State Department Says Controversial Pastor Was Invited By Ambassador

As previously reported, one of the pastors who delivered an invocation at yesterday's opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem was Robert Jeffress, who had made controversial statements in the past about Catholics, Jews, Mormons and various other religious groups. At a news conference yesterday (full text), State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert was asked about the decision to invite Jeffress.  Here is part of her exchange with a reporter:

QUESTION: Do you have any further explanation for why it was that Pastor Jeffress was chosen to participate in the ceremony given his past controversial comments?

MS NAUERT: I can just tell you that Ambassador Friedman, I know, was looking at a variety of people to be a part of the service or the ceremony, and that’s who was invited. I don’t have anything more for you on that.

QUESTION: Was the State Department aware of some of his past comments regarding specifically Mormonism, Islam, Muslim, and --

MS NAUERT: We certainly would not agree with --

QUESTION: -- Jewish --

MS NAUERT: -- his assertions. We would certainly not agree with the pastor’s remarks, some of his controversial remarks that he has made about various religious groups, but he was chosen by Ambassador Friedman, who was certainly welcome to do so, and made that decision.

QUESTION: Well, wait, so that means that if not – even though you don’t agree with those comments, you might say that they’re wrong or what – I don’t know what term you would use --

MS NAUERT: I think I was just pretty clear. I said we do not agree with his opinion.

QUESTION: But – so that’s not disqualifying to be – I mean, does this – is this the embassy of the United States of America or is it basically Ambassador Friedman’s embassy?

MS NAUERT: As we have seen before – I seem to recall not too long ago that there was another embassy that made some decisions – embassies certainly have their free will sometimes to make decisions about who they want to bring in as guest lecturers or people to lead a ceremony or some sort of a celebration. To my knowledge, we did not have any role in making that decision, but --

QUESTION: Okay.

MS NAUERT: Not that we asked to. I just – I’m not aware if we had any decision-making --

QUESTION: Okay. So I just want to make sure I understand. So this is the equivalent – you’re saying it’s kind of like the equivalent of the Berlin situation?

MS NAUERT: I’m not saying that. I’m just saying that embassies and people around the world bring in lots and lots of people who have various opinions. Okay?

Controversial Baptist Pastor To Open Ceremony Dedicating U.S. Embassy In Jerusalem

The Trump Administration has chosen controversial Baptist pastor Robert Jeffress to deliver the opening prayer in today's ceremony marking the move of the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. (WFAA News). As reported by Mother Jones, Jeffress, who is a supporter and informal faith adviser to President Trump, has made incendiary statements about non-Christian religions:

Jeffress, who runs the First Baptist Dallas megachurch in Texas, has referred to both Islam and Mormonism as “a heresy from the pit of hell.” He believes Islam, Mormonism, Hinduism, and Buddhism are all cults, and that Catholicism represents the “genius of Satan.” Jews, he believes, are going to hell. “You can’t be saved by being a Jew,” he’s said. Islam, he said, “is a religion that promotes pedophelia, sex with children.”

UPDATE: Here is a video of the full ceremony in Jerusalem.  Pastor Jeffress' invocation is at 17:25 on the video, followed by an invocation by Chabad Rabbi Zalman Wolowik.  The benediction at 1:12:03 on the video was offered by controversial Pastor John Hagee, evangelical founder of Christians United for Israel.

Israel's Knesset Passes Bill Urging Judges To Use Jewish Law In Absence of Other Precedent

Haaretz [subscription required] reports that Israel's Knesset yesterday, by a vote of 39-32, gave final approval to a controversial bill that recommends, but does not require, judges to decide cases according to principles of Jewish law when there is no other relevant legislation or judicial precedent.  It also continues the provision that is in current law urging judges to also look at "the principles of Jewish heritage."  Bill sponsor MK Nissan Slomiansky (Habayit Hayehudi) explained:

The goal is that if there’s a lacuna in the law, instead of the judge running to look all over the world for compatible legal systems, he should look at Jewish law.  If the judge wants to, he’ll use it, and if not, he’ll use his judgment and do as he sees fit. This isn’t a big revolution and there’s nothing here that ought to scare people.

However, opposition Knesset member Merav Michaeli (Zionist Union) argued:

This is one small step ... on the way to an undemocratic state governed by Jewish law.... In a democratic country, the law is whatever is decided by the people’s representatives, not what a mere minority believes that God has decided.

And Knesset member Dov Khenin (Joint List , a coalition of Arab parties) said:

This bill is part of a creeping, dangerous move. This government has proposed a series of bills whose goal is to change the foundations of the system, to distance the system as much as possible from progressive views of democracy and make it more nationalist, conservative and religious.

Israeli Court Rules "Am Yisrael Chai" Is Patriotic Slogan, Not A Prayer

In Israel, a Jerusalem Magistrate's Court yesterday ruled in favor of right-wing activist Itamar Ben Gvir in his suit for wrongful detention.  The suit grows out of a 2015 incident in which police held him for several hours because of his conduct at the Temple Mount where religious practices are controlled by the Muslim Waqf. As reported by Times of Israel, under current arrangements, Jews are allowed to visit the Temple Mount, but they may not pray there.  While Ben Gvir was touring the site with a Jewish group, a Muslim woman shouted Allahu Akbar at them.  He shouted back"Am Yisrael chai" (the Jewish People Live), at which point Israeli police detained him for violating the no-prayer rule.  The court ruled that the phrase used by Ben Gvir is a patriotic slogan, not a prayer.

Israeli Court Says Jews Have Right To Pray At Temple Mount Gates

Arutz Sheva and Jerusalem Post report that in Israel yesterday, a Jerusalem Magistrate's Court has ruled that police acted improperly in attempting to prevent three 14-year old Jewish girls from praying at the Bab al-Huttah gate to the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem.  Police contended that the girls were attempting to create a provocation since they timed their prayers to coincide with the end of Muslim prayers on the Temple Mount.  The girls had undertaken similar activity before and were issued restraining orders by the police.  The court held that the girls have the same right as Muslims to pray at that location, saying in part:

[I]t is the right of every person to pray in the State of Israel on the streets of a city, provided this does not violate the rights of others.... The police representative's argument that throwing of objects would have resulted from the young women's presence is unacceptable to me, as I wouldn't have accepted the claim that a man with a wallet full of cash walking in a neighborhood where many pickpockets live violates public safety and invites offenses.

Proposed Knesset Bill Would Extend Israeli Rabbinical Court Jurisdiction Extraterritorially

JTA reports on an interesting family law bill that passed the first of three readings in Israel's Knesset earlier this month.  Jewish religious law, enforced in personal status matters in Israel by the country's Rabbinical courts, requires that a husband give his wife a "get" (bill of divorce)  in order for a divorce to be valid.  Under current law, Israel's Rabbinical courts can impose penalties, including fines and jail, to pressure an Israeli husband to give  his wife a "get." The proposed new legislation would extend jurisdiction of Israeli Rabbinical courts extraterritorially to any Jewish man who is unjustly withholding a "get."  Israeli courts could then fine or imprison the husband if he travels to Israel.  According to Pinchas Goldschmidt, president of the Conference of European Rabbis:

Today among Jews in Europe, everyone has relatives in Israel, or they’re thinking they might be moving there or forced to move there.  So this threat of a problem may make a lot of reluctant husbands free their wives.

Christian Leaders Close Church of Holy Sepulcher In Protest of Israeli Tax and Land Policies

Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Armenian church leaders have closed the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (believed to be the site of Jesus' crucifixion and burial) in Jerusalem in protest of two legal moves by Israeli government officials. YNet News today describes the disputed actions:

As part of a battle with Finance Ministry over budgets to the capital, the Jerusalem Municipality informed the Finance, Interior and Foreign ministry and the Prime Minister's Office that it had started collecting property tax debts of more than NIS 650 million from some 887 properties across the city which belong to churches and United Nations institutions.

Municipality officials said these properties did not include houses of worship, which are exempt from paying property taxes by law, but rather properties used for non-prayer activities, including commercial activities.

Churches are exempt from paying property taxes as part of an agreement with the state, but the Jerusalem Municipality says it is not being compensated by the state for the money it is losing by not collecting these taxes.

Later on Sunday, an Israeli cabinet committee is due to consider a bill that would allow the state to expropriate land in Jerusalem sold by churches to private real estate firms in recent years.

The stated aim of the bill is to protect homeowners against the possibility that private companies will not extend their leases. The churches, major landowners in the city, say such a law would make it harder for them to find buyers for their land.

A statement from church leaders calls the moves a "systematic and unprecedented attack against Christians in the Holy Land."

Israeli Rabbinical Judges Immune In State Court At Suggestion of State Department

In Ben-Hiam v. Edri, (NJ App., Feb. 5, 2018), a New Jersey appellate court held that a State Department "suggestion of immunity" in a suit against foreign officials is binding on New Jersey courts when the State Department has found that the foreign officials were acting within the scope of their authority for a foreign sovereign.  At issue is a suit brought in New Jersey against six Israeli rabbinical judges and an official of the Rabbinical Religious Courts Administration of Israel.  The suit grew out of a divorce and child custody dispute filed in Israeli courts by a couple who lived in New Jersey, but were Israeli citizens who were married in Israel and had traveled to Israel when the divorce action was filed.  While the Israeli litigation was pending, the husband (plaintiff in this case) returned to the United States.  Competing custody rulings for the couple's daughter were issued in the U.S. and Israel. The Israeli rabbinical court awarded custody of the daughter to the mother, but was unable to grant a divorce because the husband refused to grant the wife a get (Jewish divorce document).

What happened next is explained by the New Jersey court:

Israeli law gives rabbinical courts the authority to issue certain sanctions to pressure a nonconsenting spouse to give consent to a get. Accordingly, to compel plaintiff to consent to the get, the rabbinical court issued a series of escalating sanctions against plaintiff. Ultimately, the rabbinical court issued an order finding that under Jewish law, plaintiff's refusal was criminal and that Jewish persons must avoid dealing with plaintiff. That rabbinical court order was sent to plaintiff's rabbi in New Jersey, and was published on several websites.

In April 2015, plaintiff filed a civil complaint ... in New Jersey. Specifically, plaintiff contended that defendants aided and abetted in the kidnapping of his daughter, defamed him, and intentionally inflicted emotional distress on him.

Court Enjoins Kansas Anti-Israel Boycott Law

In Koontz v. Watson, (D KA, Jan 30, 2018), a Kansas federal district court issued a preliminary injunction barring Kansas form enforcing Kan. Stat. Ann. § 75-3740f(a).  The law requires all state contractors to certify that they are not engaged in a boycott of Israel. The law was challenged by a teacher who is a member of the Mennonite church who wants to participate as a teacher trainer in the state's Math and Science Partnership program.  The court, relying on the U.S. Supreme Court's 1982 decision in NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co., concluded that the law infringes plaintiff's free speech rights:

Ms. Koontz, other members of the Mennonite Church, and others have “banded together” to express, collectively, their dissatisfaction with Israel and to influence governmental action.... She and others participating in this boycott of Israel seek to amplify their voices to influence change, as did the boycotters in Claiborne. The court concludes that plaintiff has carried her burden on the current motion to establish that she and others are engaged in protected activity.

The ACLU issued a press release announcing the decision, and has links to other documents in the case.

Pence's Speech To Knesset Gets Theological Criticism

An interesting opinion piece in Haaretz this week titled Lucky the Jews Didn’t Understand What Mike Pence Was Really Saying [access requires subscription or sign-up] suggests that a close analysis of the theological underpinnings of U.S. Vice President Mike Pence's speech to the Knesset on Monday (see prior posting) shows that it was based on Christian supercessionist beliefs. Here are a few edited excerpts that give a flavor of the analysis:

Pence explained that, "It was here, in Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah, that Abraham offered up his son, Isaac, and was credited with righteousness for his faith in God."...

In Genesis 15 ... God takes [Abraham] outside and says that he will have as many descendants as the stars.... Abraham then "had faith in the Lord, and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness."

[According to doctoral student Joshua Blachorsky] ... this verse was central to the thought and work of the apostle Paul, who in his letter to the Romans ... uses this verse to explain that Abraham was considered "righteous," worthy of salvation, not because of his observance of the commandments ("works") or his circumcision, the act by which he entered into a divine covenant, but because of his faith.

In Christian readings of Paul, the Jewish Torah and its commandments ... cannot bring about the promises of inheritance to Abraham. Rather, only faith can bring about salvation....

In this reading, Abraham is the father of the faithful, not the father of the circumcised....

The U.S. Vice President stood before the assembled delegates of the Jewish state ... and told them, right after talking about the Holocaust, that Abraham was not their father but that Abraham was his father.

Israeli Journalist Threatens To Sue U.S. Embassy Over Sex Separation During Pence Visit To Wall

Haaretz reports that Israeli journalist Tal Schneider is threatening to file a lawsuit against the U.S. Embassy in Israel and the Rabbi of the Western Wall over the separation of women journalists and photographers from male journalists and photographers during Vice President Pence's recent visit to the Western Wall.  As described by Globes, women reporters, relegated behind men, needed to stand on shaky chairs to see Pence at all. The Rabbi of the Western Wall explained:

The photographers were positioned in the lower plaza which is a place of prayer and synagogue, where there is separation of men and women every day and at every type of event. There is nothing new in this and there never was previously any disagreement.

Pence Speaks To Israel's Knesset

Yesterday U.S. Vice President Mike Pence delivered a lengthy address (full text) to Israel's Knesset (Parliament).  His remarks included numerous religious references and references to Jewish history.  He said in part:

In the story of the Jews, we’ve always seen the story of America. It is the story of an exodus, a journey from persecution to freedom, a story that shows the power of faith and the promise of hope.

My country’s very first settlers also saw themselves as pilgrims, sent by Providence, to build a new Promised Land. The songs and stories of the people of Israel were their anthems, and they faithfully taught them to their children, and do to this day. And our founders, as others have said, turned to the wisdom of the Hebrew Bible for direction, guidance, and inspiration....

The Jewish people’s unbreakable bond to this sacred city reaches back more than 3,000 years. It was here, in Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah, that Abraham offered his son, Isaac, and was credited with righteousness for his faith in God.

It was here, in Jerusalem, that King David consecrated the capital of the Kingdom of Israel. And since its rebirth, the modern State of Israel has called this city the seat of its government.

Israel's High Court Upholds Local Law Allowing Supermarkets To Open on Sabbath

According to the Jerusalem Post, in Israel yesterday an expanded panel of the country's High Court of Justice upheld a Tel Aviv municipal bylaw that allows 165 large supermarkets to remain open on the Sabbath. Small stores which must close because of the Law for Hours of Work and Rest, which prohibits requiring employees to work on their day of rest, argued that the Tel Aviv ordinance created unfair competition. Orthodox Jewish lawmakers say they will introduce legislation in the Knesset to overrule the decision. [Thanks to Steven H. Sholk for the lead.]

Israeli Court Fines Online "Jews-Only" Job Site

In Israel yesterday a Jerusalem trial court fined the online "Jewish Job List" NIS 40,000 ($11,371) for violating employment discrimination laws.  The site which lists jobs for employers who want to only hire Jews was found by the court to violate Israeli laws against employment discrimination on the basis of nationality or religion.  According to a report on the case in Hamodia:

The lawsuit received backing from the official government ombudsman for equality in the Labor Ministry, who said in a statement to the court that attempts to persuade the public to hire Jews, and not to hire Arabs, is “a serious violation of civil rights. The message is clear that promoting this kind of discrimination is against the values of the State of Israel, and removing this will be another step in providing an equal-opportunity job market,” he added.

Pastor's Wife Sues Over Kansas Israel Anti-Boycott Law

The ACLU today filed suit in federal district court in Kansas on behalf of a Mennonite woman challenging a Kansas statute that allows the state to enter contracts with companies or individuals only if they certify that they are not currently engaged in a boycott of Israel.  The complaint (full text) in Koontz v. Watson, (D KA, filed 10/11/2017), explains that Esther Koontz, the wife of a Mennonite pastor, following the recommendation in a resolution passed by the Mennonite Church USA is engaged in a boycott of consumer goods and services offered by Israeli companies and international companies operating in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.  The Kansas State Department of Education refuses to sign a contract with Koontz for her to serve as a teacher trainer in its Math & Science Partnerships program because she refuses to sign a boycott certification.  The complaint alleges that this violates her free speech and associational rights, amounts to viewpoint discrimination, and violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. The ACLU has also submitted a Memorandum (full text) in support of Koontz's motion for a preliminary injunction.  ACLU issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.

Israel's Chief Rabbinate Urged To Allow DNA Evidence To Prove Jewish Descent In Some Cases

In Israel, the official Chief Rabbinate determines whether a person is Jewish under Orthodox Jewish religious law.  This determination is relevant to issues of marriage and burial in the country. Yesterday's Jerusalem Post reports that a leading Orthodox rabbi who is co-head of the Eretz Hemdah Institute for Advanced Jewish Studies has submitted to the Chief Rabbinate a scientific report that suggests a Mitochondrial DNA test should be allowed as an alternative method for some women to prove that they are Jewish.  Mitrochondrial DNA is inherited only through the mother, and 40% of Ashkenazi Jews have specific genetic markers showing descent from one of four Jewish women who settled in Europe over 1000 years ago.

7 U.S. Senators Write Netanyahu Over Jewish Pluralism In Israel

As reported by JTA, on Monday seven U.S. senators (all of them Jewish) sent a letter (full text) to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressing concern over Israeli governmental recognition of Orthodox Judaism over the more liberal branches of Judaism.  Signed by Senators Wyden, Feinstein, Frankin, Blumenthal, Cardin, Schatz, and Sanders, the letter read in part:

[W]e applaud your recent decision to put a hold on a conversion bill under consideration by the Knesset. As we understand it, this bill would invest full oversight of conversions in Israel to the Chief Rabbinate.  We fear this would have significant ramifications for the religious equality of all Jewish movements in Israel and we worry that our Modern Orthodox and non-Orthodox constituents will see this as an attack on their Jewishness and the status of their rabbis....

We are also very concerned by the Israeli government's recent decision to freeze a widely-agreed-upon plan to establish an egalitarian payer space at the Western Wall....

We fear actions like [these] ... will strain the unique relationship between our two nations, particularly if the majority of American Jews see the movements to which they are committed denied equal rights in Israel.  Given all the challenges Israel faces on the international stage, we urge you not to alienate committed Zionists.

Israel's High Court Erodes Rabbinate's Monopoly On Kosher Certification

By a vote of 5-2, last week an expanded panel of Israel's High court of Justice handed down a ruling which moves toward breaking the Chief Rabbinate's monopoly on designation of which restaurants in the country are kosher.  As reported by Haaretz and Arutz Sheva, the ruling stops short of allowing alternative private kashrut certification. It upholds the Rabbinate's position that Israel's Kosher Fraud Law prohibits a business from representing itself as "kosher" without a certification approved by the Chief Rabbinate. However the decision does allow businesses "to display a true representation about the standards they follow and the way they are supervised in keeping them, which also includes an explicit clarification that they do not have a kashrut certificate."  The court added:

Assuming it is telling the truth, nothing prevents a food establishment from clarifying that the meat it serves was purchased from a slaughterhouse that carries kosher certification; and that the fish it serves are only those with fins and scales.

Israel's High Court Strikes Down 2015 Law On Draft Exemptions For Ultra-Orthodox

Israel's High Court of Justice yesterday struck down a 2015 law that was intended to reverse attempts enacted a year earlier to increase the number of ultra-Orthodox young people who are drafted into the Israel Defense Forces.  As reported by Times of Israel:

Eight justices, led by Chief Justice Miriam Naor, ruled that the current arrangement was increasing the inequality in the “draft burden,” rather than reducing it, which was the law’s stated purpose and the grounds for its constitutionality. That made it an “unconstitutional law,” the justices ruled.

One dissenter, Justice Noam Solberg, argued that the law had not been in effect long enough to determine its effect on the military draft, and therefore no determination could yet be made about its constitutionality.

The Court gave the Knesset one year to come up with a different arrangement.  Ultra-Orthodox members of the Knesset strongly criticized the decision.  For example, Deputy Education Minister Meir Porush of the United Torah Judaism party said:

The High Court of Justice’s judicial activism completely empties Knesset legislation of importance, turning it into a dead letter. Today’s decision just drives another stake into the coffin. The High Court of Justice is eager for the apocalypse.

Christian Church Heads In Jerusalem Protest Two Government Actions

In Israel this week, the heads of the major Christian denominations in the country-- Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, Latin Catholic, and Ethiopian Orthodox-- signed a joint statement (full text) protesting two recent actions by the Israeli government, calling them "a systematic attempt to undermine the integrity of the Holy City of Jerusalem and the Holy Land, and to weaken the Christian presence."  As explained by the Jerusalem Post:

The first is a Jerusalem District Court ruling from last month saying that the purchase of three major compounds adjacent to Jaffa Gate in the Old City were carried out legally, and as a result, were transferred from the Greek-Orthodox church to the rightwing NGO Ateret Kohanim Yeshiva....

The second issue is a bill proposed by the Kulanu MK Rachel Azaria which is signed by 39 other MKs across the political spectrum, that seeks to nationalize lands owned by churches in west Jerusalem and sold to private entrepreneurs....

Churches leased the disputed properties in west Jerusalem to the Jewish National Fund, mainly in the 1950s, parts of which ... [were then] sold to residents living there. In the next 20-50 years the lease periods will end, and the churches have reportedly sold parcels of the land to private entrepreneurs – a deal that ... creates future uncertainty....

The bill proposes to compensate all sides that would be harmed from the nationalizing of land.