrom'". (NEXIS)

_____. 30 November 1998. Haim Shapiro. "Haredim Attack Messianic Group in Beersheba". (NEXIS)

MAOZ Israel Report [Tel Aviv]. January 1999. "Another Wave of Religious Persecution in Israel." Internet. < http://www.maozisrael.org/thismnth.htm > [Accessed 2 Feb. 1999]

President of the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America (MJAA) and Secretary-General of the International Messianic Jewish Alliance (IMJA), Philadelphia. 3 February 1999. Telephone interview.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 22 February 1998. "Number of Messianic Jews is Growing in Israel". (NEXIS)