Saturday, March 22, 1997

Israeli Knesset moves to prohibit Christian evangelization

By Mike McManus

The Israeli Knesset (Parliament) gave preliminary approval on Feb. 19 to a law that would prohibit "the possession, printing, copying, distributing, delivery, or importation of literature to induce religious conversions."

Anyone caught with material "for the purposes of proselytizing shall be liable to one year's imprisonment."

The bill, which passed by a 21-7 vote on "first reading," must be approved two more times before it becomes law. Neither the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, nor the Labor Party has taken a position on the bill. But Netanyahu's Likkud Party depends upon the religious parties to remain in power.

"If Israel is a democracy, then this bill must be rejected," says David Brickner, director of Jews for Jesus in the United States. "It would prohibit speech both in the distribution and printing of literature. Someone carrying around the New Testament could be accused of violating the law."

Sound incredible?

In Chapter 4 of Acts, Peter, a Jew, urges Jews to convert to Jesus Christ: "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

Indeed, those most threatened by the bill are "Messianic Jews," who accept Jesus as the Messiah. Brickner estimates that there are between 1,800 and 4,000 in Israel (and 50,000 to 75,000 in more than 50 congregations in the United States).

When I was in Israel 17 months ago there were seven Messianic Christian churches. They formed a Messianic Action Committee that "asked churches all over the world to join us on March 23 in a day of prayer and solidarity with us.

The proponents of the bill have acted on the assumption that Messianic Jews and Jewish and Arab Christians in Israel represent a minuscule sectarian group which the church at large disowns and whose liberties it does not seek to defend.

"They are convinced that it is possible to have the proposed bill enacted without international outrage, and that they will be able to use it to silence the small but growing number of Israeli Christians by jailing some of their leaders when they transgress the law and thus intimidating the rest," said an Internet plea.

The Israeli Embassy confirmed the bill's existence, saying it is aimed at "missionary cults" that have begun to persuade people "to convert to their religion by means of postal publications and other material which arrives without the consent" of recipients.

The State Department had no comment. Nor did the American Jewish Committee. Rabbi David Saperstein of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations replied, "There is widespread opposition in the Jewish community to efforts to proselytize people who are committed to their own faith. However abhorrent such activity may be, in most cases, it will be protected by fundamental concepts of free speech and international human rights."

Indeed, the proposed law contradicts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that Israel has signed which includes the right to "freedom of thought, conscience and religion. .., to hold opinions without interference and to seek, retrieve and impart information and ideas through any media."

Messianic Israeli Jews say the proposed law will not undermine "the determination of Israeli followers of Jesus, both Jewish and Arab, to speak well of Jesus the Messiah and to present the Gospel.

"Nevertheless, if this law is enacted, it would outlaw almost every indigenous Israeli expression of faith in Messiah - personal witness, public worship and the dissemination of information, at the pain of one year imprisonment! Already those promoting this law are attempting to demonize Messianic Jews by branding us a 'cult.' "