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The New Israeli Law: Will It Doom the Christian Mission in the Holy Land?
Historically, the Christian mission began in Jerusalem (Acts 1: 4-7). In Jerusalem, too, ironically, a major step has been taken toward putting a stop to that mission as far as the Holy Land is concerned. At least, the United Christian Council in Israel (UCCI) believes that the survival of freely expressed Christianity in the land of its birth is threatened by the new Israeli ‘Anti-Missionary Law.’ Passed by the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) on December 27, 1977 (Christmas week), this law went into effect on April 1, 1978 (Easter week), making it a criminal offense—punishable by five years in prison or a 50,000-pound fine—to offer material inducement to an Israeli to change his religion. Sentences for converts under such circumstances are set somewhat lower: three years in prison or a 30,000-pound fine. The UCCI denies guilt, or intention, of any such “trafficking in souls.” Still, it is quietly—and with a modicum of hope—campaigning for the new law’s repeal. It is also asking for Israeli governmental rejection of the “calumny, slander, libel and incitement to hatred” which were advanced in the Knesset to secure its passage. In UCCI eyes, both the law and “the scurrilous verbal attacks against the Christian church” resorted to in promoting it, loom as dangers to “human rights, the legitimate freedom of the small Christian minority...and...Christian-Jewish relations” (Ecumenical Press Service, Feb. 23, 1978). A Holy Season Spawns Unholy Legislation To become law in Israel a bill must be read three times in the Knesset before being voted on. The initial reading of the ‘Anti-Missionary Bill’—officially titled “Penal Code Amendment Law (Enticement to Change of Religion), 1977”—took place on December 5, the first day of Hanukkah. Printed on the same page of the Knesset Gazette (as also on p. 2 of this Link) were the ‘Words of Explanation’ by which Deputy Speaker Rabbi Yehuda Meir Abramowitz sought to justify his having introduced this bill. ”The missionary organizations” in Israel, he contended, “use many and varied means to ensnare souls and to bring about the change of religion of those who fall into their net.... Flooded with unlimited financial means,...they are active especially among people whose economic situation is different, grant them economic benefits, and incite them to emigrate” from Israel “and to change their religion..The organizations of The Mission are active even among soldiers....and try to influence them to desert .... Dr. Yitzhak Raphael had made further sweeping changes which he claimed to have researched as Minister of Religious Affairs (Yediot Aharonot, Dec. 8, 1977). The acting chairman of the Law Committee, former Supreme Court Judge Binyamin Halevy, added gratuitously in the Knesset that: “The Christian missions are a cancer in the body of the nation and are trying to carry forward the aim of physical liquidation (of Jews) which had been furthered by the Catholic Church since it was established” (Jerusalem Post, Dec. 6, 1977). In this atmosphere—despite objections from Mordechai Wirshubsky, Shulamit Aloni and Meir Pail and the negative votes and abstentions of other MKs (Members of Knesset)—was born what a Jerusalem Post headline had labeled “The Law Against The Missionaries.” The Engineering of a Railroading Although the obstacles are many, the UCCI feels it has grounds to “trust that...the Knesset will have the courage to repeal this unworthy...legislation.” The skillful engineering by which the vote was railroaded through suggests that even its backers doubted that a majority of MKs would have voted for it in the first place or would do so if given another chance. The Israeli press of December 28 indicated that the bill had been sprung for the vote—without docketing or prior announcement—when 42 of the 120 MKs were present. Of the 42, a sizeable proportion—apparently tipped off in advance to show up—favored the bill. It was clearly an opportune moment to call for a vote. But the bill had only had one reading. Undismayed, its backers found an imaginative device convenient: They had it read twice in one day—December 27! A small group of MKs present did ask for a week’s postponement to permit consultation with affected parties. Such consultation the UCCI had urged in detailed, deliberately unpublicized December 13 telegrams to President Katzir, Prime Minister Begin and Speaker of the Knesset Israel Shamir, Dr. Reznikoff of the American Jewish Committee, Acting Director Daniel Rossing of the Division of Christian Communities in the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Jewish members of the government-backed Israel Inter-Faith Committee had made related requests.
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