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Israel will outlaw the Christian faith, according to an anti-Semitic publication in Romania.
Romanian anti-Semites are following last year's news
NEWS: “The Netanyahu Cabinet wants to introduce a ban on Christianity in Israel. The outlandish proposal by Israeli MPs comes on the eve of Holy Week, and seeks to ban any promotion of the Gospels in Israel, making the spreading of the teachings of Jesus Christ punishable under criminal law”.
NARRATIVE: The Israeli government will adopt a law to criminally incriminate the Christian faith and the promotion of Christian religious messages.
BACKGROUND: Anti-Semitism experienced a poignant revival with the outbreak of the conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, producing a mobilization of extremists in numerous states, including Romania, a country with a well-known history of anti-Jewish militancy.
One aspect of anti-Semitism is related to conspiracy theories that claim a secret Jewish cabal rules the world by controlling finances/politicians/states, etc. Over the years, people have been spreading several myths that demonize the Jews, some, for instance, claiming they could turn into demons and other devilish creatures or accusing them of ritually murdering Christian children in order to use their blood to make Easter unleavened bread. The most widespread accusation levied against the Jews, regarding their desire to establish absolute control over the rest of the population of the planet, appears in a text invented and spread by the secret police of Tsarist Russia, “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”. Such theories led to the persecution and mass murder of Jews, culminating with the Holocaust.
The bill mentioned by the article in question would make Christian proselytism a criminal offense. It was tabled in the Israeli Parliament in January 2023 by two ultra-Orthodox Jewish lawmakers. The fact that the draft law is brought to the attention of Romanian audiences now, more than a year away, is actually connected to the recently concluded Easter Holidays, in a childish attempt to emotionally speculate on the exacerbated faith that some compatriots display around Easter.
The website that published the article is a motley mix of xenophobic, racist and anti-Semitic articles, as well as anti-abortion or anti-LGBTQ religious materials. Currently, it has been banned on several social networks. The Russian networks Vkontakte and Telegram are currently the only ones where its articles are available. Over the years, the publication promoted several false narratives concerning Jews, such as the one claiming that Romania had pledged to receive three million Jews in case the State of Israel disappeared, or that Jews suppress freedom of speech in the US .
PURPOSE: To promote anti-Semitic and anti-Western rhetoric, to stir and amplify social unrest, to validate self-promoted conspiracy theories.
The Israeli Parliament dismissed the bill in question a year ago
WHY THE NARRATIVE IS FALSE: Right from the start, we should mention the fact that the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 guarantees freedom of religion, regardless of faith. At the same time, it is true that most Jews are deeply offended by any effort to convert them to Christianity, owing to centuries of persecution and forced conversion to which they have been subjected in some Christian states. For this reason, the Israeli Criminal Code does prohibit proselytizing minors without their parents’ consent, as well as any religious conversion in exchange for material benefits, as early as 1977. The ban, however, refers to all religions, not just to Christianity in particular. The legislative initiative of the two religious extremists was rejected as early as March 2023, in the Knesset’s preliminary committees, and it never reached a vote in the plenary session of the Israeli Parliament. Moreover, contrary to the claims of Romanian anti-Semites, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the one who insisted that the proposal be dismissed as quickly as possible, in order to appease the community of American Evangelical Christians, some of the strongest and most influential supporters of the State of Israel. In the midst of the full-blown scandal caused by the appearance of a news item about the bill in a well-known Evangelical publication, Netanyahu said that “we will not endorse any law against the Christian community”.
The chairman of the Finance Committee of the Israeli parliament, Moshe Gafni, one of the people who spearheaded the draft law, later said that he introduced the bill only for the sake of procedure, as he had done in the past with other legislative proposals of the community he represents, and that he had never intended forcefully subject the bill to a plenary vote.
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