c. 1997 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced his opposition to a bill in the Knesset, or parliament, that would criminalize the possession of materials intended to induce religious conversion.

The bill has been opposed by evangelical Christians and Messianic Jews, who view the proposed legislation as a violation of religious freedom and an attempt to stifle their missionary activities among Israeli Jews. The bill carries a one-year prison term for violators.

Netanyahu’s announcement came in a letter to Elwood McQuaid, executive director of Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry in Bellmawr, N.J. Naor Yerushalmi, an interreligious affairs spokesman at the Embassy of Israel in Washington, confirmed Netanyahu’s intentions in an interview Tuesday (June 17).

In his letter to McQuaid _ dated June 3 and released this week by McQuaid _ Netanyahu said,”I would like to assure you that this bill does not have the support of the Israeli government. … The government strenuously objects to this bill and will act to ensure that it does not pass.” However Baruch Maoz, chairman of the Messianic Congregational Action Committee, which is leading the opposition to the bill within Israel, said that despite the letter, Netanyahu as yet has done nothing to sidetrack the legislation. Messianic Jews believe Jesus is the Messiah but maintain they are still ethnic Jews.”(Netanyahu) has studiously avoided making any statements within Israel or taking any action in regard to this bill,”Maoz said in a telephone interview from his home in Tel Aviv.”He has said one thing to supporters abroad, but nothing that might upset his Orthodox (Jewish) supporters in Israel.” An Orthodox member of the Knesset, joined by a member of the opposition Labor Party, introduced the bill earlier this year after hundreds of thousands of Jewish Israelis received a mailing sent by San Diego-based televangelist Morris Cerullo urging them to accept Jesus.

Opponents claim the bill is so broad as to make it illegal in Israel to even possess a copy of the New Testament. The bill’s sponsors deny that, and say they only want to put a halt to well-financed, large-scale missionary activities intended to bring about mass conversions of Jews.

The bill has received the first of four necessary approvals in the Knesset and is currently in committee, where modifications are expected.

Yerushalmi said that Netanyahu’s opposition to the bill could change if modifications are made that meet his approval.

Netanyahu’s opposition might also be tested if the Orthodox political parties that account for one third of his ruling coalition refuse to withdraw their support for the bill. However, evangelical Christians _ because of their belief in Israel’s central theological role _ are among the Jewish state’s staunchest foreign supporters and most frequent tourists, providing the bill’s opponents with some political counterweight.”Ultimately, this bill will pass or fail based on which side maintains the political pressure most strongly and the longest,”said Maoz.

MJP END RIFKIN