The Jewish people and the State of Israel have been among the staunchest allies of Falun Gong practitioners in their quarter-century of peaceful resistance to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) unjust persecution.
An Israeli doctor, Jacob Lavee, was one of the first medical experts to blow the whistle on the CCP’s systematic organ-harvesting from Falun Gong and other prisoners of conscience. Dr. Arthur Caplan, a Jewish-American bioethicist, is another leading voice condemning organ-harvesting.
Prominent international human rights lawyer David Matas has eloquently described how the example of the Holocaust informed his own tireless work to expose CCP atrocities. Katrina Lantos Swett, daughter of the late Tom Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor to serve in the US Congress, has been a staunch supporter of Falun Gong practitioners and their pursuit of religious freedom.
In 2008, Israel set an example for the world when it banned citizens from traveling to China to receive organs from slaughtered religious dissidents.
Given that noble history, it was disheartening to see The Jerusalem Post publish an op-ed in which a CCP spokesman vilified Falun Gong, repeating hateful propaganda tropes that the regime has used to justify a brutal campaign of abductions, forced labor, torture, and killing for more than 25 years.
Zhang’s article reflects the same indecency that leads the CCP to support Hamas, even after the October 7 terrorist attacks.
Indeed, as part of the CCP’s propaganda playbook, the article slanders Falun Gong, comparing it to notorious violent groups like the Branch Davidians or Aum Shinrikyo. The comparison is dishonest and shameful. Falun Gong members have never resorted to violence, even amidst the CCP’s horrific oppression. Nor is Falun Gong a cult.
As David Matas explained in his book Bloody Harvest (with co-author David Kilgour), Falun Gong “has none of the characteristics of a cult.” He adds: “The Chinese government labeling of the Falun Gong as an evil cult is a component of the repression of the Falun Gong, a pretext for that repression as well as a defamation, incitement to hatred, depersonalization, marginalization, and dehumanization.”
Many other independent scholars, human rights groups like Freedom House, and even US courts have reached the same conclusion, as in a 2018 case presided over by the highly regarded American federal judge Jack Weinstein.
Zhang’s article also claims that Falun Gong coerces followers into refusing medical treatment and induces suicide and self-harm. The CCP has repeated these lies for 25 years without evidence. In fact, Falun Gong teachings explicitly forbid suicide or any other self-harm.
The teachings do not prohibit medical treatment, and coercion of any kind would be contrary to Falun Gong’s fundamental principles. The truth is that many Falun Gong practitioners report improved health, increased energy, mental clarity, and stress relief as a result of the practice, with some even crediting Falun Gong for miraculous recoveries from serious illnesses.
Before the CCP turned against Falun Gong and launched the persecution in 1999, even the Chinese government lauded the positive health effects of Falun Gong’s meditation and exercises.
The article also attacks Shen Yun, a US-based performing arts company founded by Falun Gong practitioners which seeks to revive traditional Chinese culture. The article claims that Shen Yun has “no connection” with Chinese culture, but that is true only if one equates Chinese culture with the CCP itself.
Shen Yun gives the lie to that false premise. China was a great nation and culture for thousands of years before the CCP seized power, and it will remain so after the CCP falls. Shen Yun’s splendid performances testify to that fact, which helps explain why the CCP is so afraid of Shen Yun and Falun Gong.
Falun Gong is a peaceful spiritual practice, based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. The practice focuses on self-improvement through the study of spiritual teachings, meditation exercises, the elimination of unhealthy attachments, and the improvement of character.
The CCP has waged a widespread propaganda campaign against Falun Gong to justify the violent purge of its believers in China. More recently, the Party decided to amplify its campaign abroad to wipe out Falun Gong globally. But that campaign has largely been unpersuasive.
Practiced in over 100 countries
Today Falun Gong is practiced in over 100 countries—not widely banned as the Chinese representative suggests. In all Western democracies, Falun Gong is entirely legal, and the movement has received formal recognition from elected officials. Just last week, the United States House of Representatives passed the Falun Gong Protection Act unanimously.
The Jerusalem Post should not lend its platform to mislead readers and support the CCP’s propaganda effort to dehumanize a peaceful faith-based minority.
Yaniv Nitzan is a member of the Israeli Falun Dafa Association, a registered non-profit organization (il.faluninfo.net)