Not a pretty picture in Ariel, or Arad:
Haaretz has a brutal clip from Arad which features video footage of "messianic" missionary assaults on Hareidim, as well as Hareidi protests against missionaries
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/967870.html
Fireworks by Calev Myers, or Firecrakers in Ariel?
The police investigation is under wraps and there is nothing concrete to report about the explosion in Ariel. It was originally reported by Haaretz that "Police reportedly believe the blast was caused by some sort of firecraker used during Purim celebrations", and that they were "investigating the possibility that the explosion occurred while the boy was opening a Purim gift basket." Terror was not ruled out either, as Pastor Ortiz was missionizing among Arabs.
But you know how the press can be - especially when they have to spin a story due to a lack of concrete information. And you know how lawyers can be - especially when presented with a good PR opportunity to further their personal agenda.
Attorney Pastor Calev Myers of the Jerusalem Institute for Justice, is the spokesman for the Ortiz family and appears in a story and video clip on CBN in which he continues to point the finger at the Orthodox community.
If Calev's spin backfires and this incident turns out to be either a tragic accident or an Arab attack, then maybe the Israel Bar Association, or at least the senior partners of Yehuda Raveh, should take a good look at Mr. Myers and his tactics. Conflict of interest? Behavior unbecoming a lawyer/pastor? (What do I know? I'm a college drop-out from art school)
(Excerpts from CBN):
Bomb Heard Around the Globe
News of this terror attack has reverberated throughout Israel and around the world...
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."
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/344905.aspx
An Honest Report from a Christian Friend of the Ortiz Family
(Excerpts)
There are some false rumors going around, mostly because of sloppy media reports. Unfortunately, even the usually reliable Jerusalem Post got things mixed up. Although it made a great story, Ami was not saved by his mom (his parents were in Jerusalem and had to fight their way through traffic to the hospital). There are not "50 families" of Messianic Jews in Ariel (don't we wish!! - the number is closer to 9 or 10 families, plus several volunteers who come and go on tourist visas). Ami did not need to have his intestines and kidneys reconstructed as far as I can determine, although shrapnel and glass was removed from lots of places I don't want to think about. Nor were any limbs amputated (he lost 2 toes only)...
The apartment did not lose all its furniture, as reported by some - by a fluke, the sofa and TV are fine. The phone and electric work, and the computer works, but the spiral stairs to the upper floor are rickety...
The mayor of Ariel, Ron Nachman, visited the hospital yesterday. He has been very supportive and openly determined to defend the rights of believers here. He told the family that the investigation of the attack has been moved to a higher-level department in Jerusalem, to avoid any local conflict of interests. I consider that a direct answer to prayer, because our own interaction with the local police revealed possible bias and blind spots.
Some others also visited David - members of the local orthodox community. Having concluded that the media reports (all favoring the "Jewish extremist" theory) must have some factual basis, they apologized to David and disowned whoever did it. Likewise the leader of Yad L'Achim, who publicly denounced the deed in the media.
I'm not saying any more, since these are the only real facts I have.
http://aukina4israel1.multiply.com/journal/item/624/More_about_Ami_Ortiz
Call FOUL on CBN for Unfair Reporting of Narkiss Church Fire:
Any of you brave media watchdogs willing to confront Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) on this gross distortion (or do you reserve your criticism for the left-wing press only)?
In Calev's clip on CBN, the Narkiss church fire of last October is conveniently inserted. Again, the clear message is that the Orthodox community was responsible for the incident.
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/344905.aspx
BUT I have been regularly checking on that "arson" report. And, as of a few days ago, no suspects have been detained and no arrests have been made. At the time of the fire, there was worldwide coverage which cited a 1982 incident (that would be 25+ years ago) as a sort of proof that "Orthodox anti-missionary groups" had done it again. Even the ADL kicked in with a condemnation:
"The ADL strongly condemned this arson and apparent hate crime," the New-York based organization said. "We urged authorities to do everything in their power to protect all religious sites and see that the perpetrators of the crime are brought to justice."
http://www.hcef.org/index.cfm/mod/news/ID/16/SubMod/NewsView/NewsID/1886.cfm
That church is home to varying congregations of Baptists, Russian Christians, foreign workers, students, Sudanese refugees from Egypt and Messianic Jews (I would keep firehoses around in that multicultural environment).
And According to reports in the Baptist Press at the time,
Police have no suspects and the arson may have simply been the work of vandals
http://www.sbcbaptistpress.org/bpnews.asp?id=26688
Reminder :
At the 2004 ICEJ sponsored Feast of the Tabernacles in Jerusalem, CBN's Pat Roberson gave the cause of Messianic Judaism a big boost :
At the 2004 ICEJ sponsored Feast of the Tabernacles in Jerusalem, CBN's Pat Roberson gave the cause of Messianic Judaism a big boost :
Jews need to begin to cry out for their Messiah, he said. "I've met wonderful Jews... here in Jerusalem, who are all saying 'Yes, Jesus you are our Messiah,'"
(that same year, then-Tourism Minister MK Benny Elon honored Pat Robertson by presenting him with a special Zionist award that praised him for having "saved Israel's tourism from bankruptcy." That same month, the Rabbi MK met with Christian missionaries and implored them to "go from mosque to mosque and bring the Muslims into the light.")
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/7432
So contact CBN and tell them to clean-up their video footage and reporting.
http://www.cbn.com/contact/feedback-cbnonline.aspx
Call Foul on YNET:
Yair London jumped at an opportunity to bash the Hareidim in a Ynet article (no mention of the fact that Pastor David Ortiz and his missionary staff have received death threats and beatings from Muslims who don't want to be converted):
I don't know who the would-be assassin was in this case, but we know that zealous ultra-Orthodox stand out among those who persecute missionaries...Jews who fear competition and resort to gangster-like tricks...blah... blah.... blah....
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3522911,00.html
Talkback under London's piece claims Fatah already took credit for the blast:
"Author misinformed: Fatah took credit for the blast!"
the author of the talkback - a resident of Ariel - goes on to say that according to Maan News, Fatah Battalion already took
credit for the blast ...
Which brings us back to an earlier report which appeared on Arutz 7:
Ariel Bomb: Terrorists Take Credit, Police Suspect Cult
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/143645
Strange times...
2 comments:
Yad l'Achim does not do stuff like this. They've become a legitimate, established, and admired organization dealing with anti-cult, anti-missionary, and saving Israeli girls who've gone to live with Arab boyfriends/husbands (a police friend of mine says that there are more Jewish girls living in Palestinian areas that we even think).
It is not a secret that Ortiz has received death threats from Arabs in the past. They do not like that he 'works' in Yesha Arab areas bring the word of 'Yemach Shmo' to the Yishmaelim.
I don't know who these 'local orthodox' people are, apologizing and all.
On the other hand, we actually would want to hear that a Jew did an act of kidush Hashem, like Pinchas, but we know that we are all tainted with alterior motives and do not act purely for God's honor, so we refrain from vigilantism and it is not condoned.
Josh,
Yadl'Achim does do amazing work and it's a shame that they are receiving such bad press from Christian groups - especially since much of their work is focused on saving Jewish women from Arab boyfriends and husbands.
You would think that so-called Christian Zionists would be thrilled.
It is also downright disgusting and low for certain evangelical groups to be manipulating this incident to further their agenda, rather than place emphasis on the Muslim threats and actual violence that has been directed at Ortiz.
And for all we know at this time, it could have been some kind of an accident (the investigation is under wraps)
I am also puzzled by the purported apologies in the Orthodox community. Did we do something to apologize for? But I do think it appropriate to feel for this severly wounded young man.
Your last comment doesn't sit well with me, because I prefer that
any Jews who went off, derech and became Christians, should return to their people. And that is why education, outreach and legislation in Israel is so important. Bringing our people back to themselves is a real Kiddush Hashem - and that is the mission of counter-missionary organizations like Yad L'Achim.
This Jewish mother prefers to push missionaries away with the left hand a draw my people back with the right hand.
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