In recent months, missionary groups have begun preying on families left homeless by Iranian missile strikes with leaflets and false promises. Exploiting emotional and financial distress, they seek to lure victims at their weakest moments.

In response to an alarming surge in missionary activity in recent weeks, Yad L’Achim has launched a PR offensive, focusing on raising awareness in areas where cults are particularly active.

Yad L’Achim points to a dangerous escalation in missionary operations in residential areas and crowded places across the country. The organization is deploying its activists in trouble spots to warn residents of the missionary threat in their midst.

As in the past, the cults do not hesitate to directly appeal to the Torah-observant public. They prey on the gullible, posting phone numbers on their seemingly innocent leaflets and urging Jews to call. The path between that first phone call and disastrous results can be frighteningly short.

Yad L’Achim recently distributed a special flyer warning local residents that missionaries were stuffing their mailboxes with leaflets preaching the “gospel,” and urging them not to bring the spiritually dangerous material into their homes. Residents were also asked to report any suspicious activity to Yad L’Achim.

A missionary stand in the heart of Tel Aviv was taken down a few days ago thanks to the efforts of Yad L’Achim activists who arrived on the scene in large numbers and made passersby aware of the sinister intentions of the “friendly” faces manning the stand. The missionaries packed up and left when they saw that their plans had been foiled.

A similar stand put up by the notorious cult J’s Witnesses in Rehovot was removed in exactly the same way. Here too, the missionaries offered their dangerous wares for free to unsuspecting passersby. And here too, early identification and quick action by Yad L’Achim resulted in the stand being dismantled and succeeded in preventing countless Jews from being led astray.

Yad L’Achim notes that it continues to monitor the cults and their infuriating attempts to reach out to families rendered homeless by Iranian missiles in the recent war against the regime in Tehran.

“Taking advantage of people’s financial or emotional distress has always been a part of the modus operandi of the missionaries,” says Rabbi Shmuel Lifschitz, one of the leaders of Yad L’Achim. “Armed with practically limitless funding from abroad, the cults target those suffering from any kind of hardship, showering them with warmth and empathy and promising them peace of mind.

“In the case of those left homeless by missile attacks, they didn’t even bother to hide their cynical and criminal exploitation. In publications to their donors, they boasted that they had visited the hotels to which these victims were sent, providing them with essential supplies and sharing the ‘gospel’ with them. In order to counter this obscene activity, we have taken numerous steps, including directly appealing to mayors not to cooperate with these dangerous elements.”

Calling on the public to remain on high alert and report suspicious missionary activity, Rabbi Lifschitz concludes: “These days we are witnessing a dangerous surge in missionary activity and doing everything in our power to stop it. Our people are deployed in the field to thwart any such action, using all the legitimate tools we’ve developed over more than half a century of battling the cults.”