Some 70 missionaries from Canada, the United States and Britain landed in Israel early last week and began going house to house in many cities, including Beit Shemesh, Rishon LeZion, Tel Aviv, Kiryat Malachi, Rechovot, Bnei Ayyish, Petach Tikva, Kfar Sava, Bat Yam, Gedera and Karmiel.
The missionaries, belonging to J’s Witnesses, set out in teams and then split up at street corners into pairs, with one being a local, who speaks Hebrew, and the other being a missionary from abroad.
Yad L’Achim’s hotline has been inundated with calls from citizens in these cities complaining about missionaries trying to enter their homes and start up a conversation with them. In response, the organization dispatched its own teams of staffers and volunteers who spread out across the country, reaching every one of the centers manned by missionaries.
Yad L’Achim activists warned innocent passersby of the dangerous cult that was operating deceitfully in their midst and alerted them as to their devious intentions.
“In all cases, we prevented the continued criminal missionary activity and caused the missionaries to retreat,” one Yad L’Achim official said. “But we still need the public’s help; we ask people to keep their eyes open and call us when they spot any suspected missionary activity.”
The missionary campaign is ongoing and is expected to continue through the end of the coming week. Yad L’Achim’s countermissionary department calls on the public to phone the organization’s Israeli hotline with reports of missionary activity, at any hour of the day or night, at 1-800-620-640.
