Christian communities actively courting Israelis, whose members are collectively known as Messianic Jews, have been considerably reinforced by recent immigration waves and now comprise some 10,000 Israelis, according to Messianic leaders and their Jewish opponents.

Eitan Shishkoff, who heads the Messianic community in Kiryat Yam outside Haifa, said there are 10,000 members in roughly 80 Messianic congregations across the country. This figure has approximately doubled since the wave of immigration from the former Soviet Union began in the late 1980s.

LARRY DERFNER and KSENIA SVETLOVA, THE JERUSALEM POST, April 28, 2005

The venerable Rep. Henry Hyde is a staunch supporter of Israel, but he is also a prominent Catholic layman known for telling the truth. He did so two weeks ago to Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres. He made clear how unhappy he was that Israel's government had ignored his previous protests about the destruction of the Christian community in the Holy Land.

At a closed-door session of the House International Relations Committee that he heads, Hyde told Peres that Israeli security practices ''in the center of Christianity's most holy places'' are "turning them into a military zone." Peres conceded to Hyde these are hard times for Christians in the Holy Land, but predictably blamed their troubles on the Palestinian Arabs.

BY ROBERT NOVAK, SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST, April 18, 2005

A bipartisan, congressionally appointed commission on religious freedom criticized the State Department yesterday for failing to punish Saudi Arabia after it censured the regime last fall for its restrictions on non-Muslim worship.

"These persistent delays in the process serve only to signal that the United States does not take seriously [the International Religious Freedom Act's] stated and mandated commitments to promote religious freedom and other human rights throughout the world," the chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Preeta Bansal, said in a public statement yesterday.

The New York Sun, April 19, 2005

The Baptist Village, a small conference center near Petah Tikva in the center of Israel is suing the Local Committee for Design and Construction in Petah Tikva for 60 Million NIS.
It claims that the committee's re-zoning plan for the area means changing the destination of their land and loosing any potential to build in the future - therefore lowering the value of their land to a very low price.

Special for Come and See, April 27, 2005

A group of Arab evangelicals in Israel held their first ever convention on April 16. One of the worship songs, "Salam, Salam - Peace to the people of the Lord, whereever they are" was a perfect setting for the celebration.

The convention, bringing together some 500 participants from churches and evangelical organizations, took place at a wedding hall near Shefa-Amr, a city between Nazareth and Haifa.

Special for "Come and See", April 17, 2005

An Amman court of Islamic law ruled in favor of Christian widow Siham Qandah today, revoking the legal guardianship of her children?s Muslim uncle and ordering him to repay misspent funds withdrawn from their orphan trust accounts.

I still can?t believe it!? Qandah told Compass today, laughing and crying. ?I am so happy, I am just speechless. I can?t even describe my emotions.? Although she had already called her children from Amman, she said she could not wait to travel back home to Husn and tell them in person.

Compass Direct, April 12, 2005

Religious leaders met on Wednesday in Jerusalem in a united protest against a gay pride festival planned there in August. From left: Sheik Abed es- Salem Menasra, deputy mufti of Jerusalem; the Rev. Michel Sabbagh, the Latin patriarch; the Rev. Aris Shirvanian, the Armenian patriarch; Rabbi Shlomo Amar, the Sephardic chief rabbi; and Rabbi Yona Metzger, the Ashkenazi chief rabbi. The man at right was not identified.

Interfaith agreement is unusual in Israel. The leaders' joint opposition was initially generated by the Rev. Leo Giovinetti, an evangelical pastor from San Diego who is both a veteran of the American culture war over homosexuality and a frequent visitor to Israel, where he has formed relationships with rabbis and politicians.

Laurie Goodstein, Greg Myre, NY Times, March 31, 2005

Lots of voices have been heard lately for the need to replace the corrupt Greek Orthodox Patriarch in Jerusalem - after the latest scandal of the sale of land to Jewish extremists in the old city of Jerusalem.

Can something be done? A Palestinian Christian living in Australia writes some practical ways the Greek Orthodox Church can be liberated from Greek domination: "Engage the Antiochian Patriarchate, the Greeks, the Islamic Groups and the Catholic Church"

Fuad Abaid, Special For "Come and See", April 10, 2005

A prominent African American evangelical leader meets at the Knesset this week members of the Christian Allies Caucus, the influential lobby group that draws on membership from six political factions, mostly from the exterme right in Israel.

It is no surprise that the African American community that was discriminated against in the 1950's and 1960's would want to make ties with the liberal Jewish Community. What is a shame is that this leader fall in the trap of the racist "Christian Cactus" group that supports continual Apartheid in the West Bank and Gaza, and discrimination against Arabs in Israel.

By Daphna Berman, Haaretz, April 8, 2005