by Rev. William E. Currie
July 1997
In this issue:
Religious Freedom at Stake in Israel
Editor's note: The tension between religious freedom and societal law is again coming into focus in Israel through the lens of two legislative proposals. As this issue of Israel Heartbeat went to
press, the proposed "antimissionary law" had not yet been brought out of committee (where it had been sent for rewording) to be voted on by the Knesset. The proposed "conversion law" was on the
floor of the Knesset, but had not yet been passed.
The "anti-missionary law"
On February 19 a minority of the 120-member Israeli Knesset voted (21 to 7) for preliminary approval to a proposal to amend Israel's current "anti-missionary law." The present law prohibits offering financial or other material gifts to induce a Jewish person to convert to another religion. The new amendment, voted into committee for presentation to the full Knesset, reads: "Whoever possesses contrary to the law or prints or reproduces or disseminates or distributes or imports tracts or publicizes things in where there is an inducement to religious conversion is punishable by one year imprisonment. Moreover, any tract or publication in which there is inducement to religious conversion will be confiscated."
In other words, the proposed bill would ban the production, importation, distribution and possession of any literature intended to convince someone to change religion. The use of Isaiah 53 along with many other passages from the Hebrew Scriptures, as well as the New Testament, tracts and other Gospel literature, seem to fit this definition. The bill would close Bible bookstores and stop public distribution of any literature intended to introduce the recipient to the Messiah. It would delegitimize the Messianic publishing houses in Israel. And it could remove the legal standing of Messianic congregations and other ministries in the Land. For American Christians visiting Israel, the law would make it illegal to give a tract to a guide or anyone else met on a tour.
The Knesset reconvened May 19, and the proposal could be returned to the floor for a vote at any time. As the weeks pass, it appears likely that the law will be approved by the present coalition led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A survey in March by the Israeli Governmental Press Office indicated that 78 of 120 Knesset members would vote for the bill at that time. Never before in the history of Israel have the religious leaders had the power to bring such a measure to pass as they do in the Netanyahu coalition. Netanyahu has a slim majority based largely on 23 Knesset members in the religious parties who are dedicated to the passage of this amendment. For Netanyahu to try to stop the law would mean the loss of those 23 seats and the fall of his coalition.
Any coalition formed in the future will also depend on these religious parties. According to the Israel Messianic Action Committee, an advocacy group formed by Messianic Jewish leaders in Israel, the newly elected Labor Party leader, Ehud Barak, has said he would support the bill because he "will need the support of the Orthodox following the next elections" to form a governing coalition.
Unbecoming for a democracy
There is more at stake from this proposed amendment than the freedom to hand out tracts, books and Bibles in Israel. Freedom of speech is the foundation stone for any democracy if it is to exist for long. Yet this is the freedom the religious parties want to see removed from Israeli society. Israel boasts to the rest of the world that it is a democracy. The passage of this amendment could cast Israel into the same camp as other religiously totalitarian states like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Northern Sudan and Libya. The religious parties of Israel want freedom of speech removed so as to change the face of the State from a secular Jewish to a religious society in the Orthodox mold. Yet the majority of Israelis are not religious. Tension between the secular and religious has created discomfort between citizens since the formation of Israel.
According to a report from the World Evangelical Fellowship's Religious Liberty e-mail conference, "the mere proposal of such a bill seems to have already affected the general atmosphere in Israel. A young man was removed from his military unit solely because he had converted to [some form of] Christianity. Another was ticketed by an Eilat municipal inspector for distributing religious literature' as if this were an illegal activity. A judge issued an illegal search warrant, allowing the police to enter the home of a believer and confiscate religious literature. The judge's grounds: suspicion of a change of religion' a crime nowhere mentioned in Israeli statutes. Two Christian bookshops in Jerusalem received warnings that they should close down or be burnt down. An Ethiopian Messianic Jew was hounded by the police, who also confiscated his religious literature."
The Beersheba bookstore where we have worked with YES! Israel teams was threatened by two ultra-orthodox Jewish men who walked in and loudly said that as soon as the new law is passed they will be back to see the store closed and to "take the lady working there away."
The conversion law
The religious parties are also attempting to push through the Knesset a "conversion law" that will make it impossible for anyone to convert to Judaism in Israel who does not have the approval of the Orthodox Chief Rabbinate. Though the Orthodox are the minority among Jewish religious groups worldwide, they hope to gain the final authority in religious matters among Jewry.
Originally the religious parties sought conversion legislation that would also apply to Jews who undergo conversion under Reform or Conservative auspices outside of Israel. The parties retreated from that position since it would never pass the current Knesset, and would alienate Israel from the majority of Jewish people still in the Diaspora. Knesset member Abraham Ravitz of the United Torah Judaism party said on May 12, 1997, "We would like the [conversion legislation] to be more broad, but we also know what we can achieve at this point."
Even the current government, under pressure from the religious parties, would not pass this stringent
a measure, for on that same day the chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, Abraham Burg, urged Knesset members of the Labor party and the governing coalition to vote against the bill saying, "It can't be that on the one hand, almost all the members of this House will turn to the leaders of U.S. Jewry the majority of whom are Reform and Conservative with requests for economic and political support in Israel, while they simultaneously cut them off from Jewish people and Israeli society."
Jewish leaders in the U.S. have already gone on record saying the passage of the conversion law would hurt their fund raising efforts on behalf of Israel. The May 8, 1997 Chicago Tribune reported that San Francisco's Jewish community had cut its support for traditional Jewish charities by $1 million, citing concerns over the pending conversion legislation. Their decision is being copied by Jewish communities in other large U.S. cities. Two weeks later the Tribune reported that the United Jewish Appeal, known as the "pillar of American Jewish fundraising," had joined with the Reform and Conservative movements to raise an extra $20 million a year to "promote religious pluralism in Israel."
The conversion law would also have a devastating effect on relations between secular and religious Jews in Israel. A minority of 23 Knesset seats held by the religious parties holds a key to the future unity of Israel.
Trying to close the door
Immigrants to Israel are among those most affected by both pieces of legislation. The majority come to Israel as secular Jews without religious training and/or with spouses who are not Jewish by birth. They need to confirm their Jewishness to be considered fully accepted in a Jewish nation, and to be guaranteed they will be buried in the same Jewish cemetery at death. About 400 new immigrants annually seek Orthodox conversion to Judaism, but thousands seek conversion through other branches of Judaism, such as the Reform or Conservative movements.
It is among these immigrants that Messianic Jews have had such an appeal and witnessed such a large response in accepting the Messiah as Savior. The immigrants see Messiah's love through the interest and help given them by Messianic Jews. The religious leaders in Knesset feel that the proposed "antimissionary law" would halt this growth in what they claim is cultic Messianic congregations. They want to guarantee there will be no evangelistic outreach to the immigrants or to any other Israelis at the cost of religious freedom to all within Israel.
Encouraging response
What has been the reaction to the anti-missionary measure by resident Messianic Jews and Christians outside the Land? A report from the World Evangelical Fellowship's Religious Liberty e-mail conference reviews just some of the response to date: "The Israeli Foreign Ministry has been feeling the pressure of the many thousands of letters that have been sent to its Embassies around the world. In Finland, for example, reports state that 7,000 signatures to a letter of protest were sent in, and a planned interview is to take place with the Israeli Ambassador there. Thirty thousand friends of Israel are now being asked to protest by postcard to the Israeli Embassies. The governments of Norway and Denmark have raised the issue, as have members of the U.S. Congress and other influential friends of Israel. Mr. Netanyahu himself has been spoken to on the matter a number of occasions.
The Israel Messianic Action Committee reports that "thousands of churches from Tokyo and Manila to the U.S. and Europe [have] remembered us in prayer and signed letters of protest. . .to the Israeli Embassies, to Prime Minister Netanyahu and to other Israeli government officials."
The weight of world opinion must be brought to bear on Netanyahu and his government if this law is to be rejected. Urges the committee, "We ask that everything be done to encourage persons of any influence - political, economic and religious - to write to the Israeli Government. If heads of denominations, directors of Christian organizations, political leaders. . .were to send letters of protest, call to express their concern and use every opportunity to convey to the Israeli government their concern over this threat to the democratic nature of Israeli society, we would be greatly helped. Mr. Netanyahu is faced with the determination of the Orthodox parties in his coalition. We need to counter that with the kind but clear determination of Israel's friends from abroad, people with the power to influence Israel."
Will the "anti-missionary law" succeed?
If the anti-missionary proposal passes into law, will it succeed in stopping evangelism in Israel? The leaders of some Messianic assemblies assert that their congregations will be purified by losing members who are not committed believers or who are not committed to biblical principles of evangelism. The remainder are prepared to go to jail and pay the price to obey the biblical injunction to "make disciples in all the world beginning in Jerusalem." In the face of persecution the Church has always thrived. The congregations and believers in Israel will continue to evangelize and grow "til' He comes!" We at AMF International are committed to helping them in reaching out to Israelis with the gospel message that Messiah has come and died on the cross in their behalf.
Our sovereign God holds the power to either prevent this proposal from becoming law or to spread His word in spite of it. We ask that you pray with us that His will would be done as we seek to reach Israel for Him.
A Legislative Perspective
Editor's note: The following is excerpted from a report received by AMFI from a congregational leader in Israel who is also a member of the Israel Messianic Action Committee:
"There is no way to kill a bill [in the Knesset] once it has passed its preliminary reading unless (1)It's brought to a vote and rejected, or (2) The laws committee recommends canceling the bill and the Knesset plenum gives majority support. In other words, unless one of those two things happens, this law can continue to shadow us for years, always ready to be brought out for a vote should its Orthodox religious supports deem the atmosphere right to pass it. There is no time limit on bills in committee.
"Perhaps the best thing that could happen would be that the bill be voted into law and then to have the [Israeli] Supreme Court rule it illegal based on a fundamental right to freedom of religion and expression. That would grant us a decisive ruling on our rights, rather than just eliminating a specific legal proposal which could always be retabled in a slightly different form and start the process over again.
"However, there is no certainty that such a ruling would be made, and even if it were, certain anti-missionary elements would take the initial passing of the law as a declaration of open season on evangelists and congregations. Even if the court struck down the law, the vigilante spirit in certain quarters would probably see the initial passing of the law as a justification for nearly any action taken to stop the missionary' threat."
