Representatives of a Messianic Jewish community in the southern Israeli town of Arad said Monday, March 21, they face “increased persecution” by ultra-Orthodox Jews who accuse the believers of missionary activities and want them to leave Israel.

In 2008, the Supreme Court of Israel ruled that Messianic Jews have the same rights regarding automatic citizenship as Jews who do not believe in Jesus as the Messiah.

A congregation of Messianic Jews in Israel who recently lost a lawsuit against an ultra-orthodox Jewish group that allegedly incited a riot against them has decided not to appeal their case, the church’s pastor has said.

After meeting with his congregation and members of the Messianic community in Israel, Howard Bass, pastor of Yeshua’s Inheritance church in Beer Sheva, said that although there are strong legal grounds for an appeal, he believes it is not God’s will to do so.

Israel is using an ultra-Orthodox group to crack down on Messianic Jews — who believe that Jesus is the Messiah — and prevent them from staying in the country, officials have told The Times.

An official at the Interior Ministry said that an anti-assimilation group called Yad L’Achim was working with the ministry to prevent Messianic Jews — known as Jews for Jesus — from being allowed to live in Israel, which they consider their spiritual home.

Messianic Jews believe in Jesus. But they still consider themselves as faithful to Judaism as anyone else.

They want to eat kosher meals, avoiding pork and shellfish and not mixing meat and dairy products. But if they are inmates in Ohio prisons, they are out of luck. Kosher meals are a privilege afforded only to traditional Jews.

A crude bomb, burned Bibles, a torched church… Israeli Jews who claim they believe Jesus is the Messiah are subject to harassment, persecution and police indifference.

The burning of 200 New Testament bibles underscores growing tensions in the Jewish state between the mainstream religion and Christian Zionists.It was the latest in a string of incidents targeting Messianic Jews in Israel, a trend that has alarmed Christian Zionist organizations.

Reportedly, the ruling determined that the petitioners were entitled to automatic new immigrant status and citizenship precisely because they were not Jews as defined by the Law of Return, but rather because they were the offspring of Jewish fathers.

A group of Messianic Jews had experienced occasional harassment in the form of hostile fliers and demonstrations against Christian missionary groups. But the police investigation into a recent bomb attack indicates that they now must also fear religious-based terror.

Members of a controversial Jewish sect speak out against ill treatment at hands of religious Jews in wake of a blast that severely injured 15-year-old youth belonging to their community.

Is a cult responsible for an explosion that severely wounded an Ariel teen? The 15-year-old teenager opened a package that he believed was a Purim gift Thursday, and was severely wounded in the intense explosion that followed.

Rabbi Tovia Singer of New York will speak in Toledo on the topic: "Jesus Was a Jew - But Can a Jew Be for Jesus?" There's only one acceptable answer to that question, according to the rabbi: an emphatic "No!"

MELBOURNE - There is no cross at Kol Mashiach Synagogue.

'Call us and get a free videotape! You can enjoy the movie Jesus for free in Hebrew or in Russian. The movie is based on historical facts and some of the actors are Israeli. Call today!"

LAKE WORTH — Curtis Jones quotes Scripture with the fervor of a fire-and-brimstone Baptist preacher.

Jesus is the candle in the middle.