Tel Aviv City Government Heeds Orthodox Jewish Complaints to Restrict Distribution of "Messianic Literature"

Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai photo credit: Wikipedia

“The City of Tel Aviv says that it will prevent the infiltration of Messianic Jewish literature in municipal ‘street libraries.’ Working behind the scenes to restrict Hebrew-language Messianic books in the open-air book stalls is Or L'Achim, an organization that seeks to prevent attempts to lead Jews away from their faith. Messianic Jews have been placing literature in the public libraries set up around the city to encourage reading.  Or L'Achim sent a formal complaint to Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai warning about ‘abuse of a municipal service for missionary conversion,’ according to reports. The Tel Aviv Municipality responded that, ‘Library management instructed workers to check whether flyers were placed having to do with publications of a cult and were ordered to remove them from the shelves.’ Organizations working to prevent Jews from hearing the Gospel like to paint Messianic Jews as belonging to a ‘cult.’ In recent years, several genuinely dangerous cults have sprouted up around Israel, and placing Messianic Judaism in this category stirs public fears and encourages anti-Messianic crusades.”

​“Anti-Messianic Jewish Update,” Israel Today, Feb. 19, 2019

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