Sponsored by the Tel Aviv Municipality: Mass conversion to Christianity at the Exhibition Center, owned by the municipality

December 16, 2024   

While the Tel Aviv Municipality banned public prayers in Tel Aviv during the last holiday month and urged the various communities to pray only in synagogues, on the other hand, the Municipality once again approved, as it does every year, the holding of a large-scale preaching event by the Christian sect "Witnesses of God." The event is scheduled to take place next Saturday - the 20th of Kislev, December 21 - at the Expo-Exhibition Gardens complex in Tel Aviv. What is more indicative of the municipality's approach is the fact that the complex where the baptism will take place is operated by Expo Tel Aviv - International Convention and Exhibition Center Ltd., a municipal company owned by the Tel Aviv municipality. The activists' organization Yad L'Achim were horrified to discover that the missionaries received permission from the municipality to hold the baptism event - and today (Monday) sent a sharp letter to the municipality, demanding that it not allow it to take place. "It is not clear to us," the letter begins, "how the Tel Aviv municipality, known for working for religious freedom and against 'religion', allows an event by this offensive Christian sect; an event that harms both the Jewish character of the city and its liberal character." The letter also details additional details about the sect's dangerousness, which raise even greater questions about the permission given by the municipality. "This is a dangerous sect that works to deny the freedom of its members. They are not allowed to donate blood or receive blood even in a life-threatening situation - we have testimonies of members who died as a result, and they are not allowed to celebrate Jewish, national holidays or birthdays. Members of the sect do not serve in the IDF or in any civilian service, and according to the sect's doctrine, the time of the Jewish people is over and they deserve all the torments of the world. It is not for nothing that its activities have been banned in dozens of countries and intelligence reports from other countries have sharply attacked it." Yad Laachim says today: "We are confident that the reasons detailed in the letter will lead the Tel Aviv municipality to use common sense and result in the cancellation of the approval given to hold the baptism - a symbolic event that confirms the beginning of the official membership of innocent citizens who fell into its net. We are confident that all residents of the city, regardless of their political views, will understand the danger involved and demand the cancellation of the event." The Yad L'Achim organization adds: "The Tel Aviv municipality stated that 'contrary to what is claimed, the municipality does not disallow events for religious reasons, except for events that seek to be held with gender separation in the public space. The event at the Expo is not a municipal event, is not municipally funded, and is not in municipal cooperation - and therefore, the municipality does not interfere with us, as long as the content does not contradict the provisions of the law,' but it ignores the fact that this is a property that it manages. "The municipality also buries its head in the sand and ignores the series of worrying arguments we raised in our letter. We regret that this is how someone who claims to be the first 'Hebrew' city behaves.".