Secular Israelis Target Jewish “Missionaries”

Hundreds of complaints filed against religious Jews proselytizing on the streets of Israel.

By Ryan Jones | | Topics: Israel, Judaism
A Chabad representative convinces a young secular Israeli to pray in public. Some see this as "dangerous missionary activity." Photo by Danielle Shitrit/FLASH90
A Chabad representative convinces a young secular Israeli to pray in public. Some see this as "dangerous missionary activity." Photo by Danielle Shitrit/FLASH90

While ultra-Orthodox Jewish groups target Christians and Messianic Jews for “missionary activity,” they are in turn being targeted by secular Israelis for the same reason.

On Sunday, Israel’s Channel 12 News aired an interview with Naor Narkis, an activist who heads the organization “Israel Neora” – “Enlightened Israel” with the goal of eliminating public proselytization by religious Jews.

Narkis said that he and his organization had in recent weeks filed hundreds of complaints with the police over prayer stands, where religious Jews try to convince Jewish passersby to put on tefillin, or phylacteries, and pray with them.

Echoing the anti-Christian groups that take offense over Hebrew-language gospel material appearing online, Narkis insisted that the Orthodox Jewish prayer stands were violating the law by enticing minors and offering material incentive to engage with religious Judaism.

Many of the prayer stands Narkis and his activists complained against had been set up near public schools.

In a Twitter post last week, Narkis laid out a three-step plan to “change reality on the ground”:

  1. A group of activists will report weekly on the prayer stands to increase awareness of the danger.
  2. We will create pressure on the municipalities to require each prayer stand to seek parental consent before addressing minors, and implement a complete ban on handing out pizzas or other gifts in exchange for exposure to religious content.
  3. Dramatic reduction of the missionary presence in the enlightened cities, and a warning to any missionary who addresses minors without parental permission.

Interestingly, and perhaps hypocritically, Narkis also shared tweets promoting the LGBT agenda, which many Israelis complain is likewise being shoved down their children’s throats by the public school system without their consent.

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