A determined media campaign launched by Yad L'Achim against missionaries operating in Ashdod, in violation of Health Ministry coronavirus regulations, has borne fruit: Police last week ordered the church closed until further notice.
The story began five weeks ago, when Yad L'Achim received reports that the missionary church "Kehillat Beit Hillel," a branch of the "Messianic Jews" cult, was holding Christian ceremonies in a closed area in the city's industrial zone. The ceremonies violated regulations barring gatherings of more than two people, due to the coronavirus pandemic; the services were also broadcast to hundreds of people in Ashdod and surrounding areas.
Yad L'Achim activists called the police on six separate occasions as the ceremonies were being held, warning them in real time of the forbidden activities. Only once did the police actually arrive at the site to investigate, but they failed to take action.
In response, Yad L'Achim's counter-missionary department took their complaint to Ashdod Deputy Mayor Rabbi Yechiel Weingarten, who works tirelessly on behalf of the residents of the city, and asking him to put pressure on the responsible parties.
Thanks to his intervention, dozens of police descended on the church last Thursday during the missionaries' weekly meeting and discovered a crowd of 15, in violation of public health regulations. The police ordered them to disperse and warned participants and the missionary who operates the church that if another such meeting was held they would be heavily fined. The very next day, the missionaries issued an announcement that the church was being shuttered until further notice.
Yad L'Achim officials thanked Rabbi Weingarten and stressed that "without his quick intervention, the place would have continued to operate undisturbed, even as it represented a potential center for the spread of the coronavirus that could harm the law-abiding residents of Ashdod."