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The Messianic
Action Committee (MAC) “…in fact,
a time is coming Dear Friends, On Thursday, March 20th, the eve of the feast of Purim here in Israel, fifteen year-old Ami Ortiz eagerly opened a brightly wrapped “Purim basket” which had been left anonymously on the family’s doorstep. The transparent cellophane wrapping showed a collection of candies within, the traditional contents of such gifts given and received by families throughout Israel at the holiday. Suddenly, with a deafening blast, the pipe bomb hidden beneath the sweets exploded, throwing Ami backwards into the kitchen and perforating his young body with hundreds of metal shards, nails, and screws which had been imbedded in the bomb for maximum killing power. Critically injured, Ami’s survival of the initial explosion was already a miracle, as the main force of the blast (and shrapnel) went up, down and out away from him, wreaking devastation on the ceiling, walls and furniture of the apartment. Alone in the apartment, Ami had stayed home from school while his parents, Messianic Pastor David and Leah Ortiz, traveled to Jerusalem for the day. A friend who had just left the home after cleaning the apartment rushed back in to find Ami hanging between life and death and heard him murmur, “Yeshua, I need your help now.” Emergency medical personnel arrived quickly and initiated life saving procedures as they rushed him directly to 8 hours of surgery at the closest major hospital. A team of surgeons took turns caring for massive open wounds on his limbs and torso, serious burns from the blast, a collapsed lung (with several screws and bolts lodged within), and damage to his right eye. Only after five days of surgeries and intensive care—and the medical staff’s repeated exclamations of “it’s a miracle!”—were the doctors able to say that Ami had a good chance of survival. Just this morning (March 28th), following surgery on Ami’s right eye for the removal of more shrapnel, the Ortiz’s were informed that it looked like Ami would be able to see out of both eyes. Praise God! Nevertheless, Ami has a very long road ahead of him, including tremendous pain and significant risks due to his wounds and burns and the possibility of infection. Please pray for Ami and his family (including 5 older siblings), that the Lord would continue to work miracles of healing, and give them grace and supernatural comfort and strength. Israeli police and security services investigating this murderous attack are keeping a very tight lid on leads and potential suspects in this case, hoping to uncover the conspiratorial ring behind the one who planted the bomb. It is clear, however, that David and his wife Leah were the intended targets, their patterns of activity being well known and often observed. David has been active for many years in outreach to Palestinian Muslims throughout the West Bank region surrounding the town of Ariel when the family lives, and David pastors a home congregation of Jewish believers there, also the fruit of his ministry. He has received threats and harassment from both fundamentalist Muslims and Orthodox Jews, including slanderous claims that he is part of “the missionary cult of Messianic Jews”—an accusation which would justify murder in certain radical religious circles. Such slanders have been disseminated against many believers and congregations in the Land, and have resulted in threats, personal attacks and even violent demonstrations against Messianic congregations in Arad and Beersheba. To date, police efforts have been minimal at best in protecting the rights and safety of believers, once again because they are perceived as “missionaries” who are assumed to ‘prey upon the poor, young, and ignorant, using every underhanded trick (including bribery) in order to steal their souls from the Jewish people via conversion to Christianity.’ Unfortunately, even the public media in the country promote this prejudice and unwittingly justify the attacks with statements such as, “where there are missionaries there will be anti-missionaries” (Channel 10 television news on the evening following the attack on the Ortiz family). Internet ‘talk-backs’ responding to the few journalists who have spoken out clearly and strongly against the attack have included claims that the attempted murder was a legitimate act of self defense against a spiritual assault on the Jewish people! (See http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3522911,00.html). Please pray for those believers who are being interviewed in the media as a result of this attack and who must deal with inquiries into our faith and practices which are often intended to portray believers as some kind of secretive and suspect cult. Pray that the believers’ responses will be clear, uncompromising, and yet gracious, and that Israelis will be drawn to learn about Yeshua the Messiah as a result. As believers in the Messiah Yeshua, we have a command from our Lord to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt. 5:44). This we do, entreating the Father that He might give to those who have been blinded by the ‘god of this world’ “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Messiah” (II Cor. 4:6)—as He gave to the persecutor Saul on the Damascus road. At the same time, we take our example from Saul/Paul, who demanded that the municipal officials in Philippi, who had wrongly beaten and imprisoned him and Silas, personally and publicly release them, in order to demonstrate to all that the believers in Yeshua had done no wrong in proclaiming Him (Acts 16:35-40). Living in a democratic society, we have every right, in fact we have the responsibility, to use the law and our rights as citizens to protect ourselves from illegal abuse and thus to protect our right to proclaim Yeshua as Messiah and Savior to our people. There is good reason to believe that, if the perpetrators of this attempted murder were in fact Jewish religious extremists, there will be great pressure on the police and courts to “go easy on them” given the alleged severe “provocation” of the “missionaries.” Ultra-orthodox religious politicians, who wield considerable power and influence in Israel’s Knesset and government ministries, have been key propagators of the slanderous misrepresentations of Messianic believers in Yeshua through their bills to outlaw the free expression of Messianic faith in Israel. We would urge you to pray that justice—complete and uncompromising justice—will be done in this case; that a precedent will be clearly established rejecting totally and unequivocally any violence or incitement against believers in Yeshua simply because of their faith in Him and their obedience to His commands. In addition, we would ask each of you to contact your elected officials and to urge them to contact their Israeli counterparts or the Israeli embassy in your country and to express their concerns both over the attack on Ami Ortiz (who also holds an American passport) and also regarding the possibility of a half-hearted prosecution of the perpetrators of this hate-crime. Communication between government officials as suggested will help bolster the forces of freedom and democracy in our country and to counterbalance the influence of the anti-democratic minority who do not accept or respect equal rights for all under the laws of the State of Israel. Also consider contacting your local Israeli embassy or consulate directly by fax, phone, and/or email as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and the Ministry of Public Safety in Israel, as this also has a cumulative effect on Israeli policy makers (for a model letter and links to contact information, see end of report). It is important that your request be communicated in a spirit of genuine love and support for the people of Israel, and of deep respect and concern for the country’s democratic nature. The people of Israel generally are appalled by attacks such as these, even if the media often under-reports or reframes the issues in a negative way towards us. Many of Israel’s politicians are embarrassed and dismayed by the lack of internalized democratic values among some of Israel’s citizenry. Thank you for “standing in the gap” with us in response to this serious development in the situation of the Body of Messiah in Israel. The implications for all of us who live and serve in the Land cannot be underestimated. We urge you to keep the Messianic Action Committee in your prayers for wisdom, as we continue to monitor anti-religious freedom legislation in the Knesset, and as we consider how to deal with both latent and blatant discrimination against the believers in Israel. MESSIANIC ACTION COMMITTEE
Bank Leumi, 32 Maskit Street, Herzliya Pituach, Israel The Messianic Action Committee P. O. Box 697, Beit Shemesh
99000 Israel ____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Feel free to use the following as a model for your own letter, or to copy and paste it into a new document: Dear Israeli Ambassador/Minister, As a Christian friend of Israel, I am appalled at the recent terrorist attempt to murder the Ortiz family in Ariel during Purim. I am deeply saddened that young Ami Ortiz has to fight for his life in an intensive care unit due to this heinous hate crime against Messianic Jews in Israel. I am counting on the Israeli government to make every effort to apprehend the perpetrators of this attack and to prosecute them as you would any other terrorist (for that is what they are). Anything less will simply give a signal that believers in Yeshua/Jesus are “fair game” and that acts of persecution and terror against them are somehow tolerable. Your government’s reluctance to take decisive action against those who have attacked Messianic Jews and their congregations in Arad and Beersheba during recent years appears to have emboldened those with no respect for Israel’s democratic tradition of equal rights under the law. Inaction or compromise at this critical juncture will inevitably damage Israel’s well-deserved reputation as the only true democracy in the Middle East and could seriously undermine the strong support for Israel which Evangelical Christians around the world maintain. I pray that your government and judiciary will not let such a thing happen. Please urge your government to take whatever steps are necessary insure the safety of Messianic Jews and other believers in Jesus throughout Israel and to uphold their religious freedom and democratic rights, as promised in Israel’s Declaration of Independence. This will guarantee that Israel will truly fulfill her calling to be “a light to the nations.” I am praying for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122). Yours Truly,
Contact Information: Israeli Embassies and Consulates abroad: http://www.science.co.il/Embassy.asp MFA link: http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/Structure+and+departments Ministry of Public Security, email address:
sar@mops.gov.il
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