NEWS STORY: Israel clamps new restrictions on foreign Christian workers

c. 1998 Religion News Service JERUSALEM _ They were dubbed the”golden angels”by one grateful client and were awarded a civic prize for their charity work. Still, Carl and Marlene Bennett of Denver, Colo., _ who operate a free home repair program for needy Jerusalem families under the auspices of a local Christian charity _ have […]

c. 1998 Religion News Service

JERUSALEM _ They were dubbed the”golden angels”by one grateful client and were awarded a civic prize for their charity work. Still, Carl and Marlene Bennett of Denver, Colo., _ who operate a free home repair program for needy Jerusalem families under the auspices of a local Christian charity _ have been told by visa authorities they have overstayed their welcome in Israel.

The Bennetts’ situation is an example of the increased pressure Christian organizations here are feeling as visa permits for critical foreign staff become harder to obtain.


It coincides with a press by ultra-Orthodox Jewish politicians for legislation that would impose a three-year jail sentence on anyone convicted of missionary activities. That initiative has sparked protests from Christian groups worldwide, despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s assurances he will not allow the bill to become law.

In general, the gradual tightening of visa policies means volunteers such as the Bennetts, who in the past could come to Israel for two years or more to work in unpaid church posts, are now being asked to leave after six months to a year.

Long-term working papers and clerical visas _ two other categories foreign Christian workers here often obtain _ also are becoming harder to get in some cases, Christian groups say.

The churches affected run the gamut from Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christian sects faced with a shrinking supply of nuns to staff pilgrim hotels, hospitals and schools, to smaller and newer evangelical Protestant groups with tiny local congregations _ even though they serve as important spiritual bases for hundreds of thousands of visiting tourists.”The trend has been to get less and less time. The Ministry of Interior is trying to clamp down on foreign workers,”said the Rev. Charles Kopp, who heads the United Christian Council of Israel, an evangelical group representing 26 Protestant church organizations.

Burdensome visa restrictions have long been a fact of life for foreign Christians working or volunteering in West Bank Palestinian church institutions and who Israeli officials often accuse of being anti-Israel. But now, even church groups that are ardent supporters of the Jewish state are encountering new obstacles to their operations.”It’s true that in certain periods in the past when there weren’t so many tourists, volunteers and foreigners who wanted to stay, we weren’t as strict. We were more generous. But today we are being more careful,”said Batya Karmon, who oversees the interior ministry’s visa operations.

In general, Protestants have a harder time getting long-term visas than Orthodox Christian and Catholic clerics, who serve centuries-old Arab congregations. Orthodox and Catholic clerics arriving here from Greece, Europe and Russia usually are allowed to stay indefinitely, said Uri Mor, head of the Israeli Ministry of Religious Affairs’ Christian communities department.”There is a quota for the ministers in the Protestant churches,”said Mor, adding that it is a longstanding policy.”Some of the Protestants are missionaries, and the Ministry of Interior doesn’t want to encourage missionaries in the country … although we give them enough people so they can operate.” Ironically, the new visa restrictions coincide with a major Israeli drive to prepare Christian churches and sites for a flood of pilgrims expected in 2000, the end of Christianity’s second millennium.”On the one hand,”observed Kopp,”we’re being asked by the Ministry of Tourism and just about everyone else to gear up for the year 2000, and on the other hand, the Ministry of Interior makes it hard for us to retain staff that are reliable.” The foreign volunteers may serve as unskilled maids and cooks in a church hospice _ or as skilled church artists, craftspersons and tour managers. For Americans and Europeans, the volunteer stints are generally”working vacations”paying more in spiritual dividends than in salaries. But some Eastern European”volunteer”laborers find a church stipend in Israel is more than they can earn at home.

Still, as Israeli society has become overwhelmed with tens of thousands of low-paid Asian and African laborers, public and political sentiment has turned increasingly against the rising number of non-Jews who might try to settle here, and thus dilute Israel’s”Jewish”character.


As a result, immigration officials have become more aggressive in their attempts to have veteran church volunteers sent home, and for newly arrived volunteers to stay for shorter periods _ even if their jobs can not realistically be filled by an Israeli or Palestinian.”We can’t ignore things in one sphere, and then be particularly strict on the other,”said visa official Karmon, explaining why the policy also should apply to church staff.

In fact, the number of foreign church-related staff and volunteers in Israel and the Palestinian territories at any one time is insignificant in comparison to the number of foreign workers here on commercial work permits. Foreign church staff of all kinds, numbers only about 10,000, said Mor, of the religious affairs department.

Meanwhile, an estimated 100,000 foreign workers from Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe live here _ tens of thousands illegally.

The evangelical organization Bridges for Peace distributes hundreds of food packages to Jerusalem’s needy, arranges free home repair projects for the elderly and distributes welcome gifts and Jewish Bibles bearing an Orthodox Jewish seal to new Russian immigrants. The massive operation is aided little more than a dozen foreign Christian volunteers, who initially come to Israel for a month or so, but sometimes stay longer.

One of those volunteers is Carl Bennett, a 68-year-old homebuilder from Denver, who entered Israel with his wife, Marlene, in January 1997 for a second stint as manager of the organization’s free home renovation project, which has repaired hundreds of Jerusalem dwellings since it began in 1993.”We were under the impression we could stay for 27 months, but when we went back to get our visa renewed this spring, they told us, `you have to leave,'”said Carl Bennett, who was appealed that decision.”They told us we had to leave because they have so many foreigners coming in and taking jobs,”he said.”I could understand that, except that there is no one to replace us. We don’t get paid; in fact we bring our own money into the country.” Jerusalem’s famous Garden Tomb site is another one of the institutions affected by the new policy. Revered by many Protestants worldwide as Jesus’ burial ground, this garden sanctuary in the midst of downtown Jerusalem is managed by a British Christian society and hosts over 250,000 visitors annually.

Yet, one of the Tomb’s three top administrators, a British national named Liz Woods, has been told by the interior ministry she must leave the country after five years in her post _ triggering quiet Christian protests.”If Protestant evangelicals have a holy site then it’s the Garden Tomb,”said Kopp, who has put his prestige behind Woods’ case.”To run such a site, you need someone with a commitment, with the right language skills and the sensitivities to different denominations, to the subtle nuances between different kinds of tour groups.”In addition, we’re now faced with millennium preparations. Evangelicals like Jerry Falwell and Benny Hinn are planning to bring groups of 1,500-to-3,000 to this site in the year 2000. It is unreasonable to think that you can run that kid of operation on the basis of people who can only stay for a year,”Kopp said.


Israeli immigration officials, however, fear the continuation of longterm visas like Woods’ eventually spur requests for residency, a phenomenon they want to discourage.”Our problem is that when we see that the volunteers are here for a long time, we are afraid that eventually they will want to stay,”Karmon said.”So we try not to let people stay for too long of a period.” Both Mor and Karmon said their offices try to be sensitive to the special needs of”hardship cases”involving church charities and individuals. Mor referred to a nunnery providing care for elderly Holocaust victims and a hospice for cancer victims as examples of institutions obtaining special dispensations to keep long-term foreign staff.

DEA END FLETCHER

Donate to Support Independent Journalism!

Donate Now!