NEWS IN ISRAEL - August 16, 2002

The Orthodox Target the Grace and Truth Congregants

Grace and Truth has long been in the sights of Yad Le’Achim (literally, ‘a hand to the brethren’), the semi-governmental Orthodox organisation dedicated to combating evangelical Christianity in Israel. The reason is simple: Grace and Truth has been in the forefront of evangelism, led the international struggle against proposed legislation that would establish religious censorship in Israel, initiated and for a long time lead the national intercongregational fellowship of Hebrew speaking congregations in Israel and has been a vocal defender of Jewish evangelism in international forums both in Israel and abroad.

In an effort to disrupt life for congregants, Yad Le’Achim has resorted to various methods. Its emissaries have taken advantage of the fear many immigrants have of governmental officials by posing themselves as such and threating the people with deportation. On occasion the organization has sent representatives to disrupt baptismal services. Recently, they have employed a new tactic: they pressure employers to terminate the employment of members of Grace and Truth.

A senior nurse in a hospital, a warehouse manager in a private firm, and a computer technician working for a local municipality have all been threatened. Recently, the municipality in question bowed to the pressure and informed Ze’ev Bern, a Deacon in our church and former Chairman of the Deaconal Board, that his employment has been terminated.

To accept the unfair and illegal action meekly is to expose many others in the congregation to similar action. Israeli law forbids discrimination on the basis of race, political persuasion or religion. Obviously, after such treatment, Mr. Bern does not wish to return to his previous employment, from which he would be dismissed after a few months for any one concocted reason within reach. We have, therefore, decided to press charges against the Petach Tikva municipality for unlawful dismissal on the grounds of religious convictions. In a Members’ Meeting held on Tuesday, July 23, the congregation voted:

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 Bern family (Ze’ev, Rita and their two children) to feed themselves and meet their financial obligations until alternative employment is found. This could take some time in light of present economic conditions in Israel. Assistance will be in the form of a non-interest loan, to be paid back from the damages awarded by the court,

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 Israel: we kindly ask you to contact your representative lawmaker and your government to protest the unacceptable infraction of basic human rights to employment and the obvious religious motivation of Mr. Bern’s dismissal.

You are welcome to pass this information to the press or to any potentially interested parties, who may contact us at bmaoz@attglobal.net or at +972 51 393 521.

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

BARUCH MAOZ