Israel's anti-conversion laws, against missionaries etc.

[Muslima]

Could someone please explain what are Israel's proselytising laws?

I hear that Messianic's get a lot of hostiility for their deceptive techniques in converting. The Evangelical branch of Chrisitianty which support Israel because they need the Jews to convert before the Messiah arrives etc. face a lot of hostility in Israel too.

Can someone explain

1. what the current law is, regarding converting Israeli's. Is proselytising by Evangelicals and Messianics allowed? I heard that they reluctantly allow it for the money that they bring in

2. how many convert to evangleism or messianic (which is a form of Christianity pretending to be jews) per annum in Israel?

3. How much hostility is there towards this activity or is it accepted? I keep hearing conflicting reports.

4. Are there any future bills or laws pending, that Israeli's would like to see?

I would appreciate some responses, preferably with facts and links.

Thank you.

[KettleWhistle]

Intrusive proselytizing is illegal. That's all.

[dayag]

Intrusive proselytizing is illegal. That's all.

Actually the anti-proselytizing law prohibits missionaries from offering material benefits as an inducement to conversion. Basically you can't bribe someone to change faiths.

People remain free to convert to other religions if they want to.

[KettleWhistle]

Like I said, most anything intrusive, e.g. house visits, standing on a street corner with a loudspeaker, handing out religious literature to people who don't want it/don't ask for it. If we could only have such laws against against commercial advertising...

[Muslima]

Kettlewhistle and Dayag thank you for replying.

Do you know who the main culprits were, that made this law necessary? I hear they were Evangelical and Messianics,

Do you have any figures on how many Messianics in Israel, how many Evangelicals, and if they try any other ways to proselytise etc. how many convert a year etc.

What is the general attitude towards them, ie. i heard they're kept at an arms lenght,

I'd like genuine factual info, as opposed to just propoganda, if possible. Can you shed some light on the contributions of charity that come in from Evangelical charities like CUFI. I heard that they prey on the needy, ie. offer them help whilst surreptitiously trying to convert them, by giving bibles etc.

Thank you .

[bararallu]

only the Scientologists are the problem really.

[Christian_Iran]

only the Scientologists are the problem really.

Jehovas witnesses are much much worse.

[Aliyah1995]

Actually, proselytizing to minors (even without financial incentive) is against the law....

[Muslima]

Actually, proselytizing to minors (even without financial incentive) is against the law....

I heard that the US came down hard on Israel because of the proselytising laws? or did the US stop Israel from introducing a total ban on proselytising?


Could anyone clarify? any statistics on who is being converted? ie. are they mainly the new immigrants out of poverty or what?

Thank you

[Womble]

Actually, proselytizing to minors (even without financial incentive) is against the law....

No it's not. The 1977 bill doesn't mention anything about minors. There were attempts to amend it and also to include a prohibition of sending unsolicited religious materials by mail. The 1977 bill itself has never been enforced, and no one has ever been convicted under it.

There does exist an informal agreement between the Israeli government and the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints under which the Mormons will not proselityze in Israel.

The most active proselityzers here are the Jehovah's witnesses and the Messianics. I've never encountered any Evangelicals going door-to-door or distributing stuff on street corners, they are usually engaged in charity and try to "proselityze by example" rather than by annoyance, which bugs me much less and is even somewhat admirable.

[Womble]

any statistics on who is being converted? ie. are they mainly the new immigrants out of poverty or what?

Thank you

The missionaries here, as everywhere, mostly target the usual vulnerable groups- the poor, the new immigrants (especially non-Jewish ones), the high school and college students and the elderly. Although the nuttier among them can on occasion go as far as distributing copies of New Testament near the Wailing Wall.

[Kenneth]

Never trust anyone who claims to know the way to heaven.

[Mediocrates]

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/123169

[Muslima]

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Ar...icle.aspx/7274
Published: 07/18/07, 10:57 AM
Christians Unite for the Conversion of the Jews
by Rabbi Tovia Singer

Convincing the Chosen People that we chose wrong.


Some of the men will be wearing yarmulkes, and the women, all modestly dressed, will be dancing in the isles to the rhythmic sound of an Israeli musical beat. Shouts of "Shabbat shalom!" will be heard as participants joyfully great each other under colorful banners filled with Hebrew words and Stars of David. If this all sounds like an upcoming Zionist
Catholic priests aren't preparing to dress up like Chasidic rabbis in order to witness to yeshiva boys.
convention, think again. And, although Jews who don't believe in Jesus are not invited, we are the subject of this entire symposium.


Are you Jewish and confused? That is what participants of the upcoming "Road to Jerusalem" conference are hoping for. Converted Jews - so called "Messianics" - and prominent Gentile Christians are gathering in Virginia this coming weekend in order to unite their efforts to evangelize the world's unsaved Jews to Christianity.


At first glance, their banner headline "Bringing Peace & Reconciliation to Jews and Gentiles in Messiah" reads ecumenical enough. But the word "messiah" in this banner only means the Christian one, others need not apply. The folks attending this gathering are seeking to unite their efforts and target Jews for conversion.


Two of the speakers at the weekend conference, which begins on July 20, call themselves "Rabbi," but as you would suspect, neither of them attended a rabbinical school and one of them isn't even Jewish. The other speakers at the conference are heavy hitters in the Christian Zionist world who are seeking to place "Messianic Jews first" in their effort to bring the Jews to the Cross.


The Messianic movement, whose churches and membership have grown exponentially over the past three decades, seeks to blur the distinctions between Judaism and Christianity. They call Jesus "Yeshua," their churches "synagogues," and their ministers "rabbis," in order to lure vulnerable Jews who would otherwise reject a straightforward Christian message. To the horror of Jewish communities worldwide, it is an effort that has been enormously successful, and the cost in terms of Jewish souls is dear.


There were not many stellar moments in Jewish-Christian relations over the past month. Last week, Pope Benedict XVI issued a directive authorizing the use of an archaic Latin prayer service that includes a prayer for the conversion of the Jews. But the Catholics aren't planning to do much more than ask Jesus for help in removing "the veil from the hearts of the Jews" and overcoming their "blindness." They are just going to talk to Jesus about it, nothing else. They're not planning any workshops on how to convert their accountants, and Catholic priests aren't preparing to dress up like Chasidic rabbis in
The practitioners of evangelism to the Jews are aggressive spiritual predators.
order to witness to yeshiva boys. The Vatican is taking a few steps back in time, but keeping it in the church.


The fundamentalist Protestants attending this week's conference, on the other hand, are doers. Their plan is to talk to Jesus in Virginia and then get out on the streets in major Jewish communities worldwide in an effort to convince the Chosen People that we chose the wrong religion.


The practitioners of evangelism to the Jews are aggressive spiritual predators who will stop at nothing to harvest Jews for the Cross. They may love our Jewish state, but they abhor our Jewish faith. And, although they consider Judaism defective, they will freely borrow from our Jewish symbols and traditions in order to set us straight on their narrow path to fundamentalist Christianity.


As Jews work with Christians in our effort to strengthen Israel, we must make it clear to our evangelical friends that our new-found relationship can only flourish on a firm foundation of genuine mutual respect and understanding. The repeated Christian proclamation, "We love the Jewish people," must include "and we respect your Jewish faith," in order for our two peoples to stand together for Zion's sake.

[Muslima]

Published: 09/21/05, 5:56 PM
Disarming and Converting Israelis
by Shelomo Alfassa
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Ar...icle.aspx/5576

Recently, the media has reported that Gush Katif activists have warned that organizations desiring to help expelled former residents of Gush Katif and northern Samaria may have an ulterior, missionary motive. Nothing could be more true.


Recently, the media has reported that Gush Katif activists have warned that organizations desiring to help expelled former residents of Gush Katif and northern Samaria may have an ulterior, missionary motive. Nothing could be more true.

The history of modern proselytizing in Eretz Israel started with a major aliyah in the early 19th century. Rabbi Yisroel of Shklov was one of the closest disciples of the Vilna Gaon. In 1810, he led a delegation of students and followers of the Gaon, together with their families, to the Holy Land. It was during this period that Christian missionaries made their first major push towards the conversion of Jews in Eretz Israel. During the period of 1809-1812 Ottoman Palestine was overrun with Christian proselytizers. Under the British mandate, itself a Christian authority, Christian missionary efforts had already assumed proportions that threatened to undermine the spiritual and religious survival of the Jewish population of the land.

As in the past, missionaries today spend substantial amounts of money establishing churches, hospitals, charities, feeding kitchens and workshops where Christian publications are given out for free or at low cost. These campaigns are well thought out, with Christian leaders relying on the ignorance of the Jews so as not to have their plans thwarted. In a successful campaign that helped those early new immigrants with food, money and social services, they succeeded in spreading their gospel. Their hidden agenda is today barely noticed, covered up in layers of what seems like intrinsic sacrifice on the behalf of Jews they just want to help.

Today, there is no longer a small campaign by a single group of missionaries to convert Jews in Israel, but a strategic and well-crafted plan, funded by billions of dollars, to make it happen. This is no exaggeration; literally billions are being spent to convert Jews across the world and specifically in Israel. There is a book written by a notorious Christian preacher and missionary in which he describes how he and his wife made aliyah several years ago. In his Messianic Jewish Manifesto, the author calls for Christians to go ahead with the attempt at aliyah. This man is a member of the Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism, the world's most aggressive Christian missionary support and management group, an organization founded by none other than Reverend Billy Graham. A highly secretive organization, based in Denmark with a wide global network, its membership includes every major Protestant and Messianic missionary group in the world. In Israel alone, its membership totals at least six agencies, six congregations and 29 individuals.

The "Thailand Report on Jewish People", developed at a meeting of the Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism, made mention of the fact that Christians need to increase their activity against the Jews, going as far as identifying Jewish targets as Ashkenazi and Sephardic. They have already converted thousands of Jews in schools and universities throughout Israel. They say that more thought should be given to the nature of the training necessary for reaching the different segments of the community: "We observe that some training is more geared to reaching Orthodox Jews, whereas secular Jews form a great majority in most communities."

American Evangelists Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell have both been involved in Christian proselytizing by radio. Robertson started broadcasting from across the Lebanese border in 1979. At one time, he wanted to put up an antenna in Samaria, which had the capability of beaming radio signals to Jerusalem, but he was challenged by local residents. Today, because of the liberalism inherent in the Israeli government, Christian evangelicals have been issued licenses to operate radio stations based out of Jerusalem. These stations have been given the right to continue their work of converting the Jews to Christianity, while Jewish radio stations that teach Torah continue to be banned or face difficulty obtaining permits.

There is not only a radio campaign, but a television one as well. It was in 1979 that Robertson's organization began broadcasting Christian programming 28 hours a week in Israel. In 1982, Hope TV station in Lebanon was donated to Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network and became Middle East Television. In 1997, Middle East Television began Christian evangelism on the AMOS-1 communication satellite over the Middle East to a potential audience of 200 million people in 15 nations, including Israel. They broadcast their idolatry over Israel's channel 24, where you can watch The Harvest Show - and it is not a vegetable they seek to harvest, it's Jews. They broadcast in Hebrew, while shows in English have Hebrew subtitles. They show programs such as the Beverly Hillbillies, Head of the Class, and The Andy Griffith Show mixed in among Pat Robertson's 700 Club, This Is Your Day, Evangelist Joyce Meyer, Dr. Lester Sumrall, Another Day of Victory and Harvest. The Jews in Israel are virtually bombarded by television shows that teach them they are incomplete unless they accept the Christian way of life and belief.

Christian evangelical groups in Israel run something called the Joseph Project. It is an organization designed to look like a humanitarian organization, but is actually a missionary based group that targets new, Russian-speaking immigrants. The Joseph Project is a division of the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America. This organization is endorsed by mainstream Christian organizations, including the Christian Coalition of America, Christian Broadcasting Network, Promise Keepers and Pat Boone, entertainer and Christian evangelist. This group was founded in February of 1996 on the principles that:
"The torch of the Messiah Yeshua's [Jesus'] love will be set on a high hill, through the testimony of both Messianic Jews and Gentile Christians together... And finally, the Messianic Jewish community will be able to demonstrate in practical and loving terms that we truly are part and parcel of our Jewish people."
In 2003, their Ship of Blessing unloaded in Israel's Ashdod Port. The cargo, $20 million worth of "humanitarian aid", was put into port warehouses, awaiting clearance for distribution. Part of the load was set to go to the Israel Defense Forces' Friends of the Soldiers Association. They said other cargo would go to "our storefronts and other aid outlets." This group has sent over 32 containers worth of materials, some 640 tons of resources. This begs the question: what was in these humanitarian packages? Who inspects these - the secular Israeli government? Most people will be surprised to hear this, but the Messianics operate a store in Jerusalem right outside the Old City on Jaffa Road, where, in a storefront display, they hawk their wares to unsuspecting Jews.

This missionary group is affiliated with Holy Land Ministries, which has a homeless shelter for women in south Tel Aviv and a shelter for homeless men in Jaffa. Joseph's Project has been granted three large storage facilities located midway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem by the Ministry of Welfare. Yes, you read that right, the Christian missionaries are providing homeless shelters for Jews, and are operating missionary book stores filled with material written to convince Jews to accept Jesus - all inside in Israel, free and clear, with no opposition. The Joseph Project is but one of the many Christian organizations in Israel that exist for the sole purpose of conversion of the Jews of Israel. The MJAA is one of the most acutely dangerous organizations in the Messianic world. Another of their projects, Operation Tikvah, targets the Ethiopian Jews, and they boast to have converted more than 700 of them already in recent years.

These proselytizers don't neglect a geographical dimension in their evangelistic plan. They strategize over areas within Israel where there is almost no Christian presence, as well as when the optimum time to operate is. And while many evangelicals are targeting Jews in Israel, some have spoken out against it. One Christian leader, named Pastor Kenneth Rawson, has made an ominous statement that should be required reading by every Jew in Israel:
The Biblical interpretation of most Evangelical Zionists demands a Christian Israel before Jesus can return. In fact, they believe two-thirds of the Israelis will be killed and damned eternally while only one-third will convert and escape damnation. This is well-publicized in the Evangelical bestseller book series Left Behind.... They are pressing their conversion agenda. There are Evangelical tour groups trained to disarm, and then convert Israelis. Evangelicals have ingratiated themselves into Israeli communities. In Ariel, an Evangelical friend of the mayor is conducting a covert missionary operation with a vision to multiply this operation throughout Israel. Christian Jews from the Ukraine, Argentina and elsewhere are immigrating to Israel. Israel is becoming honeycombed with 'one on one' missionaries and home churches. Israelis, wake up!