Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday he would stop a proposal to punish Christian proselytising with a prison term.
The bill says soliciting someone to convert their faith should be punishable by one year in prison, while coaxing a minor to convert would be punishable with a two-year sentence.
It was introduced in January by a pair of ultra-Orthodox Jewish legislators, including Moshe Gafni, a powerful ally in Mr Netanyahu's governing coalition who heads the parliament’s Finance Committee.
“Recently, the attempts of missionary groups, mainly Christians, to solicit conversion of religion have increased,” the bill said.
The proposal raised uproar among evangelical Christians — one of Israel’s strongest and most influential supporters in the US.
The bill was never advanced, but it drew widespread attention in the US evangelical world this week after All Israel News, an evangelical news site, reported on it.
On Wednesday, Mr Netanyahu announced on Twitter: “We will not advance any law against the Christian community.”
Mr Gafni said he had introduced the bill as a procedural matter, as he did in the past, and there were no plans to advance it.
Evangelical Christians, particularly in the US, are among the strongest backers of Israel, viewing it as the fulfilment of biblical prophecy, with some seeing it as the harbinger of a second coming of Jesus Christ and the end of days.
Israel has long welcomed evangelicals’ political and financial support and it has largely ignored concerns about any hidden religious agenda.
But most Jews view any effort to convert them to Christianity as deeply offensive — a legacy of centuries of persecution and forced conversion at the hands of Christian rulers. In part, because of those sensitivities, evangelical Christians rarely attempt to convert Jews.
Joel Rosenberg, editor in chief of All Israel News, welcomed Mr Netanyahu’s announcement, which comes at a time of domestic turmoil in Israel over his plan to overhaul the country's legal system and rising tensions with the Biden administration over West Bank settlement activities.
“Netanyahu is a longtime and proven friend to the global Christian community and his action today — amid all the other issues on his plate — is further proof,” Mr Rosenberg said.
The lowdown
Bohemian Rhapsody
Director: Bryan Singer
Starring: Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee
Rating: 3/5
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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