Israeli congressmen rip up Bible, call messianic Jews “heretics,” Bibles should be burned
Zionist members of the Israeli National Union party are incensed that a messianic Jewish organization sent copies of the Bible to every member of the Israeli Knesset.
The Jerusalem Post (JP) reports,
MK Nissim Ze’ev (Shas) said the New Testaments sent to the Knesset were written by “heretics” – meaning messianic Jews – and as such must be burned. He added that a Torah written by a female Reform Rabbi should also be incinerated.
Another member displayed his anger:
On Tuesday, [MK Michael] Ben-Ari tore up a copy of the “Book of Testaments,” combining the Tanach and New Testament in one volume, sent to all 120 MKs by The Bible Society in Israel, a messianic Judaism institution for research, publication and dissemination of holy books.
Rivlin rejected Ben-Ari’s request to respond in the plenum on Wednesday, telling him to “stop giving the Knesset a bad name.”
“Millions of Jews were murdered in the name of the New Testament, this revolting book brought massacres of Jews in the [Spanish] Inquisition and throughout history,” Ben-Ari said.
According to the National Union MK, the Bible Society wanted to “step on the corpses of the millions of martyrs that were murdered because of their Judaism.”
Ben-Ari said he has no doubt his reaction was appropriate and called for all other MKs to throw the New Testament in the trash.
A separate report by the JP relates,
The Knesset’s lone Christian parliamentarian, Hanna Sweid of the Hadash Party, told The Jerusalem Post, “This is hooliganism, bullying and an apocalyptic act of hatred that was baseless and unnecessary.”