NEWS FROM ISRAEL

THE CASE AGAINST THE GRACE AND TRUTH BUILDING PROJECT

The Court Convenes
The Court convened in the Be’er Sheba District Court on November 11th to hear the case against Grace and Truth’s building project. The semi-governmental anti-Christian organisation, Yad Le’Achim, was represented by a legal team led by Advocate Yoram Sheftel. Adv. Eliad Shraga and his associate, Adv. Ron Zehavi, represented Grace and Truth. The municipality was represented by its legal advisor, Adv. Shlomit Erlich. The presiding Judge was Judge Giladi, Vice President of the Be’er Sheba district court.

Yad Le’Achim had charged Grace and Truth with obtaining its building permit by deceit, and the licensing authority with issuing an illegal permit. Purportedly, the congregation had not divulged the full purpose of the building it was constructing, and the activities permitted by the authorities in that building were forbidden by zoning law restrictions. Mr. Sheftel invested great efforts in drawing the attention of the court to the fact that Grace and Truth actively propagates its religious convictions at every opportunity.

Our Defence
Grace and Truth’s defence insisted that, as a democracy, Israel had enacted laws that defend the right to propagate religious views. Whether or not Grace and Truth was involved in such activity was, therefore, irrelevant to the case. It was nothing more than a blatant attempt to prejudice the court. The Judge agreed. His agreement is an important judicial reaffirmation of the legality of evangelism in Israel and was one of the goals set by Grace and Truth at the outset of its deliberations following the indictment. The congregation will seek to use each hearing scheduled in order to strengthen public and legal recognition of Israel’s commitment to democratic freedoms by making further gains through the court.

Grace and Truth further insisted that full divulgence of the congregation’s intentions for the building was made to the municipality, and that all the activities permitted by the building permit fully meet zoning restrictions. The local municipality supported Grace and Truth’s defence, and presented the same arguments as its own. Both bodies brought documentary evidence to support their response to the indictment.

The Court’s Decision
Judge Giladi had read the Preliminary Statements of the sides prior to the Hearing. He ordered the sides to present extended summaries of their respective positions within a specified time frame. He will then decide if there is a case to be heard. Adv. Sheftel insisted that the municipality is co-operating with Grace and Truth to hide the facts, which he promised to unearth. But the burden of proof lays on him. It will be as difficult to produce such proof as it is to prove that the earth is flat and for the same reasons.

Grace and Truth’s lawyers note that, if there is even an inkling of substance to charges made, Judge Giladi tends to agree to hear cases, rather than dismiss them. It is therefore likely that the case will be heard. Grace and Truth has nothing to hide. Nor is the municipality withholding information. If Adv. Sheftel cannot convince the court that there are grounds for his charges, the case may be dismissed. If it is, Mr. Sheftel is expected to appeal to a higher court. Meanwhile, Grace and Truth continues its construction program.

Adv. Sheftel requested the court to issue a Temporary Cessation of Construction Order, until it decided the case. His request was peremptorily denied.

A date for the next hearing has not yet been set.

PROJECT CONTINUES - FOREMAN SOUGHT
Grace and Truth continues in its building project. At the moment, in the goodness of God and thanks to the generosity of fellow Christians, resources have been extended: Grace and Truth is now able to continue construction until the end of January. Growing interest gives grounds to hope for further contributions.

Trusting that the congregation will continually be thus provided for, Grace and Truth is seeking a replacement for our present volunteer, sent under the auspices of a supporting church in Philadelphia, and making a substantial contribution to the building by overseeing construction. The potential replacement needs to be willing to arrive in Israel toward the middle or end of January and to remain until the end of June. He must have expertise in plastering, painting, woodwork,
electrical installation and similar “finish” jobs. Grace and Truth is prepared to offer a flat and food, but the volunteer will need to fund his own travel, and to have both medical and injury insurance. His primary responsibility will be to provide co-ordination and oversight for work done by sub-contractors and volunteers, and to liase between the congregation and the volunteers. Discounted travel and insurance is available through a friendly organisation in the USA.

Interested parties are invited to write to maozsec@attgloabl.net. Please provide details of professional training and experience, and be prepared to provide recommendations from the Pastor of your church.

ORTHODOX EFFORTS TO IMPACT ISRAELI SOCIETY
Below you will find an article carried by Israel’s most respected daily newspaper, Ha’Arets, on Sunday, November 11. It indicates concern in Israeli society in view of determined Orthodox efforts to gain control of the country’s major institutions. This information is brought to you to afford a better understanding of trends in Israel. The text in italics is our own, either serving to interpret certain terms with which some of our readers may not be familiar, or improving the English. The sub-divisions are also ours.

Orthodox Schools Grow
“Six months ago Ha’Arets was the first to publish a report on the dizzying growth of ultra-Orthodox education in the past decade - during the 1990s the number of pupils in Haredi (religious Orthodox, sometimes described as ultra-Orthodox) elementary schools increased more than threefold. The ultra-Orthodox share in elementary education within Jewish communitiesin Israel jumped from 7.6 percent in 1990 to about 22 percent this year. In straight figures, the number of pupils getting Haredi elementary education grew from 35,000 in 1990 to 125,000 this year. Natural growth in the Haredi community and a rapid expansion of the Shas education system (a Sephardi Orthodox religious party, the largest in Israel’s parliament. The Sephardi Jews hail primarily from the Arabic speaking countries. Shas is part of the present coalition Government.) can explain less than half of this increase.

In a series of articles published last week under the title "Proselytising Schools," Shahar Ilan exposed an organised and intricate system set up by the Ashkenazi (non- Sephardi Jews, largely from the West) ultra-Orthodox community to transfer
pupils from state and state-religious schools to the Haredi education system. This system was established under specific decrees from a number of senior ultra-Orthodox rabbis in Israel and abroad. It benefits from considerable financial support from Haredi organisations in the United States. The system includes organisations that register thousands of children from secular and Masorti (mildly conservative) communities into schools providing ultra-Orthodox education. One of the most significant of these is Lev LeAhim, affiliated with Degel Hatora (The second largest religious party in the Israeli parliament). In parallel, Haredi educational chains were set up that specialise in proselytising for children. Yahadut Hatorah (another religious political party in parliament) set up the chain Shuvu (Return) targeting children of new immigrants from the former Soviet Union, and the chain Netivot Moshe with a focus on children from secular and conservative backgrounds. The number of pupils in both Haredi education chains is estimated to be 10,000.

Special efforts are being made to set up dozens of kindergartens as future foundations for new schools. The ultra-Orthodox term the massive transfer of secular and conservative children to their educational system a "revolution". The numbers suggest they are correct. The enticements offered to parents of the pupils include a longer school day, lunch, transport at ridiculously low prices, a system of education seen as devoid of violence and which is believed to provide personal attention to each pupil.

Implications
The implications are far reaching. Many of the children now registered in proselytising schools pass from a secular or conservative culture of army service and work into a Haredi path that avoids the military and work. Within a decade, one in every five youths will be part of the arrangement that permits yeshiva students to defer army service. The ultra-Orthodox parties will then shift from being the political balance to a power that competes for control of government. The leader- ship of the ultra-Orthodox shows again and again that the Kulturkampf over the future of the country is being fought in the battlefield of education. The secular parties pay lip service to this fight, but are proving to be incompetent and allow this well-organised system to operate without disruption.

Two laws passed in the Knesset several years ago could stop, or at least moderate, this offensive to proselytise children - the law guaranteeing free education from the age of three and the law safe- guarding a long school-day. These laws must be put into effect immediately in all the poor neighbour- hoods and the development towns so as to provide an acceptable alternative to the perks being offered by the Haredi education system.” end quote.

We note that such a trend will adversely affect Israel’s economy, as the religious schools are poor in equipping their students for life in the modern world. Educational levels achieved in mathematics, history, literature, science and related subjects are extremely low.

MaozNews A periodic report from Israel.

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