“This family is deceptive, dangerous, and very determined to establish themselves in Israel,” director of anti-missionary NGO writes to Interior Minister.
By Adina Katz, World Israel News
A family of missionaries who have been previously exposed for pretending to be religious Jews and infiltrating ultra-Orthodox communities in the hopes of converting them to Christianity is currently living in Jerusalem and attempting to fraudulently obtain Israeli citizenship, a watchdog group warned.
The anti-missionary Beyneynu organization raised the alarm about the Dawson family, which fabricated Jewish roots to ingratiate themselves within religious Jewish communities throughout multiple states in the U.S.
Over the last 12 years, the Dawsons, who changed their name to Isaacson presumably to sound more Jewish, have repeatedly presented themselves as observant Jews.
TMichael and Calev Dawson, a father and son, have even falsely claimed they are rabbis. They conducted conversions, wedding ceremonies, and other Jewish lifecycle events that are now considered invalid under Jewish law.
According to Beynenyu, after Jewish communities in the U.S. became aware of the Dawsons’ true identity, the family fled to Israel.
Beyneynu’s director, Shannon Nuszen, told World Israel News that “overzealous missionaries are relentlessly targeting our communities at a level Israel has never seen before.”
She added that “until a half century ago, it was understood that if a Jew believed in Jesus, he was abandoning his entire Jewish identity. The church has completely changed this old, failed strategy. They dramatically revamped their methods,” and missionaries like the Dawsons embody the new, covert approach towards attempting to convert Jews.
Nuszen recently penned an open letter to Interior Minister Michael Malchieli, calling upon the lawmaker to ensure that the family will be prevented from continuing their fraud in a country where few people are aware of their agenda.
“It is urgent that the Ministry of Interior act immediately to block these individuals from obtaining any visa that would allow them to continue the damage they are inflicting on Jewish communities with their insidious agenda,” Nuszen wrote.
“It saddens us to report this. However, we know from first-hand accounts from Jewish communities and rabbis in the U.S. that this family is deceptive, dangerous, and very determined to establish themselves in Israel.”