Two women wanted to share the gospel but instead gravely offended Jewish residents.
On Sept. 12, a video went viral on Twitter, garnering at least 13 million views on several different accounts.
The video, originally uploaded to YouTube and since-deleted Tiktok channel, shows two women in the central square of the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem’s Old City being attacked by a group of ultra-Orthodox children, with some shouting and spitting at them, while others attempted to hit them with rolled up flyers or kick them.
Coming on the heels of multiple episodes of anti-Christian violence in Israel, this appeared to be another such incident.
The story is more nuanced than that, but nuance of course isn’t readily found in the depths of the internet nowadays.
Sarah Willis, one of the women seen in the video, explained the incident from her perspective in an exclusive interview with ALL ISRAEL NEWS.
Willis, a Christian woman from England, shared that she has a love and a burden for the Jewish people and has been coming to Israel for some years now out of a desire to share her beliefs with Jews.
“My heart aches for them and I really pray for them to see Yeshua and to see his goodness and to see His love for their people. And that’s what I want.”
The story began on Sept. 10, when an account named “Ibrahim_J5” on X, formerly Twitter, shared a condensed version of the video with the description: “Zionist children attack Christian tourists. They learn from childhood to hate non-Jews.”
The video, which garnered more than 800,000 views, was posted by someone who clearly held anti-Israel beliefs, as the bio reads, “You must first remember that Israel is occupation.”
Two days later, the online controversy blew up when the video was shared by a much larger X account called “Censored Men,” and quickly garnered almost 12 million views. The video was accompanied by the description: “Christian women are spat on, kicked, whipped, verbally abused and have their dress dragged for talking about Jesus in Israel.”
Thousands of people posted comments, expressing harsh anti-Israel and antisemitic sentiments, convinced the video was showing yet another incident of anti-Christian violence, with some calling Israel a “fascist” and “apartheid” state.
Lauren Chen, who works for conservative ex-Fox news anchor Glenn Beck’s TheBlaze media company, called the incident a “hate crime.”
“It’s a fact that anti-Christian sentiment is rising in Israel,” Chen remarked in response to the video.
Jewish commentators on social media then struck back at the criticism by sharing a longer version of the video, which clearly showed the two women preaching the Christian gospel on a loudspeaker.
Well-known Jewish journalists and media personalities claimed the women were intentionally provoking the residents by proselytizing on Shabbat, while some falsely claimed that proselytization is illegal in Israel.
What a lovely country!! 😍
— Abier (@abierkhatib) September 11, 2023
Israeli children attack Christian tourists in occupied Jerusalem
Via: r/worldnewsvideo#Israel pic.twitter.com/WNFETW9XMo
Ben Shapiro, founder of the conservative media outlet Daily Wire called the children’s violent behavior “vile and inexcusable.”
Other Jewish commentators seemingly justified the children’s violent behavior as a natural reaction to the the act of Christian proselytizing on Shabbat. Some asked if the same outcry would have been raised if videos of the two women preaching in Muslim areas, which can also be found on YouTube, had gone viral.
So what happened here? Did the two missionaries intentionally provoke the Jewish residents of Jerusalem, and were they intentionally preaching to children, as has been claimed?
“No,” Willis told ALL ISRAEL NEWS. “We’re not trying to disrespect anybody. Quite the opposite. We love them.”
“The problem with us humans is our sin, and that’s why we’re separated from God and he’s the cure for that. And so that’s my passion, that’s my zeal. That’s where I come from. That’s my only motive for doing this,” Willis explained.
Willis and her friends use loudspeakers for practical reasons, not to give offense, she stressed, adding that the women preach to people of all religious backgrounds, including Catholic Christians, Muslims and Jews.
“My heart aches for them and I really pray for them to see Yeshua and to see his goodness and to see his love for their people… But, you know, I share the gospel with Muslims and Catholics.”
“I can’t force anybody to convert and I have no church, I have no agenda, I’m not trying to get people to follow me. It’s not about religion. It’s about a relationship [with God],” Willis emphasized.
Regarding the children who were seen attacking her, Willis said she forgave them.
“They don’t know what they’re doing… There’s a lot of animosity, a lot of anger, a lot of misconceptions, a lot of misunderstandings about us and what we do.”
She also confirmed that she was aware it was Shabbat, but as she only had limited time during her visits, she didn’t want to miss an opportunity to tell people about what she saw as the ultimate Good News.
However, she did not seem to be aware of how religious Jews would respond to the use of loudspeakers. She also said she did not know the video was captured right next to the Hurva synagogue (and a number of other, smaller synagogues).
Willis explained that it isn’t only religious Jews who react aggressively to her preaching, as Arabs have reacted badly as well.
“I shared the gospel in Nazareth and I had a guy try to hit me… and he threw a glass bottle at us,” she said.
Willis said she preaches in a similar manner in her home country of England and has received significant backlash there as well.
While this particular incident isn’t directly connected to recent incidents of anti-Christian violence, it does illustrate a number of things.
An Israeli Jew chased down two Christian tourists, stole their cross, threw it on the ground, threw water in their faces, and spat on them.
— Dr. Anastasia Maria Loupis (@DrLoupis) September 29, 2024
‘You’re not Israeli,’ he said.
pic.twitter.com/ocy042ymhu
It showcases the heated atmosphere in Jerusalem’s cramped Old City, where different faiths fight over every inch of public space, sometimes violently.
It also shows the hostile attitudes some Jews have toward Christian missionaries and their faith, and a deep ignorance of each other’s beliefs among some Jews and Christians.
“I just want you to know, we love the Jewish people. We really, really do,” Willis stated repeatedly.
And from this incident, we can learn that Evangelicals should be aware of Jewish cultural norms and sensitivities when they are in Israel, even when the motivation for sharing one’s belief is coming from a place of love.
