Amram Mitsna, former leader of the Labor Party and mayor of Haifa writes about Maghar: "The rumor alone was ample pretext for the assault on the Christian villagers, simply because they were Christians. Can it be that in Israel, the state of the Jews - a people with much experience with persecution and pogroms in the name of religion - there could be such a thing as violence committed in the name of religion?"

"In the next day the media, whose function it is to reflect reality and place urgent social problems on the public agenda, described the events as if they had occurred in some foreign country, with emphasis placed on the teenager and his concocted story, and not on the violence or the religious aspect. How would the media and the political establishment have reacted, what would the Israeli agenda look like had the people under attack been Jews?"

Haaretz, Feb 16, 2005

Another Israeli columnist writes from Washington about MK Benny Elon (National Union) and his relationship with evangelicals in the USA:
"He invests more time and effort than perhaps any other Israeli in nurturing the relationship with Evangelical Christians in the U.S. As minister of tourism during the intifada, Elon promoted visits by Evangelical churches to Israel, and he continues to attend their conferences and speak out against diplomatic compromise on the Land of Israel.

By Nathan Guttman, Haaretz, Feb 17, 2005

At this critical and very sensitive time with the assassination of former President Rafik al-Hariri

Baptist leaders in Lebanon there ask for prayer that the situation will not deteriorate into civil war. They also request prayer for the recovery of the Deputy Member of Parliament and former Minister of the Economy, Dr. Basil Fleihan, sole representative of the Protestant Church in the Lebanese Parliament.

Severely injured in the attack that killed Hariri on Monday, Fleihan is now in France for medical care.

Baptist World Alliance Website, Feb 16, 2005

A 16-year-old Druze boy admitted Monday to spreading a rumor that sparked violent weekend clashes between Druze and Christians in the mixed village of Maghar in the Galilee.

Dozens of Christian businesses were burned to the ground and many Christian families fled the village during riots that began Thursday evening after a rumor spread that Christian youths had placed pornographic pictures of Druze girls on the internet.

Jacky Khoury, Haaretz, Feb 14, 2005

They unholy relationship between some evangelical leaders and Israel?s right-wing parties is becoming dangerous to the church. A new book by Israeli racist Knesset Member Benny Elon is the latest edition in Christian bookstores in America: "God's Covenant with Israel: Establishing Biblical Boundaries in Today's World".

This un-Christian political book is published just in time for the struggles over Israel's unilateral disengagement plan from Gaza, which Elon is against. Elon writes to evangelicals from one side about the religious and historic ties between the state of Israel and the Jewish people and from the other side, the book speaks about ?anti-Christian theology in Islam and contains a list of Palestinian Authority brutality toward Christians?.

Elon, a rabbi that does not believe in Jesus, asks Christians to "please keep the (Jewish) inhabitants of Gaza and northern Samaria in your hearts and prayers".

Read this unbelievable report by Gil Hoffman, The Jerusalem Post, Feb 11, 2005

Clouds of smoke were visible above the village of Meghar in the western Galilee as violent clashes between Druze and Christians resumed Saturday.

The renewed clashes broke out after a group of Christian Arabs held a quiet protest in front of the church against what they perceive to be a slow police response to Friday's violence.

Jack Khoury, Haaretz, Feb 11, 2005

Their lives are threatened. Their churches have been bombed. Their numbers are shrinking as many flee Iraq seeking safety elsewhere. And their involvement in the recent elections has mostly been overlooked in the world press.

In spite of this, some Iraqi Christians, who make up about 3 percent of the population, are reaching out and ministering to their communities. New churches have started, Christian bookstores have opened, and an Iraqi pastor has created for SAT-7 what is believed to be the first Christian satellite TV show made by an Iraqi, for Iraqis.

Jennifer Sheran, CrossWalk

As'ad Halul, a garage owner from the Galilee Christian village of Gush Halav (Jish), doesn't understand what people want from him. Two years ago, he decided to stop paying rent for the building which housed his garage, but instead bought land in the village to build a bigger repair shop there.

What turns out later is that the land belongs to the Jewish National Fund, and therefore, cannot be allocated "to anyone who is not Jewish.

This is one of the reasons why Attorney General Menachem Mazuz decided yesterday that all land managed by the Israel Lands Administration, including land owned by the Jewish National Fund, will be marketed without discrimination or limits including to non-Jews.

Haaretz, January 27, 2005

Baghdad, Iraq ? The 66-year-old Syrian Catholic archbishop snatched from the streets of Mosul on Monday was freed Tuesday, without the payment of any ransom, the Vatican said.

Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa, the head of the archdiocese in Mosul, a crime-ridden city in northern Iraq, was walking in front of his church when a group of insurgents pushed him into a car at gunpoint on Monday, several members of Mosul's large Christian community said.

The Day, New London, CT, Jan 19, 2005