Christians Face Jerusalem’s High Court Again

BY AWAKE! CORRESPONDENT IN ISRAEL

JESUS stood before the Sanhedrin, the highest court in Jerusalem, on trial for his life. Despite this pressure, he fearlessly represented God’s Kingdom. (Matthew 26:57-68) Within weeks of Jesus’ trial, his closest followers stood before this same high court. There they gave a dynamic witness for God’s Kingdom and its appointed King.​—Acts 4:5-21.

Days later, when the apostles were once again haled before the Sanhedrin, there was an unexpected turn of events. Despite tremendous peer pressure, Gamaliel, one of the court’s most respected members, spoke out in behalf of Jesus’ disciples. As a result of this surprising intervention, the apostles were set free.​—Acts 5:27-42.

These court appearances were in fulfillment of Jesus’ words at Matthew 10:16-18: “Look! I am sending you forth as sheep amidst wolves . . . They will deliver you up to local courts . . . You will be haled before governors and kings for my sake, for a witness to them and the nations.” Though often misunderstood, Jesus’ followers became well-​known throughout Israel. Thousands of first-​century Jews accepted Jesus’ message. (Acts 4:4; 6:7) All of this was a result of the zealous preaching of Jesus’ Jewish disciples, including their fearless court appearances.

In Israel today, relatively few know of Jehovah’s Witnesses, who presently number less than 500 in a nation of about 5 million. But in 1993, the case of one young Witness not only brought considerable attention to their activity but also highlighted a unique historical link between prejudice and persecution that both Jews and Jehovah’s Witnesses have suffered.

How Did the Controversy Begin?

Ariel Feldman, a 17-​year-​old Jewish Russian immigrant to Israel, living in Haifa, was an honor student and well liked both by the school staff and by his fellow students.

As a result of a chance discussion on the street during the Persian Gulf War, Ariel and his family began studying the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses. Ariel made a thorough investigation and comparison of Jewish religious teachings and the Bible’s explanations being presented to him by Jehovah’s Witnesses. Serious-​minded, Ariel made rapid progress in his study of the Bible and was the first member of his family to be baptized as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

All of this presented no difficulty for him in his school studies. In his senior year, however, his school decided to take on an experimental program to prepare students for army service. Soldiers gave instruction, and the program included practicing combat positions and techniques. Feeling that active participation in this course would violate his Bible-​trained conscience and his neutral stand as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Ariel made reasonable efforts to explain his position to the principal. (Isaiah 2:2-4) He respectfully explained that he was willing to take part in any other school activity during this period but that he could not act against his beliefs.

Although his school principal had previously shown some understanding toward him, she decided that this request was more than she could allow. She gave him an ultimatum: Either actively participate in the premilitary training or be expelled from school. Ariel could not violate his conscience. On January 31, 1993, just a few months before his final exams, he was formally expelled from school with no alternative offered.

Defense From an Unexpected Source

Ariel turned to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel. They were willing to take on his case, offering free legal assistance. The modern-​day Jewish State of Israel is a democracy. Although it has no constitution guaranteeing individual rights, the Israeli declaration of independence promotes freedom of religion and freedom of conscience. There was no legal precedent in Israel involving expulsion from school on grounds of religious belief.

The newspapers began to take an interest in the story. Following legal advice, Ariel did not grant interviews to reporters, preferring to have his case judged in the courtroom rather than in the “court” of public opinion. However, the school principal was quick to justify her actions in an interview. In the newspaper Hadashot of February 9, 1993, she not only expressed her view that the student’s religious stand was offensive to the State of Israel and all those who love it but used the opportunity to speak out against Jehovah’s Witnesses as an organization, saying: “Their activity is disguised, filthy, underhanded. They send out octopus arms and virtually hunt down the weak.”

Many Israelis could see that the principal’s views represented a prejudiced outlook. Tom Segev, an Israeli journalist-​historian who has done much research on the Holocaust, was especially disturbed by the interview. It reminded him of an attitude shown by some in Nazi Germany, who, spurred on by false accusations against the Jews, vented their prejudice in one of the worst large-​scale crimes of mankind’s history. Segev’s opinion was that the greater danger to the State of Israel lay, not in the young student’s conscientious stand, but, rather, in the example of intolerance shown by the school principal. He was moved to write an article defending the rights of Jehovah’s Witnesses. (See box, page 15.)

In the wake of Segev’s article, others also spoke out. One Jerusalem resident, who because of being a Jew had been a prisoner in a camp during World War II, wrote a letter to the editor recalling the fine conduct of Jehovah’s Witnesses who were in the same camp because of their refusal to serve in the German army.

Since the young Witness student wouldn’t accept interviews, reporters turned to other congregation members. Although not commenting specifically on Ariel’s situation before it went to court, they were happy to give out information on the beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses and their activity in Israel. This led to a number of favorable articles in the Israeli press as well as a radio interview with one of the local elders. Many heard of Jehovah’s Witnesses for the first time as a result of this unsolicited publicity.

The Day in the Jerusalem Court

The Haifa branch of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel repeatedly tried to reason with the principal, the Board of Education, and the Ministry of Education in Jerusalem. However, all these efforts met with unsatisfactory responses. On March 11, 1993, a petition was presented on Ariel Feldman’s behalf to the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, the highest court in modern-​day Israel.

March 15, 1993, was set as the date for a preliminary hearing of the case. Lawyers from the Association for Civil Rights in Israel represented Ariel’s case against the Board of Education, the school principal, and the Haifa city municipality. Three Israeli Supreme Court judges sat on the initial hearing of the case.

The State’s attorney presented the issue as one that would undermine the school’s authority if the student was allowed to “dictate” which classes he would or would not take part in. They requested the court to support their decision that under no circumstances should the student be allowed to set foot again on school property.

The civil rights lawyers presented the issue as a matter of basic rights of freedom of worship and freedom of conscience that had been violated by the school’s handling of the matter. The judges posed questions regarding the principles of Jehovah’s Witnesses in order to understand the reason for the young student’s stand. They also were presented with much information in the written petition regarding similar cases around the world in which high courts had decided in favor of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

In their summation the judges stated that both sides were fighting for a principle. However, when weighing which side would suffer greater harm by leaving the situation as it stood, it was definitely the student. The judges expressed incredulity regarding the behavior of the principal and the Board of Education, giving them ten days to explain their actions in writing. The court issued an intermediate order requiring that Ariel Feldman be accepted back onto the school premises to finish out the school year and that he not be hindered from taking his final exams.

Days before the final hearing, which was set for May 11, 1993, the Board of Education dropped their charges against Ariel Feldman. As a result, the final hearing was canceled, the fundamental issues of the case were never decided by the court, and no binding legal precedent was set. Although this leaves the matter open to further legal debate, Jehovah’s Witnesses appreciated the reasonable attitude shown by the judges of the Israeli Supreme Court.

The Lessons Learned

From Jesus’ day till now, Jehovah’s Witnesses have met with opposition and prejudice that have brought them to the highest courts of many lands. These cases turn out to be ‘a witness to the nations.’ (Matthew 10:18) Even when his Witnesses in a certain land are few, Jehovah can see to it that his name becomes widely known. And just as was the case in the first century with the surprising intervention of the respected Sanhedrin member Gamaliel, God today can raise up support for his people from unexpected sources.

[Box on page 15]

“What a School Principal Knows About Jehovah’s Witnesses”

(Excerpts from Tom Segev’s article in Haʼaretz, February 12, 1993)

“In a nation that has everything, there are also some Israeli Jehovah’s Witnesses. They are not many, and not many have heard about them, despite the fact that in Israel, as in every country, they endeavor to gain followers to their principles, by both the written word and orally. Somehow they reached that student in the Hugim school. Since he adopted the movement’s principles, he refused to share in premilitary physical-​fitness lessons in the school. The principal didn’t agree to release him from these lessons. If I understood her correctly, she sees him as a threat to the future of Zionism. This week she explained to me: ‘We’re a Zionistic school; we teach the children loyalty to the State and to the nation.’ . . .

“Rina Shmueli, of the Citizen’s Rights Association in Haifa, tried to convince the principal to acknowledge the student’s right to obey his conscience and release him from the premilitary training; this could have been a very fitting lesson in tolerance and democracy. But she stood her ground. She is of the opinion that we are dealing with a dangerous sect that gains its members by means of seduction. . . .

“This reminded me of something not so good. So I called up the principal and asked her what she actually knew about Jehovah’s Witnesses. She said that she didn’t know much but that she had heard that they’re also active in other countries, and she herself encountered them in Canada and Germany. I asked her if she knew what they did to them in Germany. ‘I don’t know, and I also don’t want to know,’ the principal answered.

“Perhaps the Hugim High School has a library, and perhaps in that library they happen to have The Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, edited by Israel Gutman. If they don’t have a copy, they should buy one. Under the heading ‘Earnest Bible Students,’ the principal will find that the Nazis sent Jehovah’s Witnesses to the concentration camps.”