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Illegal
Religious Discrimination [The information covered in this article
has come to a favorable conclusion, however is reprinted
here to serve as an example of the types of persecution
the believers and ministries in Israel face. This
is but one story of congreational harrassment in Israel. There
are many other occuring on a continual basis throughout
the country. Persecution of the believers does
not arise out of the secular community as much as it
arises out of some sectors of the religious community.
--IsraelPrayer.com] 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 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. Baruch
Maoz pastors the Grace and Truth Christian Congregation, in
Rishon LeTsion. |