On Saturday afternoon, three missionaries handed out materials to children in a packed Ashdod park - illegally.
Wearing dark sunglasses, three missionaries were spotted in the city's "Pirates" park, attempting to lure children and their parents into accepting booklets titled "Wake up" and containing missionary material encouraging conversion and the adoption of Christian values regarding education and children.
Residents who noticed the missionaries warned passersby, but Yad L'achim sources say this is not the first time that missionaries grossly violate the law banning missionary activities targeting children.
"They take advantage of the fact that our activists observe the Sabbath, and they try to conduct their activities during the holy day, thinking that they won't be found out," Yad L'achim said. "We were happy to discover the high level of awareness among local residents, who were shocked and expressed disgust at the deviant actions. We call on the police and law enforcement authorities to handle our complaint seriously and act harshly against the law-violating missionaries."
Even residents who are not religious turned to Yad L'achim and expressed their revulsion at the incident. One of them, who is not observant, wrote to Yad L'achim on Saturday night: "This is our call for help. No one is interested in allowing this material into his home, and certainly these ideas are spread here, specifically. I was shocked leafing through these booklets and seeing verses from the Bible warped and given different interpretations. We're in a Jewish country and we want it to stay that way."