JERUSALEM — Israeli authorities are investigating the Florida-based Christian broadcaster GOD TV to determine whether it has broken a law prohibiting missionary activity.

Since the international Protestant Christian media network launched its Hebrew-language Shelanu Television on HOT Cable on April 29, GOD TV has sparked an uproar in Israel over the clash between media freedom and the state’s concerns about  missionary activity. While Israel promotes freedom of religion, the Jewish state does not tolerate some forms of proselytizing.

Communications Minister David Amsalem denounced GOD TV and called for a “thorough investigation” of the “bungle.” The minister seemed to suggest that the Council for Cable and Satellite Broadcasting approved the license for Shelanu Television without his knowledge. The HOT cable network obtained a seven-year license to air the new channel.

Missionary activity in Israel is technically legal, although the law prevents proselytizing of minors without their parents' presence or consent. It is also illegal to promise any material or monetary inducement for converting to a different faith.

Founded in Britain in 1995 by Rory and Wendy Alec as the Christian Channel Europe, the Continent's first daily Christian television network initially broadcast only two hours a day. It has since grown into a multilingual international cable TV religious empire reaching some 200 countries, with regional offices in India, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Kenya, Ghana and Australia. On the air 24 hours a day, its content varies from Anglican to Pentecostal and includes Full Gospel and Messianic Judaism.

GOD TV’s presence in Israel goes back decades; the network has been hosting Holy Land tours of Biblical sites, staging events that have been broadcast worldwide. The network’s largest tour to date was in 2008, when 1,800 pilgrims attended “A Celebration of Israel's 60th Anniversary.” Held at Jerusalem’s Archaeological Park-Davidson Center alongside the Western Wall, the mega event attracted both Jewish and Christian participants.

The following year GOD TV partnered with the Jewish National Fund (JNF) to raise $500,000 to plant trees on land said to be inhabited by Bedouin tribes in the Negev Desert. GOD TV's CEO Ward Simpson was in Jerusalem in October 2017 to address a Christian media summit here at the invitation of the Israeli government.

But when GOD TV and the HOT cable network launched the new Hebrew-language Shelanu channel April 29, authorities stepped in. Asher Biton, chairman of the Communications Ministry’s Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Council, told Haaretz that he did not know that the new channel would engage in missionary activities and said that while religious programming is permitted, missionary programming is prohibited under the terms of its license.

“According to our regulations, it is fine to broadcast religious programming,” Biton said, “but it is forbidden to broadcast content that has the potential to influence viewers in an undue fashion, and most certainly young and impressionable viewers.”

Simpson said in a video announcing the launch that his network had received permission from the Israeli government to “broadcast the gospel of Jesus Christ—Yeshua the Messiah—in Israel on cable TV in the Hebrew language. Never before, as far as we know, in the history of the world, has this ever been done.”

“Today we made history! For the first time ever, a Messianic television channel is broadcasting the Gospel across Israel in the Hebrew language,” a statement on GOD TV’s website says. “Shelanu translates to ‘Ours’ in Hebrew. We want every person in Israel to know, not a foreign Messiah, but a Jewish one! His name is Yeshua and He has not forgotten His people.”

More than 700,000 Israeli households subscribe to HOT, which accounts for nearly 50 percent of the Israeli market for cable, satellite and online services.

The Christian channels Daystar and Middle East Television both broadcast on Israel’s YES satellite television. Neither engages in proselytizing.

Shelanu is being operated in partnership with Israel-based Tikkun International, which describes itself as “a global family of ministries, congregations and leaders, dedicated to the dual restoration of Israel and the Church.”

“We want Jewish viewers to grasp the fact that Jesus is theirs. That He is not a foreigner, intruder or imposter,” Tikkun said in an announcement of the new channel on its website. “He is their Jewish Messiah, born in Israel, raised as a Jew.”

Kehila.org, an organization that promotes Christianity in the form of  “Messianic Judaism,” quoted Simpson praising the new network as a “historic and unprecedented media opportunity,” enabling missionaries to “take the message of Yeshua our Messiah to all of Israel 24/7, 365 days a year.”

Responding to news that Israeli authorities are investigating Shelanu Television, Ward Simpson said GOD TV will make sure that Shelanu TV programming is in accord with Israeli law and that the network has engaged top Israeli legal experts to do so. He expressed confidence that Shelanu TV will be allowed to continue to “broadcast Christian content.”

Communications Minister Amsalem vowed that no missionary channel will be allowed to operate in Israel “at any time, under any circumstances.”

Gil Zohar was born in Toronto, Canada and moved to Jerusalem, Israel in 1982. He is a journalist writing for The Jerusalem Post, Segula magazine, and other publications, though currently he is on leave from The Jerusalem Post as the newspaper struggles to survive during the coronavirus pandemic. He’s also a professional tour guide who likes to weave together the Holy Land’s multiple narratives.