Karaite Korner Newsletter #238

Anyone who has studied the history of the Jewish in the Middle Ages knows
that Jews were routinely persecuted by the Christian and Muslim authorities.
This persecution took on various forms but the most common was the "pogrom"
or race riot. A pogrom would be incited by the local bishop or imam which
whipped the local Gentile population into a frenzy. The angry mob would then
move into the Jewish neighborhood to beat and rob Jews and often it would
result in many deaths. The pogroms were only possible because the local
authorities tolerated them. Police and soldiers were never sent to stop the
pogroms and sometimes they were even sent in to egg on the crowds. Stirring
up the mobs against the Jews was a built in system of plausible deniability.
The king or sultan could say it was not his fault, but in reality if he had
wanted to stop it he would have.

A few days ago I recieved an e-mail which greatly saddened me. The e-mail
was about ongoing pogroms that are taking place today, in the 21st century.
What saddened me the most was that the pogroms are now being perpetrated by
Jews under the watchful eye of the Israeli police! It saddens me that Jews
have sunk down to that level. Rather than being a light unto the nations we
are mimicking the worst atrocities of the nations. This makes me very sad.

Why am I forwarding this information? There is a famous quote from Martin
Niemöller, a Lutheran pastor sent to the Dachau concentration camp by the
Nazis, that sums it up:
"First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a
Jew.
Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not
a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was
not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me."

Anyway, here is the report describing the modern pogroms taking place in
Israel, being perpetrated by Jews. I am forwarding it as is. When they come
for me, at least I will have spoken out.

Nehemia

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Subject: This would be shocking if it wasn't so heartbreaking.


Dear folks,

The following letter was written by a secular Israeli who conducts tours of
Israel for tourists, including the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in
Jerusalem. I know many of you will be shocked by this, because hardly
anyone knows that this sort of thing goes on here. Some of you reading this
are Orthodox Jews and you might be emberressed by this. Some of you are
Christian Zionists and you will find it difficult to believe.

Well, I've been there and seen it first hand. It's happening, and I'm
asking for your help to do something about it.

Read on...

The contents of this letter may be a bit shocking to many of you. I will
include a link in it, to a cable-network television news broadcast, about
the very intense persecution of Messianic Jews in the Southern-Israeli city
of Arad, by a large group of Haredi Jews called the Gur Hassidim.

As you all know, I am not a believer and do not hold any religious beliefs
whatsoever. However, what is happening to the believers in Arad is
absolutely incredible, unacceptable and entirely non-democratic.

In March of 2004, about 18 months ago, these Hassidic people stared
demonstrating against Messianic Jews in Arad. It started as sporadic
demonstrations, sometimes outside my sister's home, who's husband is the
local pastor, sometimes outside where the little Messianic congregation of
Arad meets, etc. In time, these demonstrations - which were not curbed by
the Police force - escalated and got much worse. They now randomly attack
believers in the streets wherever they recognize them, in some cases
shouting at a single mother with her little girl who is under 5 years old
"dirty Christian. you filthy Christian" and to the girl they shout "your
mother is a whore! Your mother is a prostitute!". It's one thing for you
guys to read this in your comfortable homes. It's quite another to go
through it - on a daily basis by now - as these people in Arad have been.

My sister and brother in law, Debbie and Yakim Figueras, along with their 4
children, have endured this too. Almost every day there are a few of them
that somehow ambush the house - sometimes stoning it early in the morning,
sometimes just suddenly banging on the windows and shouting obscenities,
like "Jesus the bastard" "Nazi's" "filthy Christians" etc. And every week,
on the same day, there is a major demonstration outside their home, with the
Gur Hassidim carrying big signs against believers, and shouting obscenities
again - with police looking on and many times giggling with the
demonstrators. To say the least, this is absolutely weird. However, with
every attack that went unchecked by the authorities, these people get more
bold and daring, and things are escalating at an alarming rate by now.

Not long ago my sister was driving with three of her children, to pick up
her eldest son from a music lesson at the local conservatory. As she
stopped, two of these Gur Hassidim walked by and recognized her. One stayed
by her car, the other left. My sister, innocently thinking there was some
value to this, waited and relented to talk to the one who stayed, thinking
there was some point in quoting scriptures to him. She didn't realize that
the only God these people really serve, as you will see in the attached
video-clip, is the god of hatred and ignorance. Within a few minutes the
other man came back - with reinforcements: Her car was now surrounded by 15
of them, screaming, cursing, hurling insults at them and Jesus, Shouting at
her that she's a filthy Christian, shouting at the kids (aged almost 2 and
almost 4) that their mother is a filthy Christian and they need to leave
Arad and "stop kidnapping and baptizing children! BUSLOADS of children!" My
sweet little nephew Yair, leaned
his head out the car window and growled back at them. I was mortified when I
heard this.

Needless to say this is yet another traumatic event for all of them to go
through. It took a while before the conservatory staff opened the doors and
let her and the children in, for safety. At another instance, Police
authorized the Gur Hassidim to demonstrate outside a place where the
believers were having the Sabbath meal and worship. Things got out of hand
pretty quickly, and when the believers wanted to leave the building, the
police - who was there all along but was out of control by some point - did
not let them leave the building because they could not guarantee their
safety. So now the believers were trapped inside.

Over a month ago, my brother-in-law wrote a letter to the Israeli chief of
police, in which he gave the history of the past 18 months, and asked for
his immediate intervention as things were getting worse and he feared
physical assaults would be next. He asked him, among other things, why the
police sanctions demonstrations where they are not in control and cannot
guarantee the well being of the people being demonstrated against. There was
never any response to this letter. Unbelievable.

A couple of weeks ago, things reached a new low, when a chess-playing club
owned by local believers, in which they handed out Bibles and Messianic
literature, was burned down - and mysteriously, next door a new Chess club
opened - owned and operated by the Gur Hassidim. Some reporter from one of
Israel's two leading newspapers called my sister up and asked her some
questions about this incident. She was very bold about it and the article
came out as a huge 2 page full article, with bombshell quotations from her,
and the reporter pointing to the fact that the police is not really doing
anything and that at the rate things are going, lives will be lost before
this is over. They had a large picture of the burned down club, and huge
letters quoting a philosopher who said "In a place where they burn books,
there they will also burn people". I thought that was amazing, that they had
it in there. The funny thing was that they got the facts wrong, and wrote
that Debby Figueras (my sister) is
"the sect leader". You couldn't find someone more shy and not interested in
leading than my sister, and me and my friend Amir, a believer guide who
called and told me about the article had a great laugh about that concept.

My brother in law Yakim, went and had a meeting with the mayor of Arad,
where he presented their case, expressed his concern and tried to enlicit
his help. The mayor said quite simply that he knows things are very bad, he
does think things will end with bloodshed, but. he has no intention
whatsoever in getting involved... Can you believe that?! This is the mayor
of the city. Apparently his coalition is not doing well, and therefore his
only real allies in the city hall coalition are, unfortunately. the Gur
Hassidim.

By now it has become amply clear that the authorities are not at all
interested in implementing the democratic right of Freedom of Worship in
Israel, when it comes to the Messianic Jews in Arad. They will most probably
only take action if and when there is bloodshed. That is what concerns me.
And that is why I am writing this letter to you - friends from Bible school,
friends from my former musical period, people I guided through Israel, etc.
The believers in Arad need your help. It is my belief that the only time the
authorities in Israel will start putting an end to the escalating
persecution of believers in Arad, is when the government and police force
realizes that this little minority, which is so easily ignored, has many
friends around the world who are watching, with growing concern, and will
hold the government accountable to what is going on. When the government
sees that they are beginning to look bad around the world, when foreign
diplomats and senators and ambassadors
tell the government they are concerned about what is going on in Arad, the
authorities - if only for selfish reasons of looking good - will quickly
give orders for the persecutions there to be stopped.

This is not just my sister and nephews. These are your brothers and sisters
of your own faith. And believe me, they are suffering, and have been going
through this for a long time - with absolutely no protection. It's a miracle
that no one has been hurt so far.

So I ask that you all take some sort of action: Write the Israeli government
offices - the Prime Minister's office, the Ministry of Public Security, the
Ministry of Justice, The Israeli Police Force. I will include their email
addresses. These offices, if flooded with emails from Christians around the
world, enquiring-of and demanding the safety of Messianic Believers in Arad,
will no longer be able to claim they didn't know about it. Write your
senators, ask them to contact the Israeli ambassador and tell them their
constituency members are very concerned about the blatant violation of human
rights in Arad, and of the Democratic right of Freedom of Worship. It's
amazing - in the Jewish State of Israel, you can be a Buddhist, a Bahhai, a
gay or Lesbian - and your democratic rights are fully protected and upheld.
But if you're a Messianic Jew, they will do nothing for you unless they
absolutely have to. This is partly because Messianics are not loud and
boisterous and demanding, and
therefore are easily overlooked and easy to ignore. If you could bring their
plight to the Israeli government and authorities, it would be very helpful.

In the attached link, you will see news coverage of some of the - believe it
or not - more peaceful events of persecution in Arad. It's in Hebrew, but
you'll get the gist of it. (Actually, you should send this link to the
Israeli Ambassador in your countries and ask him what the heck is going down
in Arad).

Let me just translate some of the highlights for you:

It starts with the Narrator saying that these pictures are part of a
two-year war waged in Arad by the Gur Hassidm against the Messianic Jews.
Then you see some of them, harassing believers who give out clothes to poor
people, saying "this is how they take children and baptize them to
Christianity; they give them some clothes and food and then they tell them,
come and bow down before Jesus, the bastard"

(they actually don't use the name Jesus or Yeshua here, but rather call him
Yoshkeh, another derogatory name for him). Then they show the burned down
chess club and burned bibles etc, and an English-speaking believer talks for
a bit. You'll notice he says "I guess they're coming up with a final
solution now, of some sort. burning." he is alluding to the fact that this
behavior is very reminiscent of Nazi behavior in pre-world war 2 Germany.
And he's right - and the news anchor echoes that at the end.

Next you'll see a Gur Hassid shouting "who wants to sell their soul to
Jesus, the bastard? Just dip in the sea, sell your soul to a bastard who has
been buried and rotting under the ground for 2000 years, and you'll get
rags! Jesus the bastard is giving out rags. Rags from the bastard. Next
you'll see him saying to the believer there - "He's a bastard. Yeshua is
here. Here!" - as he stamps his feet indicating Jesus is under him.

Many of you have been to Israel, and I guided many of you through the Yad
Vashem Holocaust memorial museum. I always pointed out the process of
Humiliating Jews in public, in order to show they are less than human, and
therefore do not have human rights. The public in Germany didn't really
resist, until it was too late. Take a look at this scene. It may ring a
disturbing bell. What you are looking at in this article is a hate fest,
clear and simple. You're looking at a freakish mutation: Jewish Nazi's.
Clear and simple. Jews, blinded with hate, persecuting other jews, and
hurling unbelievable insults at them and Jesus.

Next you'll see a local secular Israeli, complaining that the mayor needs to
put an end to this hatred because there is no reason for it. Little does he
know that his mayor has no such intention. He ends by saying - The Gur
Hassidim here in Arad will not give up, I know them. They are a large
community here in Arad and they will absolutely not give up. The mayor needs
to stop this. What is he sitting there for?!"

Next you see a Gur Hassid saying "they kidnap children and baptize them to
Christianity. Stay away from them" - - Does that remind you of allegations
by Nazis and other antisemites against Jews in Europe? Then you see them
addressing and humiliating a local secular citizen who tried to defend the
believers. You'll understand this part - it's in English.

Next the reporter says "while Mayor Brill burries his head in the sand, 200
Messianic Jews in his city are persecuted in a manner which is reminiscent
of sights from the exile period".

You'll see a Messianic woman walking by, holding her little daughter, and
they say "this is Rebekah Frei, born to a Haredi family. She was kidnapped
by the Christians and made into one. Know the truth!" - as they lie,
outright. Next, she is interviewed and says how they spread lies about her,
publish her picture and address in the streets, saying she's a dangerous
Missionary. Then you see one of them heckling a Russian believer, saying
"where is Yeshua? Yeshua is in Chernobil (where they had the nuclear
disaster years ago).

It ends with the reporter saying: "it would be interesting to see what an
outcry there would be if this happened in any other country against Jews.
Germany, for instance" - clearly stating that there would be a major outcry
of anti-Semitism if this level of persecution happened in any other country.

It's important for me to stress these pictures were taken by believers in
Arad. You'll notice them lining a street as a car tries to leave - this is
when they are harassing believers on their way to and from services.

It will not be enough to just forward this email to other believers. I ask
you to take action. Write, call, email - whatever. Make the Israeli
government know these few believers have the world's attention, and Israel's
democratic rule is being tested here. The total insensitivity of calling
Jesus a bastard time and time again, is absolutely unacceptable, as is the
blatant trampling of the rights of the Messianic believers in Arad. Mother's
should not need to put up with these levels of stress, and children should
not be made to grow up in Israel as if they are in Germany in the 1930's.
This whole situation is drastically wrong, and the people persecuting them
are absolutely primitive and Evil.

Please take action. We need your help. Please feel free to forward this
email to any of your friends and anyone who may be concerned about the well
being of believers in Israel, or anyone who may be in a position to help.
Any press and Media attention to this issue would be helpful, too.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Shmulik Eitan.

The news clip: http://news.walla.co.il/?w=/3807/770929

The Israeli government addresses:
http://www.gov.il/FirstGov/BottomNavEng/Contact

General Government website: http://gov.il

Israeli Police Force: http://www.police.gov.il/english/default.asp - the
Police Commissioner in Israel is Moshe Karadi. He needs to understand people
all over the world want to see him, as the head of police, enforcing the
democratic rights of Messianic Jews in Arad. As I read the very first
statement on their website about the Israeli Police seeking to implement,
blab la bla, I didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. Simply put, the
Israeli police clearly needs to get their biblical-word-for-donkey in gear
and do more than talk.