Orthodox Jews disrupt Messianic worship service

BEERSHEBA, Israel — Orthodox Jews disrupted a Messianic congregation’s worship service in the Israeli town of Beersheba  Dec. 24. Two young women were to have been baptized at the service, but as it began, more than 300 Orthodox Jews gathered and entered the private property of the Nachalat Yeshua Messianic Congregation. Pastor Howard Bass said the Orthodox were initially welcomed, but they began to disrupt the service, overturning chairs and tables.

They struck Messianic believers in the face, back and stomach, and one received a blow near his eye. Demonstrators outside the building told one woman trying to enter that Christians were Nazis and that she deserved a bullet through her head.