Israeli town council cancels Jehovah’s Witnesses event

by Watchtower-Free 20 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Watchtower-Free

  http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.652440

  Anti-missionary group Yad L'Achim had claimed Christians were planning a 'mass baptism' and launched protest campaign in Ra'anana.

  The Ra’anana municipality has canceled an event organized by the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Israel, concerned that the religious group’s meeting would “hurt the feelings of the public.”

  The event, which should have been held Saturday in the Ra’anana municipal sports center, was canceled following pressure by the anti-missionary group Yad L’Achim.

  Although the event was set to include only a seminar, Yad L’Achim had warned earlier in the week that it would be a “mass baptism.” The four Orthodox members on the municipality said they would resign if the event took place.

  The Lod District Court rejected a petition by the association, Watchtower for Israel, for an emergency order to allow the event to be held.

  On Thursday afternoon, the Ra’anana municipality posted on its Facebook page that when it became known that Jehovah’s Witnesses “was planning on holding a lecture in Ra’anana, out of a desire to respect the feelings of the residents of the city – and out of serious and real concern that harsh actions could deteriorate into disturbance of the peace to the extent of fear for the safety of residents – the municipality held talks jointly with Israel Police and the group to dissuade them from holding the event in Ra’anana by consensus. Unfortunately, these efforts were fruitless, so the municipality was forced to inform the group that the event was canceled.”

  The municipality denied that Yad L’Achim or the resignation threat of the Orthodox city councillors had played a part in its decision.

  Following the municipality’s refusal on Thursday to allow the event, Jehovah’s Witnesses went to court, claiming that the municipality’s actions constituted a violation of religious freedom and that it had a right to hold the event on municipal premises. The city responded that it had the right to prevent the event from taking place.

  The court rejected the Jehovah’s Witnesses petition and is expected to publish a ruling this week regarding such events in the future.

  The Ra’anana municipality said it “welcomes the court’s verdict, which properly considered the circumstances and decided not to order that the event be held.” The municipality also said it would “continue to work for the good of the city’s residents out of respect and recognition of the needs and desires of all the residents.”

  Yad L’Achim claimed last Wednesday that “buses all over the country would bring innocent Jews to be baptized on the Sabbath at the Ra’anana municipal sports center.” It called on its supporters to pressure the city not to hold the event. It subsequently published a letter signed by Deputy Mayor Chaim Goldman and his fellow Orthodox faction members – city councillors Drora Cohen, Eli Cohen and Shlomo Friedman – that “if the event takes place, the faction will not see itself as one of the partners in the coalition.”

  On Friday afternoon, Yad L’Achim said it was “pleased to announce that cooperation among many factions, including the chief rabbi of Ra’anana, Rabbi Yitzhak Peretz, religious council members, residents of Ra’anana and Jews who care from all over the country and who answered our call and expressed protest, the preaching and baptism event has been canceled.” The statement added that Yad L’Achim “thanked those who took part and assisted in the cancelation, and thus contributed to the sanctification of God.”

  Last March, the Rishon Letzion Magistrate’s Court rejected a demand by the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Israel to allow it to hold weekly activities in a classroom in the Raziel high school. The city argued that it canceled its contract with the group before the necessary authorization was issued because the school principal learned that the activity involved ostensibly a Christian missionary group whose faith went against the educational goals in Israel’s public school system.

  Jehovah’s Witnesses argued unsuccessfully that the cancellation had stemmed from extraneous considerations and constituted wrongful religious discrimination.

  Jehovah’s Witnesses is a Christian-based religious movement that was founded in the United States in the late 19th century. It is known for its evangelical approach, going door-to-door to spread the word of Jehovah (God). There are an estimated 8 million “Witnesses” around the world, including more than a million in the United States.
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  freemindfade

  I saw this on the Google news... the thing that amazes me is how they boast so much about when things go right. For instance the international convention in Isreal was a down to the wire harrowing story that clearly showed gods hand. Ok... what about this?

  Is it the case of yhwh not being able to defeat the chariots this time?
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  Village Idiot

  They should have the right to have their assembly like anyone else.
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  Barrold Bonds

  Gotta agree with Village Idiot. It's one shitty Jewish (religion) state doing a shitty thing to another shitty religion. They should be able to assemble.
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  label licker

  Disagree! They come to my door and preach what they are not and hook people in with their lies. Then comes their brainwashing and if you leave then their cruel disfellowshipping rules kick in making you, your families and friends suffer. They force themselves on others by going into other countries under different names to convert the vulnerable.

  They are ruthless, sly, deceptive and don't care about anyone unless there is money involved. They are blood guilty on so many levels from letting ones die of no blood to suicides due to their disfellowshipping policies. How many times did they pervert justice on the innocent ones in order to keep the rest of the world from knowing what they really do to their followers if they dare question their sick doctrines? Why create more morons?

  Exodus 23:1,2 & 1 Corinthians 4:3-5
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  Village Idiot

  Label, would you then prevent Mormons from doing the same thing? Who will draw the limits as to which group is to be censored and which not?
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  steve2

  No one comes out of this looking squeaky clean.

  By law, the Witnesses have the right to hold peaceable meetings in Israel. They are usually very tactful at meetings held in "sensitive" regions and do not purposely incite others' feelings.

  As for the expectation that there'd be a mass baptism. Gosh! I'd be interested in how Yad L'Achim got hold of that particular bit of insider information.

  I'd imagine that baptisms would have been rather more modest in number - but there's nothing like whipping up anti-Witness sentiments with the hoary old threat that the Witnesses are taking over and causing offence to others.

  Yeah, like that is the issue of actual concern in this region!
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  label licker

  After seeing what this cult has done to us personally and what we have seen with other religions through some of our past bible studies, all religions seem to have the same trademark. It all boils down to lies, memberships and money. All of them will tell you that only they have the truth. That they are guided by god's holy spirit. That they are god's mouthpiece. Give what you can give (we'll get the rest later by making you feel like your not doing enough)

  Last time I read my bible, there were no church or imperfect man between Yeshuah and my husband. Just the man and then Christ, himself. And until that accurate knowledge is poured out in the end times, no one knows anything. I would rather wait and then stand in front of Yeshuah and answer to him alone for my sins. I don't have to answer to an imperfect group of goons who are made to believe they are the seven dukes or eight shepherds or god's mouthpiece or whatever.

  When I start to see flames above their heads or they can turn water in to blood or stop up the rains from the heavens then I will start to watch. Religion is a snare and a racket for sure. They can all kill each other off for all I care. Just don't come to my door and preach love and then teach hatred. They tried to turn our personality into something we were never to become(what they call the new personality) and that is why we wanted out.

  No one should have to be lied to in order to be someone else's slave. Families should not have to be made to make a decision when it comes to their loved ones or a flip flop religion. It's things like these that they don't tell you at the doors and if it were made known to the public and they still want to join then that's their choice. I guess when it comes to religion, everyone needs to be bitten once and then maybe will be twice shy. We weren't just bitten but skinned and devoured. Never again! I wouldn't wish religion on anyone.

  .
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  OnTheWayOut

  The Yad L’Achim claim that “buses all over the country would bring innocent Jews to be baptized on the Sabbath at the Ra’anana municipal sports center” is mostly wrong, but not entirely wrong. No people who happen to get on the bus are going to be baptized unless they went through the process, so "innocent Jews" are not really to be baptized. BUT, the already-processed technically-ETHNIC Jews that get on that bus to go get baptized are being misled about the religion and are "innocent" in some ways.

  So knowing what I know, I am not upset at this ruling. Still, the municipality saw that there was going to be trouble. Trouble in Israel is typically not met with signs and media announcements, but with some kind of violence. I don't blame the municipality for attempting to dissuade then cancelling the event. Plus, this is not the United States, so there are no real expectations (despite claims) of something like The First Amendment Rights here.

  And Watchtower did itself no favors trying to sneak that high school program in. That cult beats everything. They want to maneuver to violate the principles of laws on religion to benefit themselves, and yet will cry foul when someone else makes a maneuver against them. It's like cheating at cards and someone beats you anyway because they cheat better. How can you really explain and complain about that?
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  DesirousOfChange

  For instance the international convention in Isreal was a down to the wire harrowing story that clearly showed gods hand. Ok... what about this?

  Uhhhhhhhh..........maybe this was God's day of rest?

  Doc