Israel’s broadcasting regulator ordered an evangelical Christian TV channel to come off the air, saying its programs are trying to persuade Jews to convert to Christianity through the gospel of Jesus.
The council’s chairman, Asher Biton, gave the cable provider of broadcaster God TV a seven-day deadline to remove its new channel, Shelanu, according to NBC News. “Shelanu” translates to “ours” in Hebrew.
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“An examination of the council’s supervision wing shows that the channel does not appeal to the Christian population in Israel, but rather to the Jews,” the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Council said in a written statement on Sunday. “Therefore, the characterization of the channel submitted for approval does not reflect its broadcasts.”
The cable provider said it would cooperate with the notice presented to remove the channel.
Ron Cantor, Israel regional director for God TV and spokesman for Shelanu, said the accusation against the channel is false and argued that the broadcaster had broken its agreement.
“Our license, granted by the state of Israel, says in Hebrew that our target audience is the audience of Israeli viewers,” he said in an email. “There is no stipulation whatsoever that we must target Christians.”
Cantor added that Shelanu was a messianic Jewish channel even though it’s affiliated with the evangelical God TV. Messianiac Jews follow Jewish law but also adhere to some Christian beliefs, such as Jesus being the Messiah.
God TV is a U.K.-registered evangelical Christian media company and reaches about 300 million households worldwide. Shelanu first went on the air in April.
