Messianic congregation's building in Ashdod targeted by Haredi vandals
There's another case in the southern end of the country involving ultra-Orthodox vandals desecrating private property over differences of religious practice:
If the police are smart this time, they'll make sure to track and arrest the offenders and give an order for all such ultra-Orthodox hoodlums not to come within several blocks of the property.
The messianic Jewish community in Ashdod has suffered two acts of vandalism in recent days, which it says was perpetrated by two ultra-Orthodox men. The perpetrators sprayed painted graffiti on the Beit Hallel Congregation’s new building with the words, “The mission is a national danger,” and “not to the mission” sprayed repeatedly on various parts of the building.So because this is a congregation that supports Christian figure Jesus, they just have to make things worse. No less disturbing, of course, is the originally disinterested response by police who acted as though such vandalism is a minor offense. And then you wonder how the horrific incident at Bnot Orot in Beit Shemesh could initially occur in the same year given.
Founder and Senior Pastor of the Voice of Judah Israel and Beit Hallel Congregation Israel Pochtar noted the building is private property, surrounded by a fence.
“A few days ago, several ultra-Orthodox [people] entered illegally into our property and decided to vandalize private property in broad daylight,” he wrote in a Facebook post on Monday, accompanied by pictures of two ultra-Orthodox men who appear to be spraying the graffiti.
“They sprayed all over the property graffiti making [it] clear it is an act of hatred against Messianic Jews,” Pochtar said. He added that they returned the following day to continue spraying more graffiti. According to Pochtar, the perpetrators vandalized steel doors, walls, marble and windows, causing the congregation financial damage.
“We immediately extracted footage from our surveillance cameras and went to press charges. Obviously, the police tried to minimize the events as something insignificant, but we insisted that according to the law, vandalism and graffiti spraying on private property can be penalized with up to a year in prison. We showed we had evidence of the perpetrators, and the police was basically forced to take our complaint seriously,” Pochtar said.
Lachish district police spokesman Shimon Cohen told The Jerusalem Post that after receiving a complaint, the police opened an investigation into the incident.
The congregation comprises some 300 people, and since 2011, Pochtar says they have faced systematic harassment, bullying, shaming and threats from ultra-Orthodox residents of the city.
If the police are smart this time, they'll make sure to track and arrest the offenders and give an order for all such ultra-Orthodox hoodlums not to come within several blocks of the property.
Labels: haredi corruption, Israel, Moonbattery
