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Home News Israel

PM stops bill against Christian proselytizing

The bill was never advanced, but it drew widespread attention in the American evangelical world this week.

by  AP and ILH Staff
Published on  03-23-2023 12:58
Last modified: 03-23-2023 13:49
PM stops bill against Christian proselytizingAP / Sebastian Scheiner

Evangelical Christians from various countries march to show their support for Israel in Jerusalem | Photo: AP / Sebastian Scheiner

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday said he would prevent the passage of a proposal to punish Christian proselytizing with jail time.

The proposal had raised an uproar among evangelical Christians – one of Israel's strongest and most influential supporters in the United States –.

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The bill was introduced in January by a pair of ultra-Orthodox Jewish lawmakers, including Moshe Gafni, who heads the parliament's Finance Committee. It says soliciting someone to convert their faith should be punishable by one year in prison and solicitation to convert a minor would be punishable with a two-year sentence.

"Recently, the attempts of missionary groups, mainly Christians, to solicit conversion of religion have increased," it said.

The bill was never advanced, but it drew widespread attention in the American evangelical world this week after All Israel News, an evangelical news site, reported on it.

Evangelical Christians, particularly in the United States, are among the strongest backers of Israel, viewing it as the fulfillment of biblical prophecy, with some seeing it as the harbinger of a second coming of Jesus Christ and the end of days.

On Wednesday, Netanyahu announced on Twitter: "We will not advance any law against the Christian community."

Gafni said he had introduced the bill as a procedural matter, as he has done in the past, and there were no plans to advance it.

Israel has long welcomed evangelical's political and financial support, and it has largely shrugged off concerns about any hidden religious agenda. But most Jews view any effort to convert them to Christianity as deeply offensive, a legacy of centuries of persecution and forced conversion at the hands of Christian rulers.

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Tags: Benjamin NetanyahuChristiansMoshe Gafni

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