Messianic believers in Israel are delighted with a 15 June Israeli Supreme Court ruling stating Messianic non-profit organisation “Yachad” was being unfairly discriminated against.
In 2015 Yachad, associated with Tiferet Yeshua congregation, applied for status as a public institution. The Knesset Finance Committee, under ultra-Orthodox politician Moshe Gafni, repeatedly refused to approve their submission, deeming the Messianic entity to be “controversial.”
Most recently, in October 2020, the Committee once again rejected tax-deductible donation status to Yachad. Yachad appealed the decision.
On 15 June the the High Court of Justice, in a decision hailed by Messianic and evangelical communities as a dramatic victory for religious freedom in Israel, ruled the Committee had “overreached its authority” in labelling the Messianic non-profit’s activity controversial. As one of the three judges wrote, “the criteria of ‘controversy’ enables decisions based upon extraneous considerations, prejudice, inequality, and arbitrariness.”
Gil Afriat, pastor of Tiferet Yeshua congregation, hopes this ruling “will open the doors for many other Messianic congregations to receive these tax benefits and that it will benefit the Messianic public in Israel at large.”
Please join the Messianic believers in Israel in thanking God for this positive development and pray that “prejudice and discrimination will continue to break as truth shines forth.”
