Illegal
Religious Discrimination
by Baruch Maoz
Grace and Truth Congregation, Rishon
LeTsion
[The information covered in this article has already come to
a favorable conclusion, however is reprinted here to serve as an example of the
types of persecution the believers and ministries in
As many of you will know, over the years I have
repeatedly questioned reports from
Yad Le’Achim
is a semi-governmental organisation, dedicated to
combating what its leaders describe as “the mission” and its emissaries, “the
missionaries”, which are buzz words for the evangelical church in
Yad Le’Achim
has sought various ways in order to intimidate, harass and obstruct evangelical
life in the country, with a particular concern for evangelical witness.
Most of the means it employs are ludicrous, and evoke nothing more than a
dismissive smile. But some bode ill for the future, particularly with reference
to
Grace and Truth Christian Congregation has long been in the forefront of Yad
Le’Achim’s concerns because our congregation has, in
the course of the years, led the way on many fronts. We are also one of
the few congregations that are openly Christian, frankly and broadly
evangelistic, active in opposing restrictive legislation on freedom of
religion, and growing.
As readers of MaozNews
will know, our building project has become the object of determined Orthodox
opposition. The legality of our building permit was opposed and, when
roundly defended by the court, opposed again before the Supreme Court of
Israel, which has yet to decide when it will hear the appeal.
[see update at the end of
this article. The Israeli Supreme Court
ruled in favor of this congregation and against Yad Le’Achim.]
Consequently, Yad Le’Achim has stepped up its efforts to harass members of
the congregation. It has sent representatives to the homes of
congregants, posing as officials, who took advantage of the totalitarian
background from which many of our congregants came, threatening them with
deportation and loss of employment. They have repeatedly sought to
disrupt our worship services. They have also taken to pressuring
employers to terminate the employment of Grace and Truth congregants.
Until now, all such efforts were crowned with the
failure they deserve.
A few months ago, Yad
Le’Achim began to apply pressure on the Petach Tivka (a town in the
centre of the country) municipality in order to obtain the dismissal of Ze’ev Bern, a computer and computer systems technician
serving the municipality’s schools. Mr. Bern has an excellent
professional reputation and he is much esteemed by the school principals he
served, as well as by all his co-workers.
After pressuring him by various means in hope of obtaining
his resignation, Mr. Bern was finally dismissed from his job due to his
religious beliefs and in spite of his professional performance. Needless
to say, he had never used his contact with the children at school in order to
promote his religious views. To have acted otherwise would have been
contrary to his own religious convictions, and those
of the church to which he belongs. We believe that it is immoral and
contrary to Gospel principles to take advantage of the innocence of children,
or of trust put in an individual for another purpose, to promote one’s
religious convictions.
If we do not contest this illegal and immoral
dismissal, we will have opened the door to further such action against many
believers in
1. To
oppose the unlawful dismissal of one of our members by all legal
procedures. Our goal will
be to be awarded maximal punitive damages, so as to
render further such dismissals unlikely,
2. To fund
the legal battle from our own severely limited resources,
3. To
assist the
4. To fund
these expenses by increasing congregants’ weekly contributions to the best of
each family's abilities, and beyond current
undertakings to the church.
We seek your prayer and support in defending the
local believers in
Our earnest request is that all protests and
information be void of inflammatory content and that protestors studiously
avoid anti-Israeli statements. The behaviour of
the Orthodox, and the cowardice of the Petach Tivka municipality are not
representative of Israeli society or of government policy. It is a local
event that the Orthodox would like to turn into a precedent, and one that we
wish to turn into a contrary precedent. Please help us by expressing
yourselves kindly and gently to our nation, which is faced with the terrible
pain of an ongoing war against uninhibited terrorism.
To succeed in our struggle on behalf of Zeev, and of other believers in
Please write and have your friends, church members
and correspondents write in for us. Below you will find a form letter of
protest. Please feel free to modify it in any way you deem fit, or use it
as it is. You will also find address to which such letters should be
sent. Don't forget to include a clearly visible return address.
You are welcome to pass this information to the
press or to any potentially interested parties, who may contact us at bmaoz@attlgobal.net or at
+972 51 393 521.
Update: The High Court Decision – Grace and
Truth’s Building Permit
On
Wednesday, January 29,
The
High Court held an extensive discussion, cross-examining the lawyers
representing both sides for about two hours, focusing primarily on the
technical issues whether or not such a building as we were constructing is
allowable in an area zoned as is our mixed commercial and industrial area.
Finally a decision was rendered – in favour of the congregation.
This is a landmark decision. All legal obstacles to constructing our building
have been removed – there is no higher court of appeal.
We
give thanks to all who have prayed for us, supported us financially in the
course of this expensive legal struggle and who wrote to tell us they are
praying for us.
We
give God thanks for sustaining us through this time of trial, and for the
outcome he has decreed.