An Israeli immigration judge has ordered the deportation of a Messianic Jewish man who was arrested on November 20 for taking part in an evangelistic event in southern Israel.
Barry Barnett, 50, a worker with Jews for Jesus UK, was ordered to leave the country by December 3. Barnett, who is based in England, was volunteering at the Jews for Jesus ‘Behold your God Israel’ campaign around the city of Be’er Shiva when he was arrested.
Four days in jail
According to his wife, Alison Barnett, six immigration control officers took him from Be’er Shiva, 78 miles south of Jerusalem, to an immigration office in Omer, just outside the city. He was held there for several hours without charge, then transferred to an immigration-holding unit of a prison in Ramle, near Tel Aviv. He spent four days in jail before his court hearing.
The team present at the time of the arrest was made up of Israeli citizens except for Barnett. Dan Sered, Israel director of Jews for Jesus, said that the arrest was ‘outrageous’. ‘As an Israeli, I have been proud that our country allows for freedom of religion’, he said. ‘Yet those who seized Barry and took him to prison have done a shameful thing.’
According to Sered: ‘All they said is that he was doing ‘missionary activity.’ That is correct, he was doing missionary activity, and that is legal to do in Israel’.
The reason the State of Israel gave for his deportation, he said, was that Barnett was engaging in missionary activity and not regular tourist activity on a B2 tourist visa. ‘But the global ethics code for tourism, which the State of Israel signed, and even advertises on its own Ministry of Tourism web page, states that tourism for the purpose of exchanging religious beliefs is not only valid but also should be encouraged’.
Fighting the order
Sered said Jews for Jesus would fight the deportation order. If the order is not overturned, there is a risk that it will become a legal precedent that could be used to expel missionaries or any expatriate engaging in religious activities deemed unacceptable by the Israeli Government — or by government officials acting alone.
The immigration officers who arrested Barnett seized a banner he was holding with a group of Israelis who were campaigning with him. It read ‘Salvation equals Jesus’, an explanation of Jesus’ name and declared him the source of salvation. It also had a contact number for Jews for Jesus.
Tracked down
Alison Barnett said that the ultra-Orthodox, anti-Christian group Yad L’Achim had followed the Jews for Jesus teams to their campaign sites in Israel since the event started. Yad L’Achim has a long-standing history of links with sympathetic government officials who issue legal actions on their behalf.
Jews for Jesus members fear there is a troubling possibility that immigration officials under the influence of Yad L’Achim may have an unwritten directive to arrest foreign religious workers as part of a general crackdown on missionaries.
