Israeli officials announced Sunday that they withdrew the broadcast license for a US-based evangelical television channel that they allegedly concealed its missionary agenda by applying for a license.
The chairman of the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Council, Asher Biton, said in his decision that he told parent company “GOD TV”, along with Israeli cable television provider Hot, on Thursday that his Hebrew station “Shelanu “I had seven days to stop the transmission.
Haaretz daily first reported Saturday the ruling That will close a broadcast on a Christian channel in the country for the first time.
Biton wrote in a letter to Hot, saying that he would not have approved the station’s seven-year contract so quickly if he had known that the target audience was the Jewish community. The president said that the original application for the station that began airing in late April said it was a “station aimed at the Christian population.” The Associated Press reported.
“A channel wishing to spread the gospel of Jesus among the Jewish nation sitting in Israel had never been broadcast by Hot, and the channel’s chiefs knew that, as clarified at the audience we held,” he wrote, according to Haaretz. .
The president said Christian programming targeting Jews is “a complicated and delicate matter” and said that the stations should have been more direct on the channel. Proselytizing children under the age of 18 is illegal in the country, prompting Biton to say that if he knew what the channel would broadcast, he would have determined if it was aimed at children.
“Therefore, if it was a violation of the equity obligation, a deliberate cover-up, or a decision to change the nature of programming after the license was approved, the channel should not be allowed to continue broadcasting based on the license. it was awarded, “he said.
The controversy over Shelanu’s mission began after GOD TV CEO Ward Simpson said in a deleted fundraising video: “God has supernaturally opened the door for us to bring the gospel of Jesus into the homes , the lives and hearts of their Jewish people. “
Then-Israeli Communications Minister David Amsalem accused GOD TV of being a “mission channel” shortly after its launch in April, according to AFP.
GOD TV issued a statement after removing the video saying that the channel was not trying to convert Jews to Christianity, but wanted the Jews to accept Jesus as their messiah, according to Haaretz.
Shelanu said in a statement that he was surprised by Biton’s “unprofessional decision,” which he “unequivocally stated” that it would broadcast in Hebrew, rather than Arabic, that most Christians speak in the Holy Land.
Ron Cantor, GOD TV representative in Israel, said the station will reapply, which the council said would be welcome, and hopes it will be approved “and thus avoid a serious diplomatic incident with hundreds of millions of pro-Israel evangelical Christians. Worldwide”.
Cantor said in a statement that GOD TV did not break its agreement.
“Our license, issued by the state of Israel, says in Hebrew that our target audience is the audience of Israeli viewers,” he said, according to Haaretz. “There is no stipulation that we should target Christians. I have read the license over and over again and it is very clear.”
He added that “the average Israeli is not threatened by our channel.”
Cantor posted a Facebook video on Sunday, in which he addressed Biton at one point, saying, “If I cheated on you, then my whole message, my whole life, it’s all cheating.”
GOD TV was created in the UK in 1995 and has expanded to a 24-hour network with its broadcast licenses held by a Florida-based non-profit organization, according to the AP.
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