Israeli Messianic Jewish pastor Tony Simon reports on a local council official who misused his authority to harass and illegally arrest evangelists. According to Simon:
“We had come to a Festival in Akko, a mixed Jewish and Arab Israeli northern coastal town, and were singing and handing out literature. All was going well when suddenly an inspector from the local authority came to us demanding that we stop handing out literature, calling it “missionary material”. He shouted that it was “forbidden”. I told him we were not breaking the law and if he had a problem to call the police. A police car pulled up but there was no policeman in the car. The inspector said “get in the car” and I said no, get the police (I asked one person to film the incident and the inspector threatened that he would break the camera) He used force to try and get my books off me and tried to force me into the car by pushing me. He did not succeed, inspectors can detain but they cannot arrest and this man was abusing his authority. He was an angry man and it was obvious that he had a vendetta against believers in Jesus, he called us “Crusaders” Eventually a policeman did come and I went with him to the police station, but this was a formality as I was not doing anything illegal and the police did not charge me with anything. The man from the municipal authority was just using this to intimidate us. They were mentioning the word “missionary” constantly, when this word is used in Israel it is always in the negative with evil connotations – and this was at a Festival where others – not just believers, could freely give out literature as they pleased, I saw Chabad ( an ultra orthodox Jewish organization) there doing just that.
In the end they took our literature and said it has been destroyed (including New Testaments) and gave me a large fine for distributing what they called “advertisements”, which was untrue, it was just gospel material. We have a lawyer and will fight this in court because what they did was illegal, we also found out that a day earlier they did the same thing to another believer, they also hit him. As I left I told the inspector that I forgive him and pray that he will be blessed.”
Posted by Gever
I have said this before, but no one takes me seriously. If you really want to convert Jews to Messianic Judaism, you would be better off handing out Jewish anti-missionary pamphlets, books, and tapes. They are the best introduction to Christianity, and most of their arguments are weak enough to actually benefit Messianic Judaism. I am not being sarcastic. Your missionaries are going through big headaches, when I think you could get more converts with anti-missionary pamphlets.
Do you have any to offer?
As I understand it, Israeli law forbids the public distrbution of Christian religious material with an intent to convert.
Thus you not only have no respect for Judaism to define itself as it sees fit, you also have no respect for Israeli law.
As I understand it, Israeli law forbids the public distrbution of Christian religious material with an intent to convert.
Then you understand it wrong:
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2009/127349.htm
“Proselytizing is legal in the country and missionaries of all religious groups are allowed to proselytize all citizens. However, a 1977 law prohibits any person from offering material benefits as an inducement to conversion. It is also illegal to convert persons under 18 years of age unless one parent is an adherent of the religious group seeking to convert the minor.”
I think that you should return the next day to the very place where your were illegally detained and distribute more literature in order to reassert your rights. This will show the dishonest investigator that you are not intimidated and that the anti-Christian hate group failed.
Seeing you back will also serve as a great inspiration to other believers to know that the claims of the anti-missionary group are false. I can think of nothing finer. Go for it!
Edward you state: “As I understand it, Israeli law forbids the public distrbution of Christian religious material with an intent to convert.”
You are wrong, Israel is a democratic state with freedom of religious expression. There is no law against missionary work, only a prohibition on speaking to minors without parental consent.
Of course Edward, if you really wanted to live somewhere where it was forbidden to hand ou Christian religious material with an intention to convert, there’s always Iran.
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Not a good sign when you see officials anywhere destroying copies the Bible!