Subj: Israel: Illegal Religious Discrimination.

Grace and Truth Christian Congregation of Rishon LeTsion, Israel, has been persistently harassed by the semi-governmental anti-“missionary” organisation Yad Le’Achim. Yad Le’Achim has persistently attacked the legality of church’s building permit, and has now begun attacking members of the congregation, intimidating them in their homes and pressuring employers to terminate the employment of Grace and Truth congregants.

Recently, Yad Le’Achim successfully managed to obtain the dismissal of one member – Ze’ev Bern, a skilled and respected computer and computer systems technician who is married with two children.

In order to establish a precedent that should prevent further persecutions, Grace and Truth Christian Congregation has decided to press charges against the Petach Tikva municipality for unlawful dismissal on the grounds of religious convictions.

The following posting was contributed by Baruch Maoz, the pastor of Grace and Truth Congregation. I have merely added subheadings for easy reference. Pastor Maoz has included a sample advocacy letter and a list of contact addresses. I would personally recommend advocacy be done via traditional “snail mail” and backed up by fax and / or e-mail. As Pastor Maoz notes, sensitivity is imperative.

– Elizabeth Kendal

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ILLEGAL RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION IN ISRAEL By Pastor Baruch Maoz.

YAD LE’ACHIM

In the course of the last decade or so, the Orthodox religious sectors in Israeli society have been gaining political and cultural clout. As a result, their representatives in the Israeli parliament have acted with increased hubris, as have Orthodox adherents in Israeli society.

Yad Le’Achim is a semi-governmental organisation, dedicated to combating what its leaders describe as “the mission” and its emissaries, “the missionaries”, which are buzz words for the evangelical church in Israel, and for evangelical Christians, be they Jewish or otherwise.

Yad Le’Achim has sought various ways in order to intimidate, harass and obstruct evangelical life in the country, with a particular concern for evangelical witness. Most of the means it employs are ludicrous, and evoke nothing more than a dismissive smile. But some bode ill for the future, particularly with reference to Israel’s commitment to democracy.

GRACE AND TRUTH CHRISTIAN CONGREGATION

Grace and Truth Christian Congregation of Rishon LeTsion has long been in the forefront of Yad Le’Achim’s concerns because the congregation has, in the course of the years, led the way on many fronts. It is one of a few congregations that is openly Christian, frankly and broadly evangelistic, active in opposing restrictive legislation on freedom of religion, and growing.

Grace and Truth Christian Congregation’s building project has become the object of determined Orthodox opposition. The legality of the building permit was opposed and, when roundly defended by the court, opposed again before the Supreme Court of Israel, which has yet to decide when it will hear the appeal.

Consequently, Yad Le’Achim has stepped up its efforts to harass members of the congregation. It has sent representatives to the homes of congregants, posing as officials, who took advantage of the totalitarian background from which many of the congregants came, threatening them with deportation and loss of employment. They have repeatedly sought to disrupt worship services. They have also taken to pressuring employers to terminate the employment of Grace and Truth congregants.

Until now, all such efforts were crowned with the failure they deserve.

ILLEGAL RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION

A few months ago, Yad Le’Achim began to apply pressure on the Petach Tivka (a town in the centre of the country) municipality in order to obtain the dismissal of Ze’ev Bern, a computer and computer systems technician serving the municipality’s schools. Mr. Bern has an excellent professional reputation and he is much esteemed by the school principals he served, as well as by all his co-workers.

After pressuring him by various means in hope of obtaining his resignation, Mr. Bern was finally dismissed from his job due to his religious beliefs and in spite of his professional performance. Needless to say, he had never used his contact with the children at school in order to promote his religious views. To have acted otherwise would have been contrary to his own religious convictions, and those of the church to which he belongs. We believe that it is immoral and contrary to Gospel principles to take advantage of the innocence of children, or of trust put in an individual for another purpose, to promote one’s religious convictions.

DEFINING THE PRECEDENT

If this illegal and immoral dismissal is not contested, the door will be open for further such actions against many believers in Israel. Israel’s Basic Law forbids discrimination on the basis of race, religion, sex or political persuasion. 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.

Grace and Truth Christian Congregation has, 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 23 July, the congregation voted:

1) To oppose the unlawful dismissal of one of its members by all legal procedures. The 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, Grace and Truth Christian Congregation, 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.

SENSITIVITY IMPERATIVE

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.

To succeed in our struggle on behalf of Zeev, and of other believers in Israel who might be threatened with a similar loss of employment, it is important that the international community responds with friendly letters of protest and concern.

Please write and have your friends, church members and correspondents write in for us. Below you will find a form letter of protest. Please feel free to modify it in any way you deem fit, or use it as it is. You will also find address to which such letters should be sent. Don’t forget to include a clearly visible return address.

You are welcome to pass this information to the press or to any potentially interested parties

Thank you for your help.

Baruch Maoz Pastor, Grace and Truth Christian Congregation, Rishon LeTsion ISRAEL

—————————————————- SAMPLE ADVOCACY LETTER —————————————————-

Dear ____________________

I write as a friend of Israel, a haven of democracy in the Middle East, now threatened by fears and undemocratic principles cultivated by some of the Orthodox community in the country. I write, too, as a Christian who cares for both Israel and my fellow believers.

Mr. Zeev Bern, and Israeli Christian, was employed by the Petach Tikva municipality as a computer systems technician. He excelled in his work, as all his colleagues testify. He was wrongfully dismissed from employment following the intervention of Yad LeAchim, a semi-governmental organization that has a long and ignoble track record in seeking to harass Christian believers in Israel, and whose funding comes in part from the Israeli Government.

Such a dismissal is a clear form of religious discrimination – if not worse – unworthy of the State of Israel. Especially in light of the persecution from which Jewish people themselves have suffered for so long, Israel should treat her Christian citizens better than Mr. Bern’s case indicates.

Surely, Israel seeks to be a “Jewish democracy”, but Jewishness is never to be taken as implying the discrimination of those of Israel’s citizens who are not Jewish. A “Jewish democracy” must be a true democracy. Otherwise, it has no right to the title.

Although a friend of your country, deeply moved by the terrible and ongoing struggle in which you are presently involved, I find it impossible to defend the Petach Tikvah municipality’s action against one of its faithful employees, simply because he is a Christian.

– I strongly protest this shameful act. – I call upon the Israeli government to rein in Yad LeAchim, and to bring an end to all activity that has the harassment of Christians as its goal. – I call upon the people of Israel to reject such shameful acts of religious discrimination and to make it clear that they will not allow such events to occur again.

Respectfully, (signed and dated)

——————————————————- CONTACT ADDRESSES ——————————————————–

Prime Minister of Israel Mr. Ariel Sharon 3 Kaplan Street, Qiryat Ben Gurion P.O.Box 187 91919 Jerusalem fax: 972-2-6512631

Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs- website: http://www.mfa.gov.il Foreign Minister (Shimon Peres) Deputy F.M. (Michael Melchior) Public Relations Officer

The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs 2 Kaplan Street, Qiryat Ben Gurion POB 915, 91008 Jerusalem

EMBASSIES OF ISRAEL

Australia: Sydney Phone: 61 -2-9264 7933 Fax: 61-2-9290 2259 Email:

Canberra Phone: 61-2-6273 1309 or 61-2-6273 3541 Fax: 61-2 – 6273 4273 E-mail:

Austria: Botschaft des Staates Israels Anton Frank Gasse 20 1180 Wien E-mail:

Canada: 50 O’Connor Street Suite 10005 Ottawa, Ontario K1P 6L2 fax: 613 – 237.8865

France: E-mail:

Finland: Vironkatu 5 A 00170 Helsinki, Finland E-mail:

Germany: Botschaft des Staates Israels Auguste-Victoria Str. 74 14193 Berlin E-mail: or

Holland: Ambassade van Israel 2513 AH Den Haag Buitenhof 47 fax: 070-376.0555 E-mail:

New Zealand: 111 The Terrace POB 2171 Wellington, N.Z fax: 04-499.0632 E-mail:

Singapore: 24 Stevens Close 257964 Singapore E-mail:

South Africa, Pretoria: E-mail:

Switzerland Alpenstrasse 32 Ch-3000 Bern b fax: 41 – 31.356.35.56 E-mail:

U.K. 2 Palace Green, London W8 4QB fax: 020-7957.9555 E-mail:

Ukraine: E-mail:

U.S.A.: 3514 International Dr. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20008 E-mail:

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