Hello to all,

Polly and the kids were not at home during the demonstration, all is well with them.

How the police functioned

The Arad police surprised us, and apparently did a good job in keeping many demonstrators away, thank God. According to the CBN camera man that was filming the demonstration, there were no more than 150 demonstrators!

The chief Rabbis did complain about this. They said that many more wanted to come, but were prevented, which goes to show their intensions...

They also complained at the fact that in other demonstrations they would have loud speakers, but in this one it wasn't aloud. 

There is a new head of police in Arad. Apparently, a new broom sweeps well... The CBN camera man said the head of police gave strict orders on how things should proceed. The police, ahead of time, put road blocks 150 meters away from Polly's house, to stop more from coming. In Hebrew we say 'Sof Sof', which means: 'finally'…

The content

According to the CBN camera man who was present through out the demonstration:

 What came out of the mouths of the Rabbis was unbelievable, and we, the believers in Arad, stand against it in the name of Yeshua. On one hand, they were all singing very fervently how they love the 'Kadosh Baruch Hoo' (The holy and blessed one), and on the other, they cursed and cursed. One of their favorite curses: 'May their wives be widows and their children orphans'.

Alex Artovsky of the Yad L'Achim said there is no such thing as 'Messianic Jews', but they are like vegetarians eating meat. (And that is the reason they've been harassing us?...). He also added he has nothing against Christians, but he doesn’t accept 'Messianic Jews'. Christians should have their own place, and Jews should be left to stay Jews.

In a report on a religious web site this evening, 26^th November, it is said that hundreds of the residents of Arad took part in the demonstration against a missionary. We know there were about 70-80 Gur Hasidim, including women, and the rest (up to 80) were Yad L'Achim and other religious people.

The reaction of the Neighbours

One of the neighbours, son to holocaust survivors, boldly came out and called them a shame to the people of Israel.

On the whole, the neighbours did not like it and did not want them to be there.

Media

On an interview to "Kol Hadarom' this evening, Debbie was asked if it is true that we are trying to 'recruit' more people to our faith, (trying to say behind the words that if we actually did do missionary activity, then we deserve what is happening to us). In reply, Debbie answered that if she were to shout out her window with a loud speaker every day that Yeshua is the Messiah, that wouldn't give them the legal right to harass as they have until now. For secular Jews this issue is very important: in a meeting with the new mayor of Arad about the situation here, Yoyakim was asked weather or not he tries to tell people about Jesus. Yoyakim answered that it would be against our faith not to. The conversation ended right there and then.

Tomorrow, 27^th of November 2007, there will be a live interview with one of us on 'Kol Hadarom', between 08:00 to 09:30 am. In our area it would be 98.5 FM or live broadcast at   http://www.dromi.co.il/radio/cat.asp?catId=64

Thank you for all your prayers, love and concern.

Debbie and Yoyakim Figueras.

My comments: (Eddie)

Polly is a widow with 9 kids (3 of which have served in the IDF… Israel Defense Force). We notified her of the so called ‘demonstration’ scheduled to be held outside her house from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. She thought about it, prayed about it, and decided to pack the kids up and leave home.

These so called ‘demonstrations’ are usually accompanied by the use of loud speakers, over which they bellow out all kinds of slander, insults, and shouting “leave Israel”. They joke and laugh about Polly being a widow and the kids being fatherless. They call her bitch, Nazi, whore, etc. etc. etc. All this is done under the watchful eyes of the law. And this is what they call a demonstration!

What if this was being done to a Jewish family in a town anywhere in the world? A mob outside their house, calling them nasty names, and shouting “Get out of here!” “Go back to Israel”

Is Israel a democracy? I wonder!

And all this has gone way pass being just harassment! These are ‘hate crime’ and acts of terrorism going unchecked! When they cut all our tires, year after year, it’s no longer vandalism (child play) it’s sabotage and hate crimes. To me, vandalism is when some kids indiscriminately cut everyone’s tires on a random street. But, these are crimes only against Christians and Messianic Jews.

Deliberately starting a California forest fire is not just vandalism or a misdemeanor… nor is what’s going on here!

Eddie Beckford