Yad L’Achim Campaign Leads to Shutdown of Ashdod Missionary Church

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A determined media campaign launched by Yad L’Achim against missionaries operating in Ashdod, in violation of Health Ministry coronavirus regulations, has borne fruit: Police last week ordered the church closed until further notice.

The story began five weeks ago, when Yad L’Achim received reports that the missionary church “Kehillat Beit Hillel,” a branch of the “Messianic Jews” cult, was holding Christian ceremonies in the city’s industrial one. The ceremonies violated regulations barring gatherings of more than two people, due to the coronavirus pandemic, at a time when authorities were forbidding the holding of minyanim, in any form.

When the number of people allowed to congregate rose to 19, the missionary church was again in violation of the law, since it held its service in a closed space and did not insist that participants maintain a distance of two meters from one another. Adding insult to injury, the missionaries broadcast the ceremony to hundreds of people in Ashdod and surrounding areas.

Yad L’Achim activists called the police on six separate occasions as the ceremonies were being held, warning them in real time of the forbidden activities. Only once, did the police actually arrive at the site to investigate, however they failed to take action and the activities continued.

In response, Yad L’Achim’s counter-missionary department took their complaint to higher ups, turning to Ashdod Deputy Mayor Rabbi Yechiel Weingarten, who works tirelessly on behalf of the residents of the city, and asking him to put pressure on the responsible parties.

Thanks to his intervention, dozens of police descended on the church last Thursday during the missionaries’ weekly meeting and discovered a crowd of 15, in violation of regulations. The police ordered them to disperse on the spot and warned participants and the missionary who operates the church that if another such meeting was held they would be heavily fined. The very next day, the missionaries issued an announcement that the church was being shuttered until further notice.

Yad L’Achim officials thanked Rabbi Weingarten and stressed that “without his quick intervention, the place would have continued to operate undisturbed, even as it represented a potential center for the spread of the coronavirus that could harm the law-abiding residents of Ashdod.”

His quick action led to the closure of the missionary church. Rabbi Yechiel Weingarten, deputy mayor of Ashdod