It's true. Jehovah's Witnesses are indeed victims of harassment in Israel. I'm a Jew, and I know firsthand that this is true.
And Catholics are also the victims of harassment, as are Protestant Christians.
Muslims get harassed too.
And sometimes Ashkenazi Jews get harassed by Mizrahi Jews, and vice versa.
And then sometimes Avi Cohen's dad gets chased down the road by the mean old fat lady on his street who beats him with a broom if he gets too close to her house. One time she drew blood from a good womp to his head!
You get the picture?
It's the Middle East, it's Israel, it's a hotbed and powder keg. You go in there with a match, things are bound to go BOOM!
Mine you, I personally am for freedom of conscience for everyone, everywhere, even in Israel. A lot of Israelis feel the same. I do not appreciate proselytizing there or here because this type of religious activity is not merely "sharing some good news." It's about being taught that your religion and culture are part of the Devil's plot to blind you, and that unless you change these things about you (your religion and culture), you will die any moment now, at a time that is "just around the corner," when God shall come and destroy the rest of the inhabitants living in Israel (who, by the way, if you are a Jew are literally your flesh end blood). God will destroy them for being, well, Jewish, and erase every trace of their Jewish world.
So, guess what? In that part of the world people aren't content to merely sit at a computer and anonymously give their angered opinion about the activity and goals of the Witnesses. Again, it's the Middle East. In that culture we get in your face and take it upon ourselves to stop you.
After all, this is Israel, and it was established after the Holocaust for the main purpose of preventing something like the Holocaust from ever again destroying the Jewish people and their culture. You want to proselytize in Israel with the message of Jehovah's Witnesses that tells you to stop being Jewish, religiously and culturally? Mmm, okay.
Even the LDS church (Mormons) forbid their members from proselytizing or even discussing or distributing materials to Israelis. It is an official decree from the top down. Even in the USA, the other day when a pair of Mormon missionaries knocked on my door and, after a moment of talk realized I was Israeli, they stopped their presentation, changed track, asked a few questions about what Jews believed, then asked if I need help with anything in my home because outside of their preaching work they "also do public service, no strings attached." I said no, thanked them, and they left, never to return. That is their policy.
A Hasidic Jew once ran through marchers at a gay parade in Israel (openly gay life is quite celebrated there). He had a knife and went through crowds stabbing people. The first year he wasn't caught, but they got him the second year when he started doing the same thing.
It's Israel. Everybody gets harassed by somebody. It's never right. It has to stop, but the Witnesses are not special targets. And unless they change like the Mormons (there's a Mormon center in Jerusalem, if memory serves me right), I don't see their ministry ever being fully accepted.
