Messianic channel Shelanu considering legal action against chairman of Israel’s broadcasting council

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – The directors of GOD TV’s Messianic channel Shelanu are considering legal action against Israel’s media oversight council for falsely and publically accusing them of using deception to obtain their broadcasting license. Shelanu’s license was revoked after the chairman of Israel’s Council for Cable and Satellite Broadcasting wrongly stated the channel had presented its target audience as Christians when its actual purpose was to reach Jewish audiences with the Gospel.

Suspending Shelanu’s license last week, Biton said the channel could reapply through Israeli satellite company HOT, with whom it originally had a seven-year contract to broadcast. Biton said Shelanu would have to be “truthful” about its intentions in the new application. However, HOT decided not to proceed with a new application and Shelanu has been taken off the air.

In a press statement Monday, GOD TV Israel Regional Director Ron Cantor said: “We are considering taking legal action against Chairman Asher Biton for knowingly deceiving the public in saying that Shelanu’s license, that he himself granted, was to target an audience that was Christian and not Jewish. The July 2019 and March 2020 license both clearly state in section 1.2 that “The channel is intended for the audience of viewers in Israel…It says NOTHING about our audience being Christian, as he maintains.”

Acknowledging that Biton himself had been targeted and pressured by anti-Messianic groups like Yad Lachim, Cantor said he had nevertheless “told all Israel and many in the international community that we used deceptive tactics to get the license, when in fact we were upfront with HOT executives from day one.” Cantor stated that no legal action will be taken if Biton issues “an apology and clarification that there was no stipulation that our content was only supposed to be for Christians.”

Preaching the Gospel is only illegal in Israel if it is to minors or if material goods are given in exchange for conversion to Christianity. Shelanu will continue to publish content on the internet.

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