Are christians allowed to preach in Israel nowadays?

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Zeno

No; there are strict laws against it. You cannot teach Christianity in any setting where a Jew - even an atheist or "secular" Jew - might be "exposed" to it. Technically you are free to teach it to Palestinians - what they sneeringly call "the Arabs" - but in actual practice you would likely be harassed; they can shoot Palestinian children in cold blood,they can bulldoze or bomb Palestinian homes and the world cares very little,at least not the Western Powers - as long as they are Muslim Palestinians. If they are Christian on the other hand it may mean very unpleasant publicity back in the Protector States - the U.S.,the UK and France. They don't care if some so-called "settler" beats an 18-year-old shepard to death as long as the victim was Muslim,but if he was a Christian - now how is that going to play in Peoria?
They have done everything they can to hound out Episcopalians,
Unitarians,Catholics,Armenian Orthodox,Presbyterians - and the last thing they want is anyone converting Palestinians into Christians. Dead Christians are viewed very differently in America than dead Muslims. You can go there,start a mission,promise not to teach Christianity to "Jews" - most are atheists - but even confining your mission to the actual people of the Holy Land will sooner or later result in strange fires of undetermined origin in your mission building,and so on. Don't take my word for it. I could be lying to you. Why not go there and find out for yourself? Good luck and may God bless and protect you. By the way,the Muslims are very friendly with Christian Palestinians. The first opposition to the current Ethnic State was the Christian-Muslim Association way back in 1919.

By the way,this should come as no surprise. The Levant - Greater Syria as we used to call it - has always been highly European and multicultural. The area includes what is now Syria,Lebanon,Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Syria is still 20% Christian,mostly Syrian and Greek Orthodox. Palestine was 20% Christian until 1948. Don't let zionists fool you by babbling about the intolerance of Wahabis or Shiites.
This is Palestine. Most of the Christians have long since been driven out and they were driven out by the new "government" because there are things you can do to Muslims without outraging Americans that you can't do to Christians. There are no Wahhabis or Shiites in the Holy Land and there never were. Christian and Muslim families to this day maintain friendships that span generations; Presbyterians operating schools in the 1920's were astounded that the Muslim parents of most of their students had no objection a certain amount of Christianity in the curriculum. Palestinian Muslims are - normally - very gentle and tolerant people. As to what has taken place since 1995 you must remember they are fighting for their national existence. They are facing extinction as a people; their backs are to the wall. If you think they are cruel ask any Christian who visited Bethlehem when it was in the West Bank of Jordan,before June 5,1967. There are still people around who know the truth. Check around via your minister for some elderly couple who used to visit eastern Palestine from the late 50s to the mid-60s. They will not tell you that they were persecuted by Muslims. But if they went back in 1972 or later they would certainly have learned very quickly to watch what they say. It is a police state and Big Brother does not like religious freedom. It likes The State religion - or no religion at all.

Lady Lulu (2)

I hope you are hearing this Teresa. Your kind are neither wanted, nor appreciated in Israel. What do you have to say about that? They will take your support, but they will spit in your face if you try to convert them. Go figure. Maybe it is time to find another cause.

raach

a friend of mine, who is a great christian, was in Jerusalem with other christians and began to hand out those little christian moral story leaflets and was almost arrested!

Ma'akum

I will simply agree with Zeno,I think that pretty well covers it.

michelle

http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=8011
http://freedetainees.org/4264
http://thechristianradical.blogspot.com/

They do Sometimes. These websites will help you find more answers.

devora k

I can tell you the truth because I have lived in Israel for most of my life. We were approached by 2 couples whom we "thought" were our friends. They said {lied} that they were Jewish but were Christian missionaries. We had a uncomfortable few hours in their company but politely rejected their teachings. Someone else {not us} reported them and the police came to see them and asked them to refrain. They agreed {I don't know if they did or did not} and about 3 months later they went back to California I know they did NOT get any prison sentence nor were they sent home

cat's meow

And now for the facts:

There is a massive problem in Israel with the Christian evangelists who go round posing as 'messianic jews'. They are ***literally*** not Jews - just as Hindus, or Protestants are not Jews.

In recent years, Messianics have been deceitfully getting jobs in schools, and teaching children of all faiths that 'if you don't find jesus your family will go to hell'. This is causing great problems for the parents of Jewish children AND parents of other non Christian kids.

Messianics have also been waiting - literally - for new immigrants from Ethiopia, Yemen and Russia to get off the plane, at which point they 'befriend' and 'welcome' them with a 'complete jewish bible '- which when you EXAMINE it turns out to be the CHRISTIAN 'NEW TESTAMENT'.

For over 2000 years, Jews have been bullied, killed and tortured to become Christians. In the Jewish homeland we DON'T have to put up with this any longer - so if you don't like that GO AND COLLECT SOULS SOMEWHERE ELSE.

Oh, and to enlighten you: Mossad don't go around bumping off Israeli citizens. They are far too busy monitoring TERRORISTS.

Nor do Christians get arrested for missionising in Israel - I WISH THEY DID.

Your Friendly Jewish Accountant

I hardly consider poopooing my religion an "act of kindness". Please! Keep your beliefs to yourself!

The First Dragon

Of course there are many churches in Israel, and I never heard that preaching was forbidden in them!
There is not a single church in Saudi Arabia. I understand Qatar recently allowed its very first Christian church.

Alan M

Of course anyone can preach in Israel. Its not run by Hamas.

md_ghtts

Let them try any Arab country or Muslim country and they wish they would be arrested instead they will beheaded and dragged down as sinners and infidels.So get off the back of jews and stop the hate and the rommers.

Arieh

Which Bible? I guess you mean the "New Testament". It is totally inappropriate for a fundie to approach Jews for the purpose of converting them (check out the U.S. Air Force Academy). It is not against the law though. No one would turn down food if they needed it if no strings were attached (like being forced to listen to a sermon). Why the goyem can't leave us alone is beyond me.

✡

"thetruthseeker.co.uk" is a pile of junk.

✡I LOVE THE ZIONIST ENTITY✡

This is not true, my friend.

Trust me, as an Israeli and an Orthodox Jew, I would know.

In Israel, you are free to practice whatever religion you like! Whatever you like,you can do!

Now, you do NOT have this freedom in the 22 Islamic countries bordering Israel.

Who's the democracy?

Preaching is different. Giving a gift is not preaching. If the Jew thinks you are trying to convert him, he may ask you to stop.
If you resist, yes, the cops will be killed.

But please. You are not even allowed to enter the 22 Islamic states if you are not Muslim.

So enjoy what you have!

dandyl

In Israel there is freedom of religion, While Christians are unwelcome in Islamic states such as Saudi Arabia, and most have been driven out of their longtime homes in Lebanon, Christians continue to be welcome in Israel. Christians have always been a minority in Israel, but it is the only Middle East nation where the Christian population has grown in the last half century (from 34,000 in 1948 to 140,000 today), in large measure because of the freedom to practice their religion.

By their own volition, the Christian communities have remained the most autonomous of the various religious communities in Israel, though they have increasingly chosen to integrate their social welfare, medical and educational institutions into state structures. The ecclesiastical courts of the Christian communities maintain jurisdiction in matters of personal status, such as marriage and divorce. The Ministry of Religious Affairs deliberately refrains from interfering in their religious life, but maintains a Department for Christian Communities to address problems and requests that may arise.

In Jerusalem, the rights of the various Christian churches to custody of the Christian holy places were established during the Ottoman Empire. Known as the “status quo arrangement for the Christian holy places in Jerusalem,” these rights remain in force today in Israel.

It was during Jordan's control of the Old City from 1948 until 1967 that Christian rights were infringed and Israeli Christians were barred from their holy places. The Christian population declined by nearly half, from 25,000 to 12,646. Since then, the population has slowly been growing.

Some Christians have been among those inconvenienced by Israel's construction of the security fence, but they have not been harmed because of their religious beliefs. They simply live in areas where the fence is being built. Like others who can show they have suffered some damage, Christians are entitled to compensation. And the fence does not have any impact on Christian holy places or their freedom of access to them.

Suggestions that Israel is persecuting Christians were publicized by columnist Bob Novak, who has a long history of vitriolic attacks on Israel. Novak actually presented no specific evidence that any Christians have been harmed or their religious freedom infringed.21 He cited a single source, whose bias was obvious, to support the charge that the fence is hurting Christians in East Jerusalem, but failed to mention that the fence is helping to save Christian lives that might otherwise be lost in the indiscriminate attacks of Palestinian terrorists.

The hypocrisy of Novak's latest critique is clear from his failure to raise the very real concerns about the fate of Christians under Arab rule, especially under the Palestinian Authority, where a rapidly declining population of 27,000 Christians live among 3 million Muslims. The proportion of Christians in the Palestinian territories has dropped from 15 percent of the Arab population in 1950 to less than 1 percent today. Three-fourths of all Bethlehem Christians now live abroad, and the majority of the city’s population is Muslim. The Christian population declined 29 percent in the West Bank and 20 percent in the Gaza Strip from 1997 to 2002. By contrast, in the period 1995–2003, Israel’s Arab Christian population grew 14.1 percent.

Jonathan Adelman and Agota Kuperman noted that Yasser Arafat “tried to erase the historic Jesus by depicting him as the first radical Palestinian armed fedayeen (guerrilla). Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority has adopted Islam as its official religion, used shari’a Islamic codes, and allowed even officially appointed clerics to brand Christians (and Jews) as infidels in their mosques.” The authors add that the “militantly Islamic rhetoric and terrorist acts of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah...offer little comfort to Christians.”

David Raab observed that “Palestinian Christians are perceived by many Muslims — as were Lebanon's Christians — as a potential fifth column for Israel. In fact, at the start of the recent violence in 2000, Muslim Palestinians attacked Christians in Gaza.” Raab also wrote that “anti-Christian graffiti is not uncommon in Bethlehem and neighboring Beit Sahur, proclaiming: ‘First the Saturday people (the Jews), then the Sunday people (the Christians),’” and that “Christian cemeteries have been defaced, monasteries have had their telephone lines cut, and there have been break-ins at convents.”

When Arafat died, Vatican Radio correspondent Graziano Motta said, “The death of the president of the Palestinian National Authority has come at a time when the political, administrative and police structures often discriminate against [Christians].” Motta added that Christians “have been continually exposed to pressures by Muslim activists, and have been forced to profess fidelity to the intifada.”

While Novak suggests Israel is bulldozing Christian houses, wi

christians can pray, practice, and preach to other christians. they can't proselytize or try to convert others. if you don't like it, don't go there.

christians are actively persecuted in gaza, saudi arabia, dubai and other muslim countries. christians in israel can worship as they like.

so they question is, do you want to practice xianity, or do you want to harrass other people and try to convert them?

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