Thousands of Christians are gathering in Washington today to demand increased U.S. support for Israel. Rev. John Hagee, founder and national chairman of Christians United for Israel, says that after an opening banquet tonight, the group’s members are to fan out on Capitol Hill tomorrow to lobby Congress on Israel’s behalf. Hagee says that is crucial now, as the Jewish state fights terrorists in Lebanon and Gaza and faces a growing threat of nuclear annihilation from Iran. He says Christians “have a Bible mandate to support Israel and the Jewish people.” Meanwhile, Orthodox Jews at hundreds of synagogues across the United States and Canada plan to unite in prayers for Israel Wednesday evening. The executive vice president of the Orthodox Union, Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, says that at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, Jews will join in praying and studying the Psalms. Weinreb says the call to simultaneous worship adds a spiritual dimension to the political and material support that North American Jews are providing Israel.

- AP

A Lebanese Christian leader is expressing alarm at the warfare that’s broken out in his homeland during his visit to the United States. Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, patriarch of Lebanon’s Maronite Catholic Church, is urging both Hezbollah and Israel to stop the violence. At a Maronite church in suburban Boston, Sfeir said Hezbollah must be disarmed, but he admitted that will not be easy given the group’s ties to Syria and Iran. The cardinal also called on Israel to stop what he views as disproportionate retaliation. The Lebanese patriarch added that resolving the Palestinian problem is crucial to calming the region’s conflicts.

- AP

A U.S. government agency says the international community should focus on North Korea’s religious persecution as well as its nuclear program and missile tests. Officials with the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom were in Rome to show Italian and Vatican officials a report based on interviews with 40 North Koreans who fled the country. All those interviewed said that no public worship is allowed in North Korea aside from the cult of Kim Il Sung, the national founder who was succeeded by his son, Kim Jong Il. Some had also witnessed executions of people who had organized underground churches or were found in possession of Bibles.

- AP