Politicians try to criminalize sharing the Gospel in Israel
A piece of legislation was recently introduced into Israel’s Knesset or parliament that would make it illegal for anyone to share their faith in Israel. If passed, anyone convicted of sharing the gospel by word or any other medium such as the printed page, radio, internet or TV could be sentenced to one year in prison. This would be increased to two years, if it involved someone under the age 18. It would essentially criminalize sharing the Gospel in Israel. The bill was introduced by two ultra-orthodox members of the Knesset, Moshe Gafni and Yaakov Asher. Gafni and Asher are both members Ashkenazi Haredi party United Torah Judaism that are helping keep Prime Minister Netanyahu minority government in power. Gafni and Asher stated that they were motivated to introduce the legislation, because there has been a noticeable increase in Christians sharing their faith: “Recently, the attempts of missionary groups, mainly Christians, to solicit conversion of religion have increased. At times these attempts do not involve monetary promises or material gains and are therefore not illegal …