Persecution in Beit She'an Continues
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
By: Jerusalem Institute of Justice

Eliav Levine, leader of a small Messianic Jewish home-group in Beit She'an, Israel, and his family have been suffering recently from serious persecution.

For the past six months there has been an escalation of harassment against them from the ultra-orthodox Jewish community in this ancient town.

We reported in our May 6 newsletter about Levine's daughter Rivka* being interrogated by ultra-orthodox extremists and their Volkswagen van subsequently being torched. Since our last update, the Levine family has been forced to vacate two apartments due to threats made against their landlords. The persecution has radically accelerated over the past week, following ultra-orthodox activists driving through the streets with loudspeakers calling to "kick the 'evil missionaries' out of town". 

Another vehicle belonging to the Levine family was torched on December 1 in the middle of the night. The car was parked in a parking space facing the local police station and the police security cameras recorded the perpetrators, who were caught within a few hours. Recently, other congregational members have been threatened with violence, and pressure is being placed upon landlords in Beit She'an to terminate contracts with their Messianic tenants in order to remove them from their apartments.

The Jerusalem Institute of Justice has called upon David Cohen, the Chief of Police in Israel, to immediately investigate the perpetrators of incitement and violence against the small Messianic Jewish community in Beit She'an, before the problem deteriorates to violence against people, as we have seen in other cases, such as the Ortiz case.

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*Fictitious name used for confidentiality purposes