September 22, 1997

The following is excerpted from the latest newsletter of good friends who live in Israel:

Following Israel's elections in May 1996, we had written to you about the
threat posed to believers in the Land due to the new constellation of
religious and right-wing political parties forming the new government under
Prime Minister Netanyahu.  This threat has been realized in several ways
in  the fifteen months following the election.  First of all, those hostile
to  the Gospel in Israel have seen the elections as providing moral (and
tacit  legal) support for the harassment of believers, even by police.
Last  summer, a small Russian-language fellowship in the southern central
part of  the country was disrupted by police with a court-ordered search
warrant.   Bibles and other materials were confiscated and individuals were
taken for  questioning and later released.  The suspicion:  "seeking to
change others'  religion"--a "charge" which has no basis in Israeli law.  A
few months  later, Ethiopian Jewish evangelists working among their own
community in  the north of the country were temporarily arrested and again
had  evangelistic materials confiscated.

Then, in December 1996, a bill was submitted in Israel's parliament (the
Knesset) which would criminalize the production, importation, distribution,
and even possession of materials which would--in any way--seek to persuade
someone to change their religion.  This bill promoting religious
censorship  was approved (!) in a preliminary reading in February of this
year and  referred to the Law committee.  It must be referred back to the
Knesset  plenum for three more votes to become law, though these votes
could  conceivably take place in a single day.  At a meeting with one of
the  bill's co-sponsors (surprisingly, a member of  the left-center Labor
party)  revealed that their ultimate goal is nothing less than to outlaw
any  organization or activity which has evangelism as a major aspect of its
overall purpose.

In response, the Messianic Jewish community in Israel has established the
Messianic Action Committee (MAC), on which I serve with six other men.  The
MAC has broad support from the Messianic congregations in Israel to
mobilize opposition to this bill both from Israel's friends in the
Evangelical and Messianic Jewish communities abroad and among Israel's
citizens and politicians at home.  This we have been doing energetically,
both through mass information campaigns abroad using electronic mail and by
lobbying foreign governmental officials and average citizens to express
their disapproval of this anti-democratic proposal to Israeli embassies and
government leaders.  At the same time we have personally contacted every
member of Knesset, either by mail or with a visit to their offices, and
have used press releases and paid advertisements to challenge the bill in
the Israeli media.

At present, we estimate that the bill still has a majority of supporters in
the Knesset, though the support has dropped about 10% since our effort
began.  We are definitely fighting an uphill battle since the common
perception of believers in the Land--as constantly reiterated by religious
politicians supporting the bill--is of  underhanded "missionaries" who
"take advantage of the poor, weak, and uneducated of society," offering
money or other material gain in order to "snatch their souls" away from the
Jewish people.   The insignificant size and relative obscurity of the
believing community in Israel means that few average citizens have an
objective standard of comparison to evaluate such slanderous claims.  The
tendency is to view Messianic Jews as some kind of cult which probably
ought to have its activities curtailed.  Our problems are augmented by the
absence of a constitutional "Bill of Rights" in Israel and a popular view
of democracy which focuses primarily on the right to free elections.

In such situations, the primacy of prayer is reinforced again and again. 
Though we are doing all we can to righteously and graciously oppose this
legislation, divine intervention alone will turn the tide.  We cannot say
what God's intends to accomplish through this situation.  We do know that,
should the bill become law, we will continue to obey Him and proclaim the
good news of Yeshua  the Messiah to our people, come what may.  Please pray
that the Lord will give us His "wisdom from above" in every instance and
that He will make His Son known all the more as a result of this public
effort.

So, the bill is not dead, and much prayer is still needed!

Much love in Messiah,
Wes

"Whoever serves, let him do so as by the strength which God supplies; so
that in all things God may be glorified through Messiah Yeshua, to whom
belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen" (1 Peter 4:11).

See also:

AMF's original posting on this subject

Update fromWorld Evangelical Fellowship's Religious Liberty e-mail Conference

July 1997 ISRAEL HEARTBEAT: Religious Freedom at Stake in Israel

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