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Dear Friends and Supporters,

The Jerusalem Institute of Justice (JIJ) continues to advance the freedom of religious choice in Israel. Providing pro-bono legal assistance to religious minorities in Israel, we have completed over 260 cases.
 

The Mills of Justice

In April 2008, JIJ procured a ruling in the Supreme Court with regards to twelve petitioners which stated, the fact that a person is a Messianic Jew does not prevent them from immigrating to Israel under the Law of Citizenship or the Law of Return, unless they are considered to be Jewish according to orthodox halacha and have willfully converted to another religion. According to the ruling, which was actually a settlement that was ratified by the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Interior (MOI) undertook to process the immigration request of all of the petitioners as soon as possible.

The MOI has not only blatantly disregarded the ruling and refused to quickly process the immigration process of the petitioners, it has illegally issued a deportation order against one of the petitioners, who was arrested by the police last week and taken to a deportation center. An Israeli deportation center is a de facto prison for illegal aliens with its own judge. Attorney Mike Decker from JIJ presented the April ruling before the judge showing the contempt the MOI has shown for the ruling of the Supreme Court, and the petitioner in question was consequently released. JIJ is currently drafting a contempt of court motion against the MOI regarding all of the petitioners and is also working to get the recent deportation order revoked.

There is no need to emphasize the serious necessity for public reform in our nation when government clerks act as a law unto themselves and completely ignore decisions of the highest court in the land. Meanwhile, the persons affected must live in a vacuum of civil and social rights. We hope and pray that our motion for contempt will be successful and the rights of all the petitioners in this case will be granted without any further delays.
 

Persona Non Grata?

This past Sunday, December 14th, we dealt with an urgent case which received coverage by the Jerusalem Post.  Jamie Cowen, the former three-term president of the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations in the United States was arrested and detained at Ben-Gurion airport while entering Israel for a visit. Cowen, who simply wanted to visit his daughters who reside in Israel, one of whom is an Israeli citizen (the other is in the process of immigration), was sent to a penitentiary for illegal aliens and informed that he would be sent back to the United States on the next flight. What was the reasoning behind this? The fact that Cowen is a Jew who believes that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Messiah categorized him in the computers of the Ministry of Interior as a "dangerous missionary". "This type of religious discrimination would be expected of Iran, not Israel," said Cowen, a US immigration lawyer, a few hours after he was released by immigration police.

Based on an investigation carried out by the Jerusalem Institute of Justice, a clerk in the Ministry of Interior registered a denotation in Cowen's file several months ago to the effect that Cowen had transgressed anti-proselytizing laws and thus should be denied entry into Israel. The criminal code in Israel dictates that it is illegal to proselytize minors, or to grant someone economic incentives in order to convince them to convert to another religion. Firstly, Cowen has never participated in any such activities, nor has he ever been investigated by any enforcement authority in Israel based on those grounds. This incident reeks like another case of devious and illegal cooperation between clerks in the Ministry of Interior and anti-Messianic organizations*. The clerk who registered the denotation in Cowen's file had no legal authority to do so. He/she not only breached numerous laws in Israel by such action, but also created a situation which caused the government of Israel to grossly violate several international conventions to which it is a party. These conventions protect freedom of travel to innocent people. Cowen was treated as an international criminal simply because of his religious affiliation.

Through the intervention of Michal Cafrey, our Political/Political Activist, and Eeki (Isaac) Elner the CEO of the Israel Leadership Institute, the government agreed to release Cowen before our legal team had to submit a request for an injunction to the courts. While Cowen was still sitting in a detention cell, Elner boldly asserted in a live radio interview covering the incident, that there are few groups more Zionistic and supportive of the State of Israel then the Messianic Jews. Elner emphasized that Cowen's son-in-law has fought in a combat unit in the IDF and asked by comparison what great deeds the members of the anti-Messianic organizations have done to protect our nation.

JIJ has recently entered into a new partnership for the advancement of freedom of religious choice with the Israel Leadership Institute. The new cooperation is named, the Alliance for the Future of Israel. The Alliance for the Future of Israel will strive to build a moral, just, and upright future leadership in Israel and advance freedom of religious choice in order to open up the doors of aliyah for all Jewish streams. Regarding Cowen's case, JIJ will be representing him in a lawsuit for compensation from the government of Israel based on the grounds of unlawful arrest and detention, and discrimination of public services.

*Anti-Messianic Groups are orthodox organizations which fight, harass, and persecute Christians, Messianic Jews, and all other religious minorities in Israel, particularly minorities who happen to believe in Yeshua (Jesus). They commonly refer to themselves as "anti-missionary" groups although the vast majority of the people who they target are not actually missionaries.
 

Community Outreach and Empowerment

The annual JIJ “Know Your Rights” seminar was held on November 23, at a central location near Jerusalem. Approximately 80 leaders of Messianic, Christian, and other minority communities participated.

Topics covered by the seminar included:

 The Law of Return, Messianic Jews, and the authority of the Ministry of Interior to revoke citizenship

 Coping with criminal activities against religious minorities in Israel

 Property tax exemptions for religious institutions and other relevant planning and building issues

 Navigating laws which prohibit proselytizing in Israel

The seminar participants were quite vocal during the Q&A period, encouraging one another and recounting personal experiences. One interesting moment was when the question was posed, “how many of the participants have had slanderous posters put up containing their photo and personal information about them?” More than half of the attendees raised their hands. Apparently the anti-Messianic organizations have been very busy recently.

JIJ continues to advance freedom of religious choice, to fight discrimination against minority religions, and to empower the local congregations with knowledge of their rights in Israel.

With your continued support, we can make a difference.

Calev Myers
Founder and Chief Council
 

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