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Israel's anti-proselytizing bill draws criticism from evangelical allies
Israel's anti-proselytizing bill draws criticism from evangelical allies
Jerusalem 23 Mar 2023
Evangelical Christian groups have supported the Zionist cause in various capacities for decades, and have close relationships with Israeli institutions.
Evangelical Christian groups have supported the Zionist cause in various capacities for decades, and have close relationships with Israeli institutions.
The coalition received backlash earlier this week after MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism) put forward a bill in Knesset to criminalize religious proselytizing.
The first part of the bill states that those in socioeconomically disadvantaged situations are often targeted by Christian missionaries with promises of money or material goods. It, therefore, recommends that persuading someone to convert using such persuasion tactics should be outlawed.
The bill goes on to propose that even direct evangelizing, without the promise of material reward, should be outlawed and punishable by up to one year in prison. Finally, it suggests that the punishment for attempting to convert minors be increased from six months to two years in prison.
Samuel Brownback, former United States Ambassador At Large for International Religious Freedom, wrote on Twitter on Monday: "Free and democratic countries simply do not outlaw the free exchange of ideas and that includes religious beliefs and convictions." In the same tweet, he shared an article from All Israel News, a Christian Zionist media outlet.
The editor-in-chief of All Israel News, Israeli-American Evangelical Christian Joel C. Rosenberg also spoke out against the bill. He also praised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the coalition leader released a statement on Wednesday saying that the Knesset "will not advance any law against the Christian community."
MK Moshe Gafni's office addressed the issue publicly on Wednesday, explaining that the bill had been tabled and was not progressing, so there was no need for concern over religious freedom.
"The bill was [brought up] with the current Knesset more than four months ago, and there is no plan for it to move forward," the statement read. "Dealing with it now is irrelevant."
Evangelical Christian groups have supported the Zionist cause in various capacities for decades, and several of them have close relationships with Israeli institutions like KKL-JNF and members of the Israeli government itself.
The leader of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ), Dr. Juergen Buehler, cautioned Netanyahu back in December 2022 that Evangelical Christians are “a little bit concerned about some of the coalition partners that are coming into the government,” who have made negative statements about Christians in the past.
“We hope that Mr. Netanyahu is using his full influence so that this coming legislative period will not be about building new contentions or building new walls, but a time where Jewish-Christian partnerships and relationships will grow from strength to strength,” Buehler said in a speech at the Christian Media Summit, hosted by the Government Press Office.
Buehler’s surprising rebuke was referring to past actions of Itamar Ben-Gvir, now Israel's National Security Minister, who defended Bentzi Gopstein, the head of the radical anti-assimilation group Lehava after he led violent protests against Christian and Messianic events and also once said that Israel should expel all of its Christian citizens.
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