Anti Missionary Law Will Ban Christian Witness in Israel

"Anyone who preaches with the purpose of causing another person to change his religion is liable to three years imprisonment or a fine of NIS 50,000 (£9,000)"

So reads a bill proposed by Raphael Pinchasi which received its preliminary reading in the Israeli Knesset on Wednsesday 20th May 1998. Known as the 'anti mission' bill the legislation has caused considerable controversy, especially within the Israeli Messianic Community.

This is not the first time such legislation has been proposed in Israel. In December 1977 the first Anti Mission Law was quickly passed by the Knesset. No one had any warning of this and the timing, coinciding with Christmas, appeared more than coincidental. This penal law (5737-1977) made it an offence punishable by five years imprisonment to give a practical benefit as an inducement to change religion. Due to international criticism led by Church leaders throughout the world this law has never been enforced. The most recent legislation, proposed in 1997 by Nissim Zvili, which caused such a storm at the time now looks positively friendly to Christians by comparison.

In case there were any ambiguity or doubt as to the intention, Pinchasi's Bill adds this note, "the term we have translated "preach" (meytif) is very broad. It includes persuasion, encouragement, exhortation and the calling upon one to take a certain action. In essence, the proposed bill would proscribe all forms of persuasion, be they verbal, written, recorded or broadcast." The bill is actually quite specifically anti-Christian in that it makes reference to the creation of a new entity "united under the shadow of the cross". Raphael Pinchasi, a member of the religious Shas Party, recognises that it is "a very wide sweeping law which would include all activities in which preaching or the ability may be found in the slightest degree to influence a person to change his religion."

The Implications of this Draconian Law
According to Herbert Kerrigan Q.C, since every effective Christian sermon should include persuasion, encouragement, exhortation or the call for certain action, it will generally include the opportunity to the non believer to believe. A further consequence would be that to own or give away the New Testament itself could be considered a proscribed form of persuasion. Christian book shops in Israel would also be seriously hampered as would any educational programme which enabled a person (genuine or agent provocateur) to even contemplate changing their religion. As the bill stands at present, the consequences would be even more devastating. All expatriate Christians, whether ordained clergy, lay staff and volunteers, living or working in Israel would be in risk of harassment, arrest, conviction, imprisonment. Expulsion would follow since conviction would become a barrier to any expatriate continuing to hold a visa. Visas might even be withheld in circumstances where an apprehension - real or supposed - existed about the intentions of the Christian in Israel. Searches in order to find 'evidence' could be just one form of harassment employed to intimidate and silence Christians. The use of agents provocateur attending public services could be another. The dark clouds of communist persecution against Christians in the former Soviet Union have reappeared on the horizon of Israel. With so little experience of democratic values, perhaps it was inevitable that some Russian Jewish émigrés would bring their experience of religious intolerance and persecution with them.

Israeli Democracy and Real Politik
Ironically Israel's 1948 Declaration of Independence, claimed, "The State of Israel will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles, it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace, as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex: it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations." How very different the reality 50 years on.

According to Paul Liberman of the Messianic Action Committee, the Danish Ambassador to Israel has called the Pinchasi bill "draconian". The Prime Minister of Norway, Kjell Bondevik, was informed by Netanyahu on a visit to Norway in March that the so called 'anti-mission' legislation would not pass into law. Netanyahu subsequently wrote confirming that the Government of Israel opposed the private proposal in the Knesset to outlaw missionary activity in Israel. Part of the letter states "I assure you that the Government will not support a proposal which contradicts the obligations we have under international conventions. Without such support from the Government the chances that the proposal will be adopted are practically nil" However, always the politician concerned to maintain his slender majority held together with the support of the religious fundamentalists, Netanyahu and the Israeli Cabinet voted in favour of the Pinchasi measure at the first reading. Not surprisingly Liberman has called Netanyahu's behaviour "duplicitous."

According to Sean Osborne of the Caspari Centre, there are however some significant differences between the Pinchasi Bill and that proposed by Nissim Zvili last year. "For one thing, Prime Minister Netanyahu took great pains to distance himself from the earlier bill. But this time he cannot take the same stance: Netanyahu and his cabinet members actively voted for the new, tougher bill. This represented a flagrant breach of the numerous promises which he made to Evangelical Christians during the debate over the earlier bill. But far worse, it puts the government's imprimatur on the new bill, giving it far more weight in future Knesset readings."

The Death knell of Religious Freedom in Israel?
Netanyahu has made it known that he wants the wording of Pinchasi's legislation changed before the final vote. Liberman claims, "This may be a favorable sign that he is beginning to experience the political ramifications of his support of the proposed legislation and is willing to make slight retreat. On the other hand, his offer to make modifications -- rather than rejecting the bill outright as undemocratic in any form -- points to the likelihood of his continued support of the extreme Orthodox religious parties within his coalition and their ongoing war against freedom of religious expression and practice in Israel."

Some legal experts are optimistic claiming the bill is in clear opposition to Israel's Basic Law. This means that, if passed, they would be unlikely to survive a Supreme Court challenge. Some however feel that shifting the battleground from the public to the legal arena might backfire, leaving not only expatriates but also Messianic and Palestinian Christians in Israel in the untenable position of having to choose between witnessing and obeying the law.

Osborne observes that after a year and a half of continuous lobbying, there is a feeling among Christians in Israel that supporters in other parts of the world are, "...well, frankly, bored with the issue. Christian periodicals which eagerly sought news of the first bill's progress are adopting a wait-and-see position on this one. And that means that it will be far more difficult to generate the sort of high-level international protest which the last bill enjoyed."

Here is your opportunity to prove them wrong and show solidarity with your Christian brothers and sisters in Israel and the Occupied Territories. Please write in support the continued right of Christians to share their faith in Israel. Write a polite letter to the - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 3 Kaplan Street, P.O.Box 187, Kiryat Ben-Gurion, Jerusalem 91919, Israel. The fax number is (from UK) 00 972- 2-651-2631. (His e-mail address is pm@pmo.gov.il). Alternatively you may write to the Israeli Ambassador in Britain - H.E. Dror Zeigerman, The Embassy of Israel, 2 Palace Green, London W8 4 QB where the fax number is 0171-957 9555.

The United Christian Council in Israel (UCCI) is made up of most of the reformed churches in Israel as well as Messianic Jews and others. The U.C.C.I. has asked the Messianic Action Committee to deal with information on the anti-freedom legislation. Their address is P.O.Box 75, Rishon LeTsion 75100, Israel and their fax number is (from U.K) 00-972-3-966 1898. Their e-mail address is 100320.1324@compuserve.com

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