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Main points will be listed first, in order to keep this easy to follow.
Sources listed after the list of main points.
Instances of Israeli Persecution of Christians and anti-Christian conduct of Israelis
*Christian jailed four days for evangelizing with sign. 1
*Student deported, not given document papers because Israel thought she was doing missionary work. 7
*Police investigate Christian for evangelizing. 3
(Questionable source, but worth a look.)
*Existing law says some missionaries can be put in prison up to five years. 6
*Deputy mayor drives around town on loud speaker calling for burning of New Testaments handed out by missionaries. New Testaments end up burned. 2
*Knesset member rips up copy of the New Testament. 4
*Knesset member calls for stricter law against missionaries and paid government television to counter missionary influence. 5
*Knesset faction calls for one year prison sentence for those preaching conversion. 6
*Greek Orthodox clergy spat at, and Greek Orthodox Christian carrying a cross was attacked. The cross was broken. 8
*Anti-Christian Jewish activists spray graffiti churches. One claimed Jesus was a monkey. 9
*Christians locking themselves indoors during Purim holiday. 8
*Yad L’Achim resorts to violence and harassment towards Christians. 10
*Christian institutions report Israel's MOI grants a limited amount of multiple entry visas to Christians. 11
*Israel MOI officials revoke citizenship or deny services based on messianic or Christian beliefs. 11
Sources
1. The Voice of the Martyrs
2. Orthodox Jewish youths burn New Testaments in Or Yehuda Israel News | Haaretz
3. Yad L'Achim Launches Attack on Jerusalem Messianic Jews | Sid Roth - It's Supernatural
4. Rivlin to Ben-Ari: Stop giving Knesset a bad name | JPost | Israel News
5. Missionaries in the Knesset? | JPost | Israel News
6. Shas seeks harsher punishment for missionaries - Israel News, Ynetnews
7. �Advertisement
8. �Advertisement
9. Christian Persecution in 'Hostile' Israel Highlighted by Evangelical Group; 'Some May Disagree and Even Take Offense,' Says Nonprofit
10. The Voice of the Martyrs
11. Report on International Religious Freedom
Sources listed after the list of main points.
Instances of Israeli Persecution of Christians and anti-Christian conduct of Israelis
*Christian jailed four days for evangelizing with sign. 1
*Student deported, not given document papers because Israel thought she was doing missionary work. 7
*Police investigate Christian for evangelizing. 3
(Questionable source, but worth a look.)
*Existing law says some missionaries can be put in prison up to five years. 6
*Deputy mayor drives around town on loud speaker calling for burning of New Testaments handed out by missionaries. New Testaments end up burned. 2
*Knesset member rips up copy of the New Testament. 4
*Knesset member calls for stricter law against missionaries and paid government television to counter missionary influence. 5
*Knesset faction calls for one year prison sentence for those preaching conversion. 6
*Greek Orthodox clergy spat at, and Greek Orthodox Christian carrying a cross was attacked. The cross was broken. 8
*Anti-Christian Jewish activists spray graffiti churches. One claimed Jesus was a monkey. 9
*Christians locking themselves indoors during Purim holiday. 8
*Yad L’Achim resorts to violence and harassment towards Christians. 10
*Christian institutions report Israel's MOI grants a limited amount of multiple entry visas to Christians. 11
*Israel MOI officials revoke citizenship or deny services based on messianic or Christian beliefs. 11
Sources
1. The Voice of the Martyrs
A campaigner on staff with the Jews for Jesus organization was released on bail late in the evening night on Nov. 24 after being held for four days and nights because he was holding up an evangelistic sign.
City's deputy mayor initiated bonfire of missionary-distributed material, held next to a synagogue in town.
Or Yehuda Deputy Mayor Uzi Aharon said missionaries recently entered a neighborhood in the predominantly religious town of 34,000 in central Israel, distributing hundreds of New Testaments and missionary material.
After receiving complaints, Aharon said, he got into a loudspeaker car last Thursday and drove through the neighborhood, urging people to turn over the material to Jewish religious students who went door to door to collect it.
Or Yehuda Deputy Mayor Uzi Aharon said missionaries recently entered a neighborhood in the predominantly religious town of 34,000 in central Israel, distributing hundreds of New Testaments and missionary material.
After receiving complaints, Aharon said, he got into a loudspeaker car last Thursday and drove through the neighborhood, urging people to turn over the material to Jewish religious students who went door to door to collect it.
3. Yad L'Achim Launches Attack on Jerusalem Messianic Jews | Sid Roth - It's Supernatural
One day the police arrived at the door of the Kogens and they found themselves under investigation for proselytizing a 16-year-old girl. Finding nothing, the police dropped the investigation. However, Yad L’Achim, an extremist anti-Messianic non-profit organization, jumped at the chance to place a full-page ad in a local newspaper with the Kogen’s name and address and accused them of being secret missionaries who illegally converted an underage girl to Christianity. Converting a minor to any religion other than traditional Judaism is against the law in Israel.
Knesset member Ben-Ari
On Tuesday, Ben-Ari tore up a copy of the “Book of Testaments,” combining the Tanach and New Testament in one volume, sent to all 120 MKs by The Bible Society in Israel, a messianic Judaism institution for research, publication and dissemination of holy books.
On Tuesday, Ben-Ari tore up a copy of the “Book of Testaments,” combining the Tanach and New Testament in one volume, sent to all 120 MKs by The Bible Society in Israel, a messianic Judaism institution for research, publication and dissemination of holy books.
Ze’ev called for more government- sponsored activities and television programming to teach youth Jewish values “so Christians don’t fill the vacuum.”
In addition, the Shas MK said the existing law against missionaries should be stricter.
The 1977 law, passed one year after the New Testament was published in modern Hebrew for the first time, prohibits anyone from granting material benefits as an inducement to conversion or to convert anyone under 18 unless one parent is a member of that religion.
In addition, the Shas MK said the existing law against missionaries should be stricter.
The 1977 law, passed one year after the New Testament was published in modern Hebrew for the first time, prohibits anyone from granting material benefits as an inducement to conversion or to convert anyone under 18 unless one parent is a member of that religion.
A war on missionaries was declared Tuesday when Shas faction head MK Yakov Margi proposed a bill stating that Israel's laws against proselytism should be aggravated.
Backed by six other faction members and in concordance with Shas' spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's instructions, Margi proposed the sentence for preaching conversion should be one year imprisonment.
Currently, Israeli law deals with conversion on two levels. Firstly, anyone offering money or material products in exchange for conversion faces five years in prison or a monetary fine. The person on the accepting end of the offer also faces a certain punishment.
On the second level, regarding minors, anyone acting in favor of or conducting a conversion ceremony on a minor, faces six month in jail.
Backed by six other faction members and in concordance with Shas' spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's instructions, Margi proposed the sentence for preaching conversion should be one year imprisonment.
Currently, Israeli law deals with conversion on two levels. Firstly, anyone offering money or material products in exchange for conversion faces five years in prison or a monetary fine. The person on the accepting end of the offer also faces a certain punishment.
On the second level, regarding minors, anyone acting in favor of or conducting a conversion ceremony on a minor, faces six month in jail.
A student from Germany is set to be deported Friday, after the Interior Ministry determined that she was doing missionary work.
However, at 6:30 A.M. on April 28, the Immigration Police knocked on her door and took her to Ma'asiyahu Prison in Ramle.
Interior Ministry spokeswoman Sabine Haddad said Ludwig was being deported because she had not arranged her residency status. However, the head of the Population Administration's central region, Elinor Golan, sent two letters to Ludwig's lawyer stating that Ludwig's repeated requests for residency status had been denied because she was "doing missionary work."
However, at 6:30 A.M. on April 28, the Immigration Police knocked on her door and took her to Ma'asiyahu Prison in Ramle.
Interior Ministry spokeswoman Sabine Haddad said Ludwig was being deported because she had not arranged her residency status. However, the head of the Population Administration's central region, Elinor Golan, sent two letters to Ludwig's lawyer stating that Ludwig's repeated requests for residency status had been denied because she was "doing missionary work."
A few weeks ago, a senior Greek Orthodox clergyman in Israel attended a meeting at a government office in Jerusalem's Givat Shaul quarter. When he returned to his car, an elderly man wearing a skullcap came and knocked on the window. When the clergyman let the window down, the passerby spat in his face.
On Sunday, a fracas developed when a yeshiva student spat at the cross being carried by the Armenian Archbishop during a procession near the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City. The archbishop's 17th-century cross was broken during the brawl and he slapped the yeshiva student.
Former adviser to the mayor on Christian affairs, Shmuel Evyatar, describes the situation as "a huge disgrace." He says most of the instigators are yeshiva students studying in the Old City who view the Christian religion with disdain.
There are an increased number at certain times of year, such as during the Purim holiday."I know Christians who lock themselves indoors during the entire Purim holiday," he says.
"I'm sure the phenomenon would end as soon as rabbis and well-known educators denounce it. In practice, rabbis of yeshivas ignore or even encourage it," he says.
On Sunday, a fracas developed when a yeshiva student spat at the cross being carried by the Armenian Archbishop during a procession near the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City. The archbishop's 17th-century cross was broken during the brawl and he slapped the yeshiva student.
Former adviser to the mayor on Christian affairs, Shmuel Evyatar, describes the situation as "a huge disgrace." He says most of the instigators are yeshiva students studying in the Old City who view the Christian religion with disdain.
There are an increased number at certain times of year, such as during the Purim holiday."I know Christians who lock themselves indoors during the entire Purim holiday," he says.
"I'm sure the phenomenon would end as soon as rabbis and well-known educators denounce it. In practice, rabbis of yeshivas ignore or even encourage it," he says.
believers are also persecuted by anti-missionary Jewish activists. The activists sometimes spray graffiti on Christian churches in what are called "price tag attacks" (exacting a price on anything that seems to threaten Jewish sovereignty). A few months ago, they painted "Jesus is a monkey" on a church that is a major pilgrimage site for Christians.
In Israel, the well-organized and well-funded ultra-orthodox Jewish group Yad L’Achim is dedicated to removing the witness of Christ from Israel. This group and others like it have increasingly resorted to violence and harassment of Messianic Jews, Christians and missionaries in recent years.
According to representatives of some Christian institutions, visa issuance rates for some religious workers remained low. The MOI only granted multiple-entry visas to a limited list of clergy and religious workers traveling to and between their parishes in the country and in the Occupied Territories. Other clergy who wished to return to or visit their parishes and congregations were required to apply for a new single-entry visa at Israeli consulates abroad--a process that at times took months.
MOI officials continued to revoke citizenship or deny services (such as child registration, social benefits, identity cards, and passports) to some citizens based on their religious beliefs, according to the JIJ. This included cases of individuals who immigrated under the Law of Return as Jews but were discovered to hold Messianic or Christian beliefs.
MOI officials continued to revoke citizenship or deny services (such as child registration, social benefits, identity cards, and passports) to some citizens based on their religious beliefs, according to the JIJ. This included cases of individuals who immigrated under the Law of Return as Jews but were discovered to hold Messianic or Christian beliefs.
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