Are Religious Jews Getting a Pass for their Crimes Against Believers in Israel?

The Ami Ortiz Story
A Messianic Teen who Survived a Direct Terrorist Bomb Blast

Above Ami Ortiz many weeks after the blast in 2008
Below The Walking Miracle of Ami in 2011

From a 2011 entry on the Ami Ortiz Story website: 

“It's been 3 years since the unthinkable. The attempted murder of an innocent 15 year-old Messianic Jewish boy in Ariel, Israel. He and his family are followers of Yeshua (Jesus) the Jewish Messiah. After two and a half years of excruciating recovery and rehabilitation, 14 operations with more plastic surgeries ahead, and spiritual, mental and emotional recovery ….”

 Now in May 2012, Is there a cover up to protect the 'Jewish Terrorist' bomber in progress?

There has been movement in the trial of the murders & attempted murders of Jack Teitel in Israel. But is Teitel going to dodge paying for his crimes with a 'get out jail free' card that has him spending a little time in a mental facility instead? Will the plea bargain that was struck with the prosecution circumvent the truth coming out that Teitel was not a lone wolf but at least in the attempt to murder a Messianic family in Ariel, he was the lead man in a conspiracy to commit murder? Or will the religious zealots be shielded from justice be served?

There seems to be a determined effort to not hold this man responsible for the murders committed in religious far right zeal.   "As first revealed by Ynet – an amended indictment was filed against Teitel where the statement that his acts were committed over his hatred and opposition to groups and individuals whose lifestyle and outlook did not match his beliefs was removed from the indictment."

To say this more bluntly: This clause of the indictment said that Teitel’s crimes were “hate crimes” and that was removed in the plea bargain.  So they took a year deciding if he is mentally fit to stand trial at this time (they found he was) and the next hearing will decide if he was accountable for his actions of the past.   If that sounds crazy, it is, especially in light of the fact that he has confessed to all his crimes and did re-enactments of them.

The failure to take the case of the bombing of Ami Ortiz to trial ALSO OBSCURES the FACTS of the case that Teitel DID NOT ACT ALONE.   Video surveillance tapes of their street - which the Messianic family need for their personal safety - clearly shows Teitel had accomplices and he admitted he worked with Yad L'Achim anti-missionary activists. Of course, not letting these facts come to light with a trial makes getting Teitel off with an insanity defense much easier.

This is a travesty – even if Teitel is convicted of the murder of the two Palestinians, justice is not being served for the 15-year old Messianic boy who opened the Purim gift basket and took full, close exposure to the bomb blast. Teitel is not mentally ill, he is full of unbridled religious hatred. Israel cannot sweep this under the carpet, and for its own sake, it should not allow this injustice to prevail.  It will imperil the lives of other Messianic Jews in Israel is Teitel is not held accountable for the worst of his murderous crimes – that of a terrorist act against a Jewish family based solely on their faith in Yeshua.

Repeated mental competency/psychiatric evaluations and court hearings spread over more than one year have always come back saying Teitel was mentally fit to stand trial.   But the Times of Israel is reporting that "Lawyers for Jewish terrorist will present insanity defense".

The Messianic Ortiz family are consulting with lawyers and before the LORD as to their response to these court developments.

This is not the first case that has failed to protect the lives of Messianic believers in Israel, although it is the most serious act of violence.  When a hostile crowd of religious Jews took over a service for the second time (1998 and 2005) in Beer Sheva, the Messianic community agreed that it was time to draw a line in the sand at violent acts against the Jewish believers in Jesus.  The congregation filed a lawsuit against the organizers of the mob. 
Afterward, in 2008, the bomb attack on the Ortiz family took place. Even so, when the verdict finally came down for the Beer Sheva case in 2010, the ruling did not hold the rabbi and anti-missionary activists accountable and even made the Messianic congregation responsible for the court costs.  Clearly, there is no will to hold the religious Jews responsible for violent acts and religious persecution.

A few days ago on Facebook we shared a link to the story of the release of the far-right rabbi (from the settlements near where Jack Teitel and the Ortiz family lived), who published a book around the same time that Teitel was arrested, giving a rabbinical view that alright to kill Gentiles, even children, in some situations, as a threat to the Jews. This not only meant that it was okay to kill Palestinians, but that it is okay to kill Messianic Jews - including 15 year olds as Teitel almost achieved.  It is a widespread belief among many ultra-Orthodox that the Messianic believers are “more dangerous than Hamas” because they “steal the souls” of Jews and not their lives only as the terrorists do.  Understand how serious the opposition truly is.

Today, comes news that the Israeli Attorney General closes probe into authors of allegedly racist book. “The complainants contend that Weinstein's decision creates a precedent, one never intended by the country's legislative branch - that rabbis can incite in a violent or racist fashion with impunity.” 

The book Torat Hamelech (The King’s Torah), published in 2009, ... states: "When we approach a gentile who has violated the seven laws of Noah and kill him out of devotion to the upholding of these Noahide laws, this is not forbidden."

Another Jewish publication asks, The King’s Torah: a rabbinic text or a call to terror?

The prohibition 'Thou Shalt Not Murder' applies only "to a Jew who kills a Jew," write Rabbis Yitzhak Shapira and Yosef Elitzur of the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar. Non-Jews are "uncompassionate by nature" and attacks on them "curb their evil inclination," while babies and children of Israel's enemies may be killed since "it is clear that they will grow to harm us."

Of course, any Jew who has come to faith in Yeshua is regarded as no longer Jewish. Therefore, the prohibition not to murder a fellow Jew does not apply to any of the 10-15,000 Messianic Jews of Israel.

"Despite the precedent set by previous Israeli attorneys general in the last decade and a half to file criminal charges against settler rabbis who publish commentaries supporting violence against non-Jews, Attorney General Menachem Mazuz has so far remained mum about "The King's Torah."

These are terrible developments for the Israeli justice system and will further embolden acts of violence against the Messianic community.  While religious persecution of this time forces the onlookers in the Israeli society to make personal decisions about right and wrong, we also need to recognize the need for the Body in Israel to have prayer cover for safety.  Just like we pray for loss of life to be limited in the wars and terror attacks on Israel, we also pray for God’s protection of each and every follower of Jesus from attacks by religious adversaries of the gospel.  Persecution may forward the gospel, but every believer’s life is not rendered by that any less precious.

60 Minutes Delivers Shoddy Journalism

60 Minutes Delivers Shoddy Journalism

Christians of the Holy Land report was ridiculously shallow in the facts
By Donna Diorio
Arrows from Zion | Israelprayer
April 22, 2012

Yesterday, 60 Minutes aired a segment on Christian Arabs fleeing the Holy Land where they featured Rev Mitri Reheb and some other Christian Arabs who denied that the reason Christian Arabs fled was because of persecution of Islamists.

HERE'S THE PROBLEM WITH THAT, the ones who stayed have already taken the steps to avoid being lashed out at by their Muslim neighbors. 60 Minutes was asking the wrong people if there is persecution of Christian Arabs by Muslim Arabs. They need to ask the ones who already fled and are now safe, not the ones who are still in the line of fire.

When I started Israelprayer in August of 2001, it wasn't long before we were enlisted by David and Leah Ortiz, Messianic Jews in Ariel, to pray for many Christian Arabs who were in Palestinian Authority jails. Some were being tortured, some even died. When Israel, in the aftermath of 9/11, launched Operation Defensive Shield where the IDF went into Palestinian towns to uproot munitions factories and terror nests city-by-city, they also set free the Christian Arabs who were being held in PA jails.

See my story of my 'chance' meeting with "S" in 2003 in Tel Aviv - the last Christian Arab who was released by the IDF in Operation Defensive Shield from a PA prison where he feared for his life. In this blog entry I tell the story of praying for the Christian Arabs who were imprisoned by the PA in 2001-2002, and how the IDF set them free, and meeting the Palestinian Christian "S" who was the last to be released from Nablus jail.

This is only one the example we know intimately about regarding Palestinian Muslim persecution of Christian Arabs. There have been murders of Christian pastors, beatings, threats. Yet 60 Minutes takes 3 people who are grinning and denying as if it is the lie of the century. Hey, 60 Minutes, we know that is how you WANT to believe in, but those denials don't square with the truth.

During the second Intifada - and one of the reasons cited that Christian Arabs began fleeing the holy land in droves - is the use of their homes as sniper nests where even a Jewish baby was shot in the mother's arms. Palestinian Islamists used Christian Arab homes because they knew it would draw Israeli return fire - two birds killed with one stone.

You can't waltz into Israel and the Palestinian controlled areas, do a few interviews and think you are emerging with the true situation as 60 Minutes did in this interview. You have to have a track record following the events there. 60 Minutes presented a false view in its report last night. A false narrative is not the basis for reconciliation bridges.

*** Today, I am getting emails highlighting the woefully inadequate 60 Minutes report. They are citing the extensive report by Justus Reid Weiner of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, who wrote "Human Rights of Christians in Palestinian Society".

Now I first learned of Justus Reid Weiner's work around 2000-2001 through David and Leah Ortiz, Messianic Jews in Ariel. David was a major source for Weiner's investigation and is cited eight or nine times in the investigation. David took Weiner into places and to sources Weiner would otherwise not have had entrance to.

Ironically, the Jewish terrorist who bombed the Ortiz home near fatally wounding the 15-year old son of David & Leah Ortiz, is in court this month where it is expected that the charges against him for the bombing of Ami Ortiz will be dropped in exchange for a confession of guilt from Jack Teitel in the murder of two Arabs.

David is like Mordechai, in the book of Esther, who revealed a plot against the king and then became the target of a plot against his own life and the life of the Israelis in exile.

You can read the story of The Terror Bombing of Israeli Messianic Teen Ami Ortiz here.

Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren writes on The Plight of Mideast Christians here.

Defending Jerusalem's Counsel

There is still a lot of controversy and opposition stirred over the Messianic participation at to the Christ at the Checkpoint 2012 conference in Bethlehem. I have had quite a bit of dialogue off the record with several of those Messianics who participated raising the ire of their fellow Messianic Jews and Christian Zionists friends. 


Here's one thing I can say, the leaders who participated are not oblivious to the real problems in play with the CatC. Most of those who are criticizing the Messianic participation do so from a perspective of the participation being an endorsement of the radical views held by CatC speakers.  But instead of endorsing those views, the Messianic and Christian Zionists who participated, some as speakers and some as attendees, went to confront the biblical evidence of Israel's election and endeavor to moderate views through dialogue. 


Not one of those I have had exchanges with have shown the least bit of waffling on Israel's key role in what God's continuously unfolding plan is.  That seems to be the main beef from the rest of our community, wondering how in the world can these men sit down to dialogue with people who have proposed the most radical anti-Israel views for years without it meaning the Messianics had been suckered into a compromised position? 


Look, any time I see some Christian who is posing with some Palestinian terrorist or terrorist endorsing figure, big smiles plastered on their faces, embracing - it does the same thing to me that is does to you: I cringe at yet a another naive 'peacemaker' who has been suckered by taqqiyah. 


This is NOT what is going on with these Israeli Messianic leaders who went to CatC - some of whom are apostolic level leaders, others at the very least are seasoned elders in the Body of Messiah with deep roots living in Israel, fighting the good fight and working in reconciliation AND defense of Israel. They have not gone soft on Israel's role in our days for the sake of a false peace/reconciliation with those who dismiss the election of Israel as valid to our faith today. 


In my years learning the ways of God I have seen one thing often. That God requires that those who are following His Son are the ones who have to step up going the extra mile. Whether the ones we are sent to hear or whether they forbear, our effort to bring some back to the will of God is not exhausted until we go and speak to them, as Moses stood before Pharaoh or Jonah stood before Nineveh. Until we have completed our charge to speak to them eye-to-eye, God does not rise to overturn the ungodly intention. 


Instead of coming against the efforts of these Israeli Messianic and Christian leaders to engage the anti-Israeli opposition in talks, allowing them time to make headway among those that will hear, it would be nice if we would pray for their words to penetrate and that unhealed hearts would be softened. 


When Moses stood before Pharaoh, the scripture says that Pharaoh's heart was hardened. But when Jonah stood before Nineveh - a people who could not tell right from wrong - his words turned them to repent. Until this group of leaders is able to complete their mission we will not know if they have been able to impact Christian Palestinianism. 


One thing is for certain, if we continue to raise opposition to their mission, we face the distinct possibility that we are fighting what God is doing. Some of us need to take that into consideration.




A post script: For many years I have voiced my expectation that it would be from within the Israeli Messianic leadership that many of the most perplexing issues of the Messianic movement would begin to be brought to resolution and leading by example would becomd the model for the entire Messianic movement.  The issue of reconciliation of the Body between Christian Arabs and Messianic Jews is one of those problem areas that I saw godly movement in and frankly, I can see no other location on earth where this reconciliation can spring from.  Like in the first century where the apostolic Jerusalem Council was looked to as a authoritative voice of God's will, my expectation is that that there would rise up from the ranks of the Israeli Body, those with able to lead in some of the most serious issues facing us in the Messianic movement and the Church.  Don't look now, but this may be the beginning of the rise of the Jerusalem Council.  God raises up whom He will from those who are willing to go at His instruction where others fear to tread.

Brief Response to “Christ at the Checkpoint” from Messianic participants

Brief Response to “Christ at the Checkpoint”
from Messianic participants Richard Harvey, Wayne Hilsden, Dan Juster, David Loden, Lisa Loden and Evan Thomas  Issued Monday, 12 March 2012

As Messianic Jews and supporters of Israel who attended the “Christ at the Checkpoint” conference we were warmly welcomed. We participated in a personal capacity, clearly stating we did not claim to represent any other individuals, groups or organisations.

We gave presentations on God’s continuing purposes for the Jewish people and the land of Israel, assured by His covenant promises to our forefathers; the need for reconciliation to develop a deeper fellowship and partnership in the Gospel with our Arab brothers and sisters; and the building of a Messianic Jewish theology and practice of reconciliation and peace-making.

The aims of the conference organisers were clearly stated on their website, which were to

• Empower and encourage the Palestinian church.

• Expose the realities of the injustices in the Palestinian Territories and create awareness of the obstacles to reconciliation and peace.

• Create a platform for serious engagement with Christian Zionism and an open forum for ongoing dialogue between all positions within the Evangelical theological spectrum.

• Motivate participants to become advocates for the reconciliation work of the church in Palestine/Israel and its ramifications for the Middle East and the world.

Also on the agenda was promotion of non-violent resistance to the administration of Gaza and the West Bank, and the development of Palestinian Evangelical Christian theologies.

However, at no point was it assumed that we were in agreement with these aims, but rather it was expected that we had different views which needed to be heard. We were free to challenge in informal discussion and platform dialogue the differing theological and political understandings of the place of Israel in Scripture, the purposes of God, and present political realities. We reflected the concerns of the Messianic community as expressed in recent statements from the UMJC/IMJA/MJAA and Israeli Messianic groups, highlighting areas of both agreement and disagreement on the ongoing election of Israel (the Jewish people) and the promises of the Land.

We did not feel compromised in any way, but were able to freely express our own points of view, and were treated with respect. The conference organisers have issued a manifesto affirming their aims and positions, which was commended to the conference participants at the end of the conference. Some of us were shown this statement during the editorial process, out of respect and appreciation for our involvement, and out of acknowledgment of the bridges that were built during the conference. While a few of us offered advice on the composition of these documents, we do not in fact endorse all the points that were finally presented. Nor were we asked by the organizers to endorse them.

The impact of the conference has yet to be assessed. But those of us who took part were particularly impressed with the genuine attempts to meet with Messianic Jews and Christian supporters of Israel, and begin a dialogue. Our hopes and prayers are for continuing attempts at peaceful engagement with one another in fellowship, prayer and discussion, and for true reconciliation to be achieved through the atoning love of the Yeshua, the Messiah of Israel and Prince of Peace.

We hope and pray that our willingness to accept the invitation to participate in the conference has opened a door for us to strengthen genuine relationships with our Arab brothers and sisters. We trust that in the context of such relationships we will be able to address in greater depth the serious issues that concern the messianic body, both of a theological nature and existential threats and attacks against the nation of Israel.

Ephesians 4:1-4. I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling.

Romans 12:18-20. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.  Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”

This brief response summarises our positive engagement with the conference and its organisers. More detailed personal responses are available from the individuals named below.

Richard Harvey
Wayne Hilsden
Dan Juster
David Loden
Lisa Loden
Evan Thomas

Monday, 12 March 2012