Jerusalem, Israel - A record number of Jews converting to Islam last year prompted the Shas Knesset faction Tuesday to propose a bill that would jail missionaries who proselytize to individuals in Israel.
Hareidi-religious Sephardic party spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef urged Shas faction leader MK Yaakov Margi to propose the expansion of the current law against missionary activity after learning that a record number of Jews converted to Islam last year.
The existing law mandates six months’ imprisonment for those who attempt to persuade Israeli minors to leave their faith or who perform a conversion ceremony on the children and teens.
The current legislation also imposes a five-year jail term and/or a fine on anyone who offers money or other goods to persuade an individual under age 18 to convert to another faith.
It does not, however, outlaw missionizing towards adults, a deficiency that would be corrected by the new law.
Climbing Numbers of Jews Abandoning Judaism
Some 70 Jews left the faith of their fathers to join the Muslim community, up from 33 converts to Islam in 2005 and 27 such conversions in 2004. The number of Muslims who convert to Judaism was dramatically lower, with only 7 conversions registered with the government by July 2006.
Many of the Jews who converted to Islam were women who married Arab men, a process made considerably easier than conversion to Judaism because it involves only a declaration of faith in Allah.
The numbers have been even higher in conversions to Christianity.
Statistics reported by the Interior Ministry indicated that 437 Jews abandoned their faith to “accept Jesus” in 2003, rising to 884 converts to Christianity in 2004 and 733 in 2005.
New Russian, Ethiopian Immigrants Especially at Risk
Shas members said missionaries particularly target new immigrants with a sparse Jewish education, such as Russian teens, children, parents and grandparents whose Jewish education and observance was crushed by the former Soviet regime.
Missionaries have also been focusing their efforts on the Ethiopian immigrant community, whose family structure and cultural continuity has been disrupted in many ways by the integration into modern Western society.
Others whose religious education and observance are weak are also at high risk.
No Discrimination Under The Law
The new bill would punish missionaries who attempt to draw any Israeli away from his faith, be that faith Judaism, Islam or Christianity.
“The law also applies to Jewish sects bringing Muslims from the Old City to convert to Judaism,” states the proposed bill, thereby frustrating efforts to torpedo the legislation by claiming it discriminates against other faiths.
“We do not mean to violate freedom of religion, or freedom from religion,” said a source in the Shas party quoted by the Ynet news service. “We mean to allow everyone to believe in their own religion and prevent harassment by any source trying to harm the basic democratic right according to which ‘every man may live in his religion.’” Such activity is also forbidden by Jewish law, note rabbinical scholars.
“Whether it is Christians coming from abroad or Jewish converts working in Israel, they all have the same agenda – to destroy every trace and memory of the people of Israel,” reads the proposed bill.