A
Court-ordered media black-out was issued the day after the
March 20, 2008 Pre-Purim explosion in the town of Ariel, which
severely injured Ami Ortiz – the son of missionary Pastor David
Ortiz who works among Palestinians and leads a messianic-Christian
congregation in Ariel. Arab terrorists had
claimed
responsibility.
The gag order was enforced, with neither the family, the
press, nor the family’s lawyers having access to information on the
investigation.
It was repeatedly emphasized by Judea and Samaria Police spokesman
Ch.-Supt. Dani Poleg, that he
“could not comment on the
investigation due to a court-imposed media blackout, in force since
Friday [March 21].”
But a virtual feeding frenzy ensued among the varying
sectors of the evangelical world, as they took advantage of the
silence surrounding a serious investigation and screamed bloody
murder - fallaciously accusing Orthodox Jews and counter-missionary
organizations of being responsible for the bombing and/or for
carrying out a campaign of
“church persecution”.
Below is just a sampling from the Christian press:
Messianic publication Israel
Today
headline news of
Friday March 21, 2008
But Caleb Meyers [Calev Myers], the primary legal representative
for Israel's Messianic community, explained that "there is a
campaign of harassment against the Messianic Jewish community by
radical religious organizations that are trying to create
dehumanization – especially in religious newspapers."
Propaganda that aims to dehumanize Messianic believers could
produce in the minds of some radical Orthodox Jews a kind of
justification for carrying out the bombing of an innocent
family.
-------
The International Christian Embassy,
Jerusalem (ICEJ)
March 25, 2008 news report
Anti-missionaries suspected in bombing of Messianic
family
Police have clamped a gag order on their investigation into the
bombing incident, but his father, Pastor David Ortiz, said police
are leaning towards suspecting Jewish anti-missionary activists.
Although Ortiz had received threats from radical Muslims for
seeking Palestinian converts in the West Bank, the family had also
placed security cameras outside their apartment after Jewish
anti-missionary groups began harassing them and the congregation
they help lead. If the perpetrators were Jewish, it would mark the
first time anti-missionary activists have staged such a malicious
attack with intent to kill.
[
note: in a June 22, 2008 report in
USA Today:
Missionaries under threat in Israel, the following quote is
attributed to ICEJ spokesman David Parsons
"We believe there is
a link to a series of incidents here in the land that involve
harassment, intimidation and physical violence."]
-------
Messianic Barry Segal director of The
Joseph Project (“a humanitarian aid center”)
March 25, 2008 Jerusalem Prayer Letter:
Judea and Samaria Police admit radical Jews may have targeted
the family. Ortiz described a long history of tensions with Yad
Le'achim and other Orthodox activists in Ariel: ‘My neighbor said
he had been told by religious Jews that if we were the only ones
living in this building, they would have bombed it. They put
posters all over town warning residents to keep away from us and
calling for us to be excommunicated, and there was a demonstration
in front of our house,’ said Ortiz…. All too often when Ultra
Orthodox Jewish groups are behind such events they are never
brought to justice. “
Segal wove together a series of unrelated events in the newsletter
accompanied by sensational headlines, which was published in…
Messianic Sid Roth’s Special Edition of
ISRAEL UPDATE
•
PERSECUTION OF JEWISH BELIEVERS IN ISRAEL
•
YAD LE'ACHIM RABBI SAYS MESSIANIC JEWS ARE THE ENEMY
•
ATTACK ON BOY ONE OF MANY
•
PERSECUTION OF MESSIANIC BELIEVERS IN ARAD
•
CENTRAL JERUSALEM CHURCH TARGET FOR ARSON
-------
Netivyah Bible Instruction
Ministry
March 27, 2008 The Jerusalem Prayer List:
On the very day that this nation is celebrating the feast of
Purim, the story of Queen Ester and Mordechai the Jew that saved
the Jews of the Persian Empire from racial prejudice and the
murderous intent of Haman – on this very day – Religious Jews,
Orthodox Jews, perpetrate such a heinous crime and put a bomb in a
package that is supposed to celebrate Purim. It is clear from the
content of this bomb that the intention of this criminal type of a
small minority of radical Orthodox Jews was to kill the whole
family just because they are preaching that “Jesus” is the Messiah
and Savior.
-------
Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting
Network’s (CBN) report
March 28, 2008
Some see the bombing against the Ortiz family as an
unprecedented attack on Messianic believers - Jews who believe
Jesus - or Yeshua - is the Jewish Messiah and see no contradiction
between being Jewish and believing Jesus was the Son of
God.
"One of the most difficult things for the family is that when
the press originally brought the story out in Israel in Hebrew,
they said that someone from a radical missionary cult was injured,"
said Calev Meyers of the Jerusalem Institute of Justice.
The Ortiz family asked Meyers to act as a family
spokesman.
"The reason the press treated it this way is that the Messianic
community in Israel are the victims of ongoing vicious propaganda
against the community - especially in the ultra-religious media,"
Meyers said.
"The ongoing vicious propaganda that comes against families like
this and against the Messianic Jewish community lays the basis for
radical events or attacks like this against the community and
that's what we're really trying to fight," he said...
Meyers said, "One of their messages would be, 'We're not giving up
and we're going to continue to build the Kingdom of God in Israel,
even in the face of this kind of aggression."
-------
Stephen Strang’s Report
April 7, 2008
[note: Strang is publisher of Charisma Magazine, John Hagee’s
books, and is a CUFI Regional Director]
I am outraged about this attack. Israel is a democracy that
guarantees everyone's freedom of religion. However, some of the
anti-missionaries have been so vicious that now it has escalated to
violence. Israel cannot allow this type of violence. Thankfully
some Israelis are speaking up. But usually violence of this type is
soon forgotten and no one is brought to justice.
Messianic Judaism, while still a small percentage of the
population, is growing rapidly and is considered a threat to some
Orthodox Jews. I'm told that harassment of evangelical believers in
general is increasing, especially against Messianic Jews….
I've published many articles and several books that blast
anti-Semitism. There's a long, sad history of that. But there are
also those who are anti-Christian. Many are secularists. Some are
radical Muslims. But there are also ultra-Orthodox groups like Yad
L'Achim, who are responsible for constantly harassing Christian
believers in Israel…
--------
The Christian Post
June 11,2008
Headlines: Israel's Messianic Jews Draw Ire of Orthodox
Jews
In the past few months, Orthodox Jews have been responsible for
a malicious bomb attack that severely injured and disfigured a
15-year-old pastor’s son, and the burning of hundreds of copies of
the New Testament.
-------
Messianic publication the Maoz Israel
Report
June 2008
Persecution Against Israeli Believers Turns Lethal
And when ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel rail and blaspheme
folowers of Yeshua, burn down the believers’ places of worship and
ministry, and now attempt to kill believers, then they too have
been possessed by these evil spirits.
If these Jewish rabbis, some of whom are survivors of the
Holocaust, only understood that they are acting in the same violent
way to a minority group in Israel as did the German people to the
Jews in the 1930’s, paving the road for Hitler and his demonized
followers.
If Yad L’achim is found guilty (a very very big “if”) of
planting this bomb at the Ortiz’ home, then it would be a great
victory for justice and democracy if this violent group were
classified as a terrorist organization in the U.S., thus preventing
them from soliciting tax deductible funds. Drying up their stream
of money from America of course would restrict much of their
activities…
…This is the first time in the history of modern Israel, that
ultra-Orthodox extremists have allegedly tried to kill a Messianic
believer, although they have been ratcheting up the level of
violence...
-------
Read:
Who
Really Threatened Pastor Ortiz?
Exploding
the myths and exposing the lawyer
UPDATE: an arrest has been made