Violence against non-Jews

US report:   Rise in violence against Messianic Jews and Christians

Violence against Christian evangelical and Messianic Jewish communities in Israel increased significantly during the period between July 1, 2007 and June 30, 2008, according to the US State Department’s Annual Report on International Religious Freedom.

The report, released last week, put blame for the “tensions” on “certain Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities.”

But except in one case, the report, which noted numerous incidents of discrimination or violence against Christian or Messianic Jewish communities or individuals, failed to prove that the perpetrators were Orthodox or ultra-Orthodox.

According to the US State Department, Jehovah’s Witnesses representatives reported a significant increase in assaults and other crimes against their members over the past 12-month period. Violent incidents were up from one to two a month in early 2007 to eight to nine a month in early 2008.

On October 23, 2007, suspected arsonists set fire to the Narkiss Street Baptist Church in Jerusalem. The pastor of a Russian Messianic Jewish congregation that meets in the church said that Yad L’Achim , a haredi anti-missionary organization, had threatened him and his congregation over the few years leading up to the attack.

Rabbis & Crime

FailedMessiah.com Covering Orthodox Judaism Since 2004

Rabbis & Crime. There are over almost 700 hundred posts on religious criminals on this index page.

Here is a summary of the Brooklyn haredi community’s attempts to deal with alleged serial child molester Rabbi Yehuda Kolko. Haredi leaders were unable to deal with Rabbi Kolko and, at the same time, refused to turn him over to police. The end result was almost 40 years of child molestation.

Posts on alleged haredi child rapist Avrohom Mondrowitz are here.

Mondrowitz fled the US for Israel at the urging of haredi leaders as he was being indicted for raping young boys. He lived safely in Jerusalem for over 20 years, under the protection of the Ger hasidic community and its rebbes, the latest of whom, Rabbi Ya’akov Aryeh Alter, is pictured at right.

At this writing, there are over almost 700 hundred posts on religious criminals on this index page. It is quite large and may take a few minutes to completely load. The posts are chronological, newest at the top of the page, oldest at the bottom.

Silencing dissent, hushing up scandal.

Silencing dissent, hushing up scandal Rabbi Benzion Twerski had resigned from a task force in formation being brought together to deal with sexual abuse in the Orthodox community

Two items recently crossed my desk. The first was an article that appeared in The Jerusalem Post written by Matthew Wagner entitled “Haredim move to silence ‘treif’ music”. It was about a movement to ban musicians who produce or perform any music which the Guardians of Sanctity and Education deem inappropriate. Musicians playing such music would be banned from playing in wedding halls, their CDs would be banned and their concerts disallowed.

The other item was a breaking news piece from JTA indicating that Rabbi Benzion Twerski had resigned from a task force in formation being brought together to deal with sexual abuse in the Orthodox community. New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, also an Orthodox Jew, is establishing the task force to deal with this scourge. Twerski resigned because of the many threats against him and his family made by several individuals from his community.

Racism in the name of religion

Racism in the name of religion “There are moments when I find myself truly ashamed to be part of Israeli society.”

There are moments when I find myself truly ashamed to be part of Israeli society. I had a moment like that recently as I stood outside the Supreme Court with women from Ahoti, a Sephardi feminist organization, waiting for a ruling on the religious girls’ school in Emanuel where racism is so entrenched that parents will do all it takes to keep antiquated Jim Crow-like separations in place.

What is happening in the Beit Ya’acov school is nothing less than the formalization of racism. Here the school implements a policy in which Sephardi girls are not allowed to be in a class with Ashkenazi or hassidic girls, and they have different teachers, different classes and even different recess times and a fence between their yards just to ensure that the two groups do not mingle during the breaks.