VOA News-Chinese: Israel Welcomes Falun Gong Practitioners

Since China banned the Falun Gong [practice] in 1999, Falun Gong practitioners inside China could no longer practice “legally”. However, this widely controversial “belief” gained rapid development overseas, including the Middle-East region, where violence and conflict are frequent.

In war-prone Israel, the number of local residents who practice Falun Gong has grown by several times in the recent years. At the same time the Israel-Palestinian conflict continues, Falun Gong, with its unique charm, is attracting many people who are interested in Chinese culture. From another perspective, the three religions of the Middle-East, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, do not repel this newly sprung up “belief”.

In parks in large cities like Tel Aviv, Haifa and Netanya, groups of diligent practitioners are seen everywhere. Moreover, they are almost all non-Chinese practitioners. Currently, according to unofficial statistics, Falun Gong practitioners in Israel number over four to five hundred. They have established their own web site and translated the Falun Gong books into the locally spoken languages: Hebrew, Arabic and Russian. Ruti, a practitioner, says that through practicing Falun Gong one can be cured of illnesses, promote health, and improve one’s moral quality.

The Practice is Completely Free

Among the Israeli Falun Gong practitioners, many work in the High-Tech field. It’s fair to say that they are not “blindly” following this new way of practice. Many local Israelis express that practicing Falun Gong can help quit smoking and what’s more, it can cultivate a person’s heart and eventually enables the person to reach the goal of ridding illnesses, being healthy and kind-hearted. So far there haven’t been any cases of physical harm resulting from the practice.

Most Israeli Falun Gong practitioners are aware of the series of persecution inside China. Assaf, a computer engineer from Tel Aviv, says that if people all over the world can have patience and tolerance, it should be a good thing. He affirms: “If the Chinese government is afraid of so many good people, what does that say about the Chinese government?”

Mr. Cheng Zuo who works in the computer field in Israel is one of the few Falun Gong practitioners of Chinese decent. He says: “Practice in Israel is completely free. We simply practice in parks. Even if we go practice across the (Chinese) embassy .. then the embassy always calls the police, when the police come, they realize that everything we do is by the law. They don’t take any actions, but instead come to us to learn about the situation.”

The Chinese Embassy in Tel Aviv is know to have called two Chinese persons who practice Falun Gong for talks two years ago. Later the embassy told the companies where they work that they are criminals. What’s more, it has also refused to issue visas for traveling to China.

Zion Xiong, who was called for a talk, believes that the visa refusal is another form of personal persecution. Xiong says: “I practice Falun Gong. First of all, I’m an Israeli citizen and I abide the Israeli laws. My practice doesn’t harm China in any way.”