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.
