In January of 2023, two members of Israel’s parliament, known as the Knesset, introduced a bill that would outlaw sharing the love of Jesus (Yeshua in the Hebrew) in the Jewish State and jail those who attempt through any means—verbally, digitally, or otherwise—to share the Good News of Yeshua and why they believe that Yeshua is the Messiah in hopes that Israelis might consider following Him.

Any conversation, whether in the public marketplace or café, over a private dinner in someone’s home, or online, meant to persuade an individual to consider changing his or her faith, fell under the purview of this proposed legislation.

The proposed legislation goes beyond criminalizing a seemingly innocent conversation about Yeshua with another person or party, however. If passed, this legislation would also make it illegal to "solicit" a person digitally, by mail, online, or otherwise in hopes of converting someone's religion.

Thus, anyone posting an online video, distributing books, pamphlets, or other literature, publishing an article on a blog, hosting a podcast, writing a letter, sending a text message, sending someone an email, posting on social media, or otherwise attempting to explain the life and ministry of Yeshua or other aspects of their faith to a Jewish or Muslim person living in the Holy Land would be subject to prosecution under the proposed law if passed. Online videos in the Hebrew language that could be accessed by a minor without parental consent explaining topics of Christianity would be banned as well.

Even if a Jewish person in Israel were to initiate a conversation on their own accord and ask questions about Christianity, answering such questions would be banned under this proposed legislation.

"At times these attempts do not involve monetary promises or material gains and are therefore not illegal according to the current law," the proposed bill specifies, as Israel already criminalizes attempts to evangelize minors and to bribe any individual of any age with money or other consumer goods to consider changing their religion, "but the many negative repercussions, including psychological damages, warrant the intervention of the legislature."

"Therefore, it is proposed that, alongside the prohibition of giving favors as an incentive to convert religion, also prohibited will be the act of solicitation to convert religion when it is done directly to a person,” the legislation further notes.

Jail time would range from one year for conversing about the Christian faith with an adult to two years with a minor under age 18.

The bill was authored and introduced by two influential and long-standing ultra-Orthodox members of the Knesset, Moshe Gafni and Yaakov Asher, who represent United Torah Judaism, a Haredi (highly religious) political party holding a total of seven out of 120 seats in the current Knesset. These two Knesset members have expressed their personal alarm at "missionary groups, mainly Christians," increasing their presence and becoming more vocal about their faith in the Holy Land.

Most Jews do indeed view efforts to convert their people to Christianity as deeply offensive, stemming from centuries of persecution and attempted forced conversions at the hands of various Christian groups and leaders. Sensitivities are further heightened by those believing that Adolf Hitler was an actual practicing Catholic, juxtaposed against the atrocities that the Third Reich committed against the Jewish people supposedly under at least some guise of Christianity.

"Attempts to convert Jews to Christianity touch a nerve in Israel," the Times of Israel once reported. "For centuries, hundreds of thousands of Jews in Europe were subject to forced conversions by the Catholic Church - and Orthodox churches to a lesser extent - on penalty of expulsion or death."

Gafni first introduced legislation to criminalize evangelism in Israel in 1999. When that initiative failed, he has been persistent in introducing a version of this bill as a procedural matter at the beginning of every Knesset session, with no realistic expectation that the bill will actually gain the support needed to be passed into law.

However, the introduction of the bill this year gained more international attention and media coverage than usual when Christian media picked it up and published a story about it later this spring, leading to a domino effect of other media outlets publishing the story. If passed, this bill would create a conundrum and anguish for Christians around the world, who are among the biggest supporters and defenders of the State of Israel, if their faith and even talking about their faith were being outlawed in the very country they are supporting.

"He's [Gafni’s] made it a habit every year, every time he gets re-elected in the Knesset, to introduce a bill like this. And it never goes anywhere," said David Parsons, a senior spokesman and Vice President of the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem.

"He [Gafni] introduced one back when Netanyahu was Prime Minister for a couple of years in the late 1990s, because a book translated into Hebrew that was preaching the gospel through the book was mailed to a million Israeli homes, and there was no way to collect them and throw them away," Parsons continued. "So, he was alarmed, and Moshe Gafni introduced a bill that actually would have banned the New Testament in Israel and criminalized possession of the New Testament. That bill got shot down."

Within a couple days of Christian media publishing the news of Gafni’s bill being introduced in the Knesset, Israel’s Foreign Ministry began fielding a frenzy of phone calls from around the world, with concerned calls pouring in from various parliamentary friendship groups, diplomats, Christian religious leaders, Christian evangelical groups, and Jewish religious leaders around the world expressing their concerns about the bill. The Foreign Ministry went so far as to generate a report summarizing the nature of these concerned calls being received from around the world in response to the bill.

In the United States, Gafni’s bill was criticized by both Republicans and Democrats in Congress, as well as rebuked by some governors and various other concerned individuals.

Sam Brownback, former United States Ambassador of International Religious Freedom, went so far as to state that this bill presented a threat to not only free speech but also human rights and religious freedom.

"Free and democratic countries simply do not outlaw the free exchange of ideas, and that includes religious beliefs and convictions," Brownback stated. "Article 18 of the Universal Charter of Human Rights—which Israel has signed onto—guarantees freedom of religion, including the right to decide your own faith beliefs."

Finally, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had to personally intervene to calm the brewing worldwide firestorm about this potential bill, tweeting in both Hebrew and English, "We will not advance any law against the Christian community."

Netanyahu, as well as his center-right Likud party, has historically stood firm against signing off on any such legislation in an attempt to preserve the Jewish state as a democracy, thus protecting freedom of speech even for those espousing unpopular beliefs and seeking to protect the human and civil rights of all religious and ethnic minorities living within the Holy Land. Furthermore, Netanyahu would be hard pressed to alienate the support of Christianity and the United States, which have long politically and financially supported and defended the State of Israel and who pray for the peace of Jerusalem, even if the Christian faith does not represent his own faith.

However, some religious leaders throughout the world have expressed concerns that the current geopolitical environment with increasing hostility toward the Christian faith worldwide, as well as the composition of the current Knesset, which presently hosts a large number of vocally anti-Christian Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox members who have more openly expressed interest in potential anti-Christian, anti-evangelism legislation in general, and whose votes Netanyahu does indeed need to advance other unrelated policies, could allow a rare window of opportunity and a perfect storm of events that Gafni and Asher’s proposed bill could actually possibly become law.

If the bill were to theoretically be passed, the Israeli Supreme Court could strike down the legislation as a violation of free speech, human rights, and freedom of religion. However, there are some various legal maneuvers involving the potential legislative passage of a controversial "override clause" that could come into play as part of the ongoing discussion on a variety of judicial reforms. If those judicial reforms materialize, a simple majority in the well-represented Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Knesset could theoretically vote to cancel the Supreme Court’s decision, thus effectively criminalizing any attempt for anyone to share the love of Yeshua with either Jewish or Gentile people in Israel, with no recourse either for those wanting to share their faith or for the legal system to strike down the legislation.

"We don't know if the judicial reforms weaken the Israeli courts enough; the courts would normally defend freedom of speech and religious freedom for all," Parsons elaborated in his commentary on this issue. "If the Knesset is going to do it, they're going to defend it and declare this law void."

"But if the courts weaken enough now through this whole process, then that's a possibility. It's sort of a new Netanyahu right now. How much leverage do these parties have over him to not only stay in power but to help shield him from some of this personal liability he’s facing? We're a long way from this.

"Moshe Gafni has a particular axe to grind. He wants to stop the gospel here. But I don’t think there is a lot of support for it. There are all sorts of problems with the wording of it; it does not specify Christian or gospel; it just says religious materials to try and get someone to convert. If you go on the internet, there's all sorts of stuff—Jews trying to convince Christians you need to be over here in Judaism. And I don't see how they can enforce this; it's about material or speech to try and get someone to change religion from the Moshe Gafni perspective, for whom the ultimate missionary material is the New Testament. So, possessing a New Testament in Hebrew in Israel, are you going to go to jail? I don't think the majority of Israel and the majority of the Knesset are going to go that far. I think this is one guy grinding his axe."

Yet, with even the remote possibility such legislation could prevail in these extraordinary end times in which we are living, coupled with the sin and godlessness exponentially abounding in the world today and the current hyperpolarized and volatile geopolitical climate in Israel and around the globe, we at this time more than ever should be praying for the peace of Jerusalem (Isaiah 62), the salvation of her people, and for the gospel to go to the world, including all Israeli citizens living in the very land where Yeshua our Messiah was born, raised, preached, died for our sins, and resurrected. As we know from Scripture, God still has plans for Jerusalem (despite the ways elected officials in the city may seek to pass man-made laws limiting civilized dialogue on the basis of matters of faith), and Yeshua will return to make all things right.

The Holy City (and all of Israel for that matter) is eternally important to God, but its people—Jews, Palestinians, and all Gentiles; politicians and elected officials in high places by the world’s standards; the common man toiling in daily labor; children seeking an education; and families striving for a better tomorrow—all of whom are God’s children, are even more important to Him. He would love nothing more than for them to hear the Good News of the Gospel and Salvation, especially in that historical land of great significance to Him, and impart with them the peace and salvation that only comes through Yeshua.