Israel: Treatment of Jehovah's Witnesses, particularly by Orthodox Jews

According to the Legal Counsellor for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), there have been a few incidents involving "a small number of extremist anti-missionary groups against Jehovah Witnesses" in the past two years that received a sympathetic coverage from the press (23 Mar. 1999). The Legal Counsellor added that the Israeli police intervene in cases involving physical violence, but it becomes very difficult for them to find evidence in cases of verbal abuse. ACRI is currently handling two cases involving Jehovah Witnesses in Israel. In her opinion, in order to avoid problems with Orthodox Jews, Jehovah Witnesses should avoid conducting any of their missionary activities in their  neighbourhoods, especially in Jerusalem.

According to The Kansas City Star and The Commercial Appeal, Jehovah Witnesses have been attacked and harassed in Israel, but both newspapers fails to provide any additional information (27 July 1997; 22 July 1997). In a long article on Jehovah Witnesses in Israel published in The Jerusalem Post, Haim Shapiro states that regarding instances of attacks against Jehovah Witnesses,

Surprisingly, the Witnesses have remained almost unnoticed on the local landscape, despite the fact that a group of assailants has broken into their Lod meeting hall several times during the past months. In one such incident, a group of ultra-Orthodox young men set fire to a pile of the group's Bibles and other religious literature and sang and danced around the bonfire. In another, the attackers, unable to break through the reinforced steel doors, broke through a concrete-block wall (10 Apr. 1998).

Shapiro reported that a Rabbi, Ya'acov Glauberman, head of the Habad institutions in Lod, had called the Jehovah Witnesses the "worst cult in the world" (ibid.). The Rabbi indicated that Jehovah Witnesses are "very active in Lod specifically because it is an area of economic distress" (ibid.). Rabbi Glauberman "openly admits that Habad was involved in the attacks against the Witnesses in Lod" (ibid.). Glauberman added that

Lod has always had a mix of Jews, Christians and Moslems, but none tried to convince others to change their faith. He says the Witnesses are pure missionaries, and insists the government should deport them (ibid.).

In a 22 July 1997 document entitled United States Policies in Support of Religious Freedom: Focus on Christians and released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Affairs, the Department of State indicated that

The small community of Jehovah's Witnesses has faced harassment and occasional violent attacks by private citizens opposed to religious prosyletization. On March 8, 1997, a mob of over 250 Haredim (ultra-conservative Orthodox Jews) attacked the Lod meeting hall, broke into the building, destroyed the interior, and burned religious literature, books, and furnishings. The police stated that they were notified by bystanders too late to intervene.

Members of Jehovah's Witnesses have reported being followed, and have also reported death threats. Police have occasionally evinced indifference to complaints, sometimes alleging that members of Jehovah's Witnesses proselytize without a permit (although there is no requirement or provision under Israeli law for such a permit). Police have warned that they would act to uphold the law if there was any further interference with anyone's right to worship.

In his article, Shapiro explained that the central issue regarding the group's activities in Israel is missionary work among Jews (ibid.). He noted that 

The Jehovah's Witnesses are among the most aggressive proselytizers of all Christian groups, or of any religion for that matter. This missionary activity is such an intrinsic part of their creed that there was no chance of their joining in a statement published last week, in which many of Israel's Christian evangelicals undertook to refrain from engaging in any activity that would alienate the Jews from their tradition and community.

Missionizing is only illegal in Israel if it involves the use of financial inducements (10 Apr. 1998).

Undeterred by a bill proposed by United Torah Judaism Member of Knesset (MK) Moshe Gafni that would make it a crime for "unlawfully holding, copying, spreading, disturbing, or importing material which has an element of proselytizing", Eric Miller, spokesman for the movement in Israel, says his

community was not approached to sign the no-proselytizing pledge, and would not have approved it even if it had. He says the Witnesses are well aware of the antagonism that their missionary activity engenders, but believe that God requires this activity of them (ibid.).

According to Miller, there are about 850 Jehovah Witnesses in Israel with "an equal number of people are interested in their views and are studying the Bible with them" (ibid.). Miller added that "in his estimate, about one in every 10 people who reach the point of studying with the Witnesses actually join the community" (ibid.). There are Jehovah Witnesses groups in Haifa, Lod, Tel Aviv, Ashdod, Beersheba and in Bethlehem and Ramallah, cities under the control of the Palestinian Authority (ibid.). According to Miller, "although there are individual followers in Jerusalem, and they expect to have a congregation there in the future, ... it may not be easy for the Witnesses to act openly in the capital" (ibid.). In the article, Miller indicates "that the number of witnesses has doubled in this country [Israel] since 1993, at least partially because of the immigration of Russians, many of whom were members or sympathizers before coming to Israel" (ibid.).

Quoting a specialist on religions at Haifa University, Shapiro reported that "the suffering the Witnesses underwent in the concentration camps has been to their benefit in Israel today. It was, he says, one of the reasons that a court ordered the Tel Aviv Municipality to grant them a building permit, after the city had refused to do so (ibid.). Regarding compulsory military service, Shapiro's article indicated that the Jehovah Witnesses beliefs were "crucial in their being released from army service" (ibid.).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

References

Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), Jerusalem. 23 March 1999. Telephone interview with Legal Counsellor.

The Commercial Appeal [Memphis]. 22 July 1997. "U.S. Report Spotlights Persecution of Christians". (NEXIS)

US Department of State. 22 July 1997. United States Policies in Support of Religious Freedom: Focus on Christians. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Affairs. [Internet] [Accessed on 25 Mar. 1999].

The Jerusalem Post. 10 April 1998. Haim Shapiro. "For Jehovah's Sake". (NEXIS)

The Kansas City Star. 27 July 1997. Bill Tammeus. "Religious Persecution: New Report Reveals Problems in Many Countries". (NEXIS)