Anti Missionary Law Will Ban Christian Witness in
"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
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
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
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
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
Some legal experts are optimistic claiming the bill is in clear opposition
to
Osborne observes that after a year and a half of continuous lobbying, there
is a feeling among Christians in
Here is your opportunity to prove them wrong and show solidarity with your
Christian brothers and sisters in
The United Christian Council in Israel (UCCI) is made up of most of the
reformed churches in
Author ‘unknown’