'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 May 20 1998. Known as the 'anti-mission' bill, the legislation has caused considerable controversy, especially within the Israeli Messianic community.
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 quite specifically anti-Christian in that it makes reference to the creation of a new entity 'united under the shadow of the cross'.
Draconian implications
According to Herbert Kerrigan QC, 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 bookshops in Israel would also be seriously hampered, as would any educational programme which enabled anyone 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 at risk of arrest, imprisonment and expulsion. Visas might even be withheld in circumstances where an apprehension - real or supposed - existed about the intentions of the Christian in Israel.
Democracy and real politik
Ironically, Israel's 1948 Declaration of Independence claimed: 'The State of Israel . . . 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 is 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. 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. 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 readings.'
Death knell of freedom
Netanyahu has made it known that he wants the wording of Pinchasi's legislation changed before the final vote whenever that may be. Liberman claims: 'This may be a favourable 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.
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 of the continued right of Christians to share their faith in Israel. Write a polite letter to The Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 3 Kaplan Street, PO Box 187, Kiryat Ben-Gurion, Jerusalem 91919, Israel. The fax number from the UK is: 00 972 2 651 2631 (the 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 4QB, 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 UCCI has asked the Messianic Action Committee to deal with information on the anti-freedom legislation. Their address is PO Box 75, Rishon LeTsion 75100, Israel, fax: 00 972 3 966 1898, e-mail 100320.1324@compuserve.com.
Stephen R. Sizer
Home
Archives
Subscriptions
Adverts
Find a church
About us
Contact us
Site Map
Printable