Leaders of the Greek Orthodox Church in the Holy Land have announced that they are breaking off all contact with the embattled Patriarch Irineos I because of corruption suspicions and consider him dismissed.

Aljazeera.net, May 5, 2005

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 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

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

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

Israel's Elite paper, Haaretz, highlights the subject of Christians in Israel and tries to draw attention to this subject, while this community is going through an identity crisis.

This is the first article in a series on this subject: "In violent situations and also politically, Christians will never win because they're a minority within a minority"

By Yoav Stern and Jack Khoury, Haaretz, March 22, 2005

The question of who should represent Israel's Christian Arab community has become a major issue for community leaders and academics recently, and there have been numerous discussions on this issue in Haifa over the last two weeks.

The answer that those involved in the discussions have come up with is unequivocal: An action committee, comprised mainly of lay Christians rather than religious leaders, should be established to represent Christian Arab interests vis-a-vis both the government and the international community.

By Jack Khoury and Yoav Stern, Haaretz, March 18, 2005

Some 75 percent of Christian students in the village of Maghar have not returned to school in the three weeks since clashes between Christians and Druze residents of the Upper Galilee village, Deputy Education Minister Michael Melchior said Wednesday.

According to Melchior, there are about 1,000 students of all ages still absent from their classes.

By Jack Khoury and Yoav Stern, Haaretz, March 2, 2005

Tiberias police launched an investigation Sunday to find out who was behind a pamphlet threatening renewed violence against Christians in the mixed Druze-Christian-Muslim village of Maghar, in the Galilee, that saw violent clashes earlier this month.

The pamphlet, which was distributed Sunday and signed by a group calling itself "The Heroes of Hamza Ben Ali" after a Druze saint, expressed support for the riots and included detailed threats to open fire on any Christians venturing onto the village's main road starting Wednesday.

By Jack Khoury, Haaretz, Feb 28, 2005