Hundreds Of New Testaments Torched In Israel

Messianic Jews Discriminated Against and Persecuted in Israel
Orthodox Jews Burn New Testaments

Another twist of events in the case of the New Testament burning in Israel has occurred.  It now appears that the attorney for the Messianic Jews, Calev Myers, who is filing a formal complaint Thursday, states he doubts the Jewish missionaries handed out the New Testaments.  So how did they get into these homes?

"Myers, however, said he doubts that Messianic Jewish missionaries distributed the New Testaments. He said it's not clear how the volumes found their way into homes in Or-Yehuda."

Formal Complaint To Be Filed Thursday

Caught in the act?? Deputy Mayor of Or Yehuda, Uzi Aharon at the synagogue, holding one of the Christian NewTestaments and Literature Packages that were burnt --

*****
Hundreds of New Testaments Torched in Israel

From CNN

(CNN) -- Police in Israel are investigating the burning of hundreds of New Testaments in a city near Tel Aviv, an incident that has alarmed advocates of religious freedom.

Investigators plan to review photographs and footage showing "a fairly large" number of New Testaments being torched this month in the city of Or-Yehuda, a police spokesman, Mickey Rosenfeld said Wednesday.

The episode has worried defenders of Israel's minority population of Messianic Jews, who consider themselves Jewish but believe in the divinity of Jesus, as do Christians. It also has concerned evangelical Christians in North America, Europe and Asia, who visit Israel by the hundreds of thousands.

Calev Myers, an attorney for Messianic Jews in Israel, told CNN he plans to file a formal complaint Thursday with the national police at the request of the United Christian Council in Israel, an umbrella organization for a few dozen Christian organizations outside Israel.

"I hope the people who are responsible for breaking the law will be indicted and prosecuted," he said.

Myers said his complaint will ask the authorities to investigate possible violations of two Israeli laws. One forbids the destruction or desecration of any religious icon or item that a group holds sacred. Another bans people from speaking publicly in a way that offends or humiliates a certain religion.

Both laws are meant to prevent people from inciting religious violence, he said.

The burning controversy has unfolded against the backdrop of other instances that Myers cited as examples of discrimination against Messianic Jews in Israel.More at link

Related Story: Turning Up The 'Heat' On Messianic Jews