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Last update - 18:04 20/05/2008
Orthodox Jewish youths burn New Testaments in Or Yehuda
By The Associated Press
Tags: Jews For Jesus, Israel 

Orthodox Jews set fire to hundreds of copies of the New Testament in the latest act of violence against Christian missionaries in the Holy Land.

Or Yehuda Deputy Mayor Uzi Aharon said missionaries recently entered a
neighborhood in the predominantly religious town of 34,000 in central Israel, distributing hundreds of New Testaments and missionary material.
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After receiving complaints, Aharon said, he got into a loudspeaker car last Thursday and drove through the neighborhood, urging people to turn over the material to Jewish religious students who went door to door to collect it.

"The books were dumped into a pile and set afire in a lot near a synagogue," he said.

The newspaper Maariv reported Tuesday that hundreds of yeshiva students took part in the book-burning. But Aharon told The Associated Press that only a few students were present, and that he was not there when the books were torched.

"Not all of the New Testaments that were collected were burned, but hundreds were," he said.

He said he regretted the burning of the books, but called it a commandment to burn materials that urge Jews to convert.

"I certainly don't denounce the burning of the booklets, he said. I denounce those who distributed the booklets."

Jews worship from the Old Testament, including the Five Books of Moses and the writings of the ancient prophets. Christians revere the Old Testament as well as the New Testament, which contains the ministry of Jesus.

Calev Myers, an attorney who represents Messianic Jews, or Jews who accept Jesus as their savior, demanded in an interview with Army Radio that all those involved be put on trial. He estimated there were 10,000 Messianic Jews, who are also known as Jews for Jesus, in Israel.

Police had no immediate comment.

Israeli authorities and Orthodox Jews frown on missionary activity aimed at Jews, though in most cases it is not illegal. Still, the concept of a Jew burning books is abhorrent to many in Israel because of the association with Nazis torching piles of Jewish books during the Holocaust of World War II.

Earlier this year, the teenage son of a prominent Christian missionary was seriously wounded when a package bomb delivered to the family's West Bank home went off in his hands.

Last year, arsonists burst into a Jerusalem church used by Messianic Jews and set the building on fire, raising suspicions that Jewish extremists were behind the attack. No one claimed responsibility, but the same church was burned down 25 years ago by ultra-Orthodox Jewish extremists.

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      1.   book burning 18:00  |  thomas langhorne 20/05/08
      2.   immagine if... 18:11  |  dove vuoi 20/05/08
      3.   Shoulda just shredded them 18:15  |  Steve G 20/05/08
      4.   Haredim are not Jews 18:27  |  Nathaniel 20/05/08
      5.   New Testament burning in Or Yehuda 18:27  |  Peter 20/05/08
      6.   to Thomas 18:29  |  harry 20/05/08
      7.   The same people who beg Christian nations to side with them 18:32  |  Christian 20/05/08
      8.   Steve G - Is Israel a free society? 18:34  |  American 20/05/08
      9.   Can you imagine the outcry... 18:35  |  Jacob 20/05/08
      10.   Light of the world 18:37  |  KD 20/05/08
      11.   Burning books is short-sighted 18:37  |  Carl 20/05/08
      12.   I`m not suporting Israel anymore! 18:38  |  Dave 20/05/08
      13.   What Happened to "Turn the other cheek"? 18:41  |  Ben S 20/05/08
      14.   and one more thing 18:50  |  Steve G 20/05/08
      15.   Peter - Great post Peter of Tel Aviv 18:53  |  Catholic American 20/05/08
      16.   The Pope`s call 18:55  |  Peter 20/05/08
      17.   #6, Harry. Not missionary, no.. 18:56  |  James Rassouk 20/05/08
      18.   Was it wrong when the Nazis did it? 18:57  |  German 20/05/08
      19.   GET OUT OF ISRAEL 18:58  |  MAX COHEN 20/05/08
      20.   Searching for enemies 19:01  |  alex awad 20/05/08
      21.   What is Repugnant and Revolting 19:01  |  Yaakov Sullivan 20/05/08
      22.   harry - Surely you kid, have you read the torah? 19:05  |  Protestant 20/05/08
      23.   Haredim are blasphemers 19:08  |  Jew 20/05/08
      24.   5000 Years And Nothing Has Changed 19:09  |  Nicholas 20/05/08
      25.   To German and all complainers 19:13  |  judith 20/05/08
      26.   gracy 19:14  |  catholic 20/05/08
      27.   Nathaniel 19:18  |  Jane 20/05/08
      28.   terrible action! 19:19  |  Paul 20/05/08
      29.   To German 19:22  |  Hareidi 20/05/08
      30.   Book Burning 19:26  |  CHGODMK 20/05/08
      31.   What a joke! 19:26  |  Bertram 20/05/08
      32.   Jews Make Me Laugh 19:27  |  Nicholas 20/05/08
      33.   #23 19:32  |  Jane 20/05/08
      34.   freedom of expression 19:35  |  judith 20/05/08
      35.   "Give us money..we burn your books" 19:36  |  dan 20/05/08
      36.   To Paul 19:39  |  Jew 20/05/08
      37.   Really Jews? 19:39  |  Nicholas 20/05/08
      38.   VOICES OF THE MIDDLE AGE))))) 19:45  |  Robert 20/05/08
      39.   Hareidi - Burning of religious books is vile 19:45  |  German 20/05/08
      40.   I have had about enough of Israel 19:46  |  Christian 20/05/08
      41.   Everyone seems to overlook the impudence of the "Jews for Jesus" 19:46  |  common sense 20/05/08
      42.   Books or booklets..Or Bibles...What was burnt.? 19:48  |  Stephen. 20/05/08
      43.   judith - then don`t take the books 19:48  |  American 20/05/08
      44.   Jews returning back to persecuting Christians..which backfired 19:53  |  Historian of sorts 20/05/08
      45.   NO CONTRADICTION BETWEEN STUDYING NT & BEING JEWISH 19:54  |  B`Galil 20/05/08
      46.   BIG DEAL! - Heads would roll in Muslim lands 19:57  |  Cynthia Greene 20/05/08
      47.   This is just wrong -- plain wrong 19:59  |  Mike 20/05/08
      48.   orthodx jewish youth burn new testements in or yehuda 20:10  |  spiner 20/05/08
      49.   These books are the tools are Jewish destruction. 20:12  |  Shachar 20/05/08
      50.   # 1 thomas langhorne. No theyre not related,only 20:14  |  Stephen. 20/05/08
      51.   Jews Don`t Worship from The Old Testament 20:17  |  Adam 20/05/08
      52.   What a shame! 20:18  |  Jewish woman 20/05/08
      53.   Private property rights vs. the Nazi`s 20:20  |  Jacob Blues 20/05/08
      54.   German: this is to you 20:22  |  CLa 20/05/08
      55.   # 7 Christian...why get so tense 20:23  |  Lynn 20/05/08
      56.   Dear C hristian(40) 20:24  |  Cla 20/05/08
      57.   There we go, Yaacov found some soapboxes to stand on 20:24  |  Jacob Blues 20/05/08
      58.   In my synagogue . . . 20:26  |  Jackson 20/05/08
      59.   # 22 Protestant....they hate you too!! 20:27  |  Lynn 20/05/08
      60.   In my synagogue . . . 20:29  |  Jackson 20/05/08
      61.   In my synagogue . . . 20:29  |  Jackson 20/05/08
      62.   common sense - Book burning is a violent act 20:29  |  Smoker 20/05/08
      63.   In my synagogue . . . 20:29  |  Jackson 20/05/08
      64.   Book burning 20:29  |  Jay 20/05/08
      65.   # 46 cynthia 20:30  |  Axel 20/05/08
      66.   No Dan, they aren`t your books 20:30  |  Jacob Blues 20/05/08
      67.   false comparison with Muslim countries 20:31  |  Just False 20/05/08
      68.   Bertram - Sine when do you speak for all Jews? 20:34  |  Missionary 20/05/08
      69.   #1 Thomas 20:36  |  D Hirod 20/05/08
      70.   43 hey american. Then "don`t" leave the books. 20:36  |  Caring Catholic 20/05/08
      71.   They`re right 20:37  |  Deborah 20/05/08