JERUSALEM, Israel – For at least the second time in a month, a number of ultra-Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem have publicly confronted Christians and Messianic believers.
The most recent happened outside a Hebrew worship event in the city. This time, the hostility also led to physical attacks.
Some 800 people recently attended two concerts featuring Hebrew worship songs.
Chad Holland, senior pastor at King of Kings Community in Jerusalem, told CBN News, “It was a night of worship and singing through the scriptures, singing through the Psalms. Everyone was invited.”
Holland explained, “We were very up-front about what this event was – that it was important to us – that all the people attending knew exactly what they were coming to, through the purchase of tickets well before the event.”
However, outside the concert venue, something else was going on. Protesters had gathered in the building, and Holland says they began to verbally and physically attack those trying to attend the concert, sponsored by the Messianic Jewish Alliance of Israel.
He explained “So, as the worshipers were trying to come in, the protesters would block them. They would get in their way, they would physically put their hands on them, put their body on them.
Holland stated that some of the attendees were physically attacked. “There were several people that got harmed. They got accosted. We were being told of several people who got hurt. In addition to that, there was quite a loud noise-making group. And eventually this group of protestors – and we might even say violent protestors – grew to between 80 and a hundred people.”
While Holland commended city police for bringing order, he felt more could have been done to prevent the situation.
“We want to say thank you to the police. They did such a good job. They were so brave and courageous.” He added, “All we would want is for the police to take it more seriously early on – to send more police early so we could avoid this whole event altogether. But once the greater amount of police arrived, that discouraged the protestors, half of them left.
One of Jerusalem’s deputy mayors, Arieh King, stood behind and supported the demonstrators, which included many teenagers and young men. Others cheered them on from above the concert area.
Another of the city’s deputy mayors, Fleur Hassan-Nahoum did not approve of their behavior.
“It’s people who have a very warped view of what the Christian community is,” she explained. “They feel that most of the Christians in Jerusalem are there missionizing young Jews. I’ve tried to explain to them many times that that’s not the case.”
Hassan-Nahoum told CBN News that she and other leaders have tried to convince King that what he is doing is wrong. “It was very negative, incendiary. The mayor condemned it. Half the city council condemned it and told him to his face that all he was doing is inciting hatred,” she said.
While the group of protesters was relatively small in comparison to the large ultra-Orthodox population in the city, Hassan-Nahum is still concerned about the violence against Christians.
“I would like to think we do our utmost to protect all minorities,” she said. “In the last few months, I’ve been involved in a campaign to get rabbis to condemn any type of violence or protest or hostile action towards Christians. So, it’s not the mainstream, and it’s not even the mainstream Orthodox, and it’s not even the mainstream national religious. It’s a small marginal group – a few bad apples that ruin the basket “
Faydra Shapiro, who heads the Israel Center for Jewish-Christian relations, sees it as democracy in action.
She said, “I mean, this is still a democratic country and that includes the democratic right to protest, so long as it doesn’t harm law and order.”
On the other hand, she’s concerned about the signs of a larger conflict.
“There is a growing polarization in Israel, and that really has nothing much to do with Jews and Christians and everything to do with politics, and a certain sector that feels emboldened to act in increasingly undemocratic and sometimes brutal ways,” Shapiro explained.
While Israelis may be sensitive to the idea of missionary activity, Shapiro believes those who would protest at a Christian event are relatively few. She also feels Israelis should turn their energies elsewhere.
“I think that our mission as Jews in Israel, it seems to me, needs to be building a vibrant Jewish identity among our people and not protesting a music concert,” she stated.
Pastor Holland emphasized that there was no intent to evangelize. He says what happened exposed people’s hearts.
“The worshipers were coming for one heart – of love for God, love for one another – and the protestors had a different heart motive, and they didn’t seem to care if someone was a man, a woman, a grown person, a child, an elderly person, or a baby,” Holland said. “They didn’t seem to care. They were going to promote this violence, make this noise. And again, we believe they were just grossly misinformed about what the whole event was.”
The musical evening has been an event for years. Holland says he hopes next time they can come up with a way to make it just that.
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