The only Messianic Jewish church in Israel’s southern town of Kiryat Gat was burned down by unidentified assailants in early January.
The Kiryat Gat congregation is under the auspices of Beit Hallel Messianic Congregation in the nearby coastal city of Ashdod. Pastor Israel Pochtar of Beit Hallel posted the following message regarding the apparent arson attack: “A few weeks ago our congregation in Kiryat Gat was burned down. It is the only congregation in the city, has a big vision for the future, involved in helping many people. Evidently, our influence in the city has been a cause of ‘concern’ to some and they decided to stop our work by setting the building on
fire.”
It happened one night after a service when someone threw a Molotov cocktail, a gasoline bomb, through a window and caught the church on fire, Pochtar wrote.
No one has claimed responsibility for the arson attack, but “it was obvious that it was an attack of a religious nature against us,” he wrote.
“This was the only gathering place for our Kiryat Gat congregation that now is left without a place to meet and worship. The damage is not only to the building itself, all the music equipment inside was also destroyed.”
(Israel Today)
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