21 Cult Members Deported by Israel

JERUSALEM —  Israel deported the last of a group of 21 Christians detained last month on suspicion of planning violence in the first year of the new millennium, police said.

An American who calls himself Brother David and had lived in Jerusalem for two decades was put aboard a plane bound for New York early Friday.

The 21, nearly all Americans, belonged to the House of Prayer and lived in two groups on the Mount of Olives across from the Old City of Jerusalem, where, according to the beliefs of some Christians, Jesus will arrive to mark the Second Coming.

The deportees said they were peaceful, opposed violence and provided shelter and guided tours for pilgrims. The Israelis countered that the group was apparently laying the groundwork for religious fanatics and doomsday cults to carry out violent acts, believing that doing so would hasten the Second Coming during the first year of the new millennium.

Brother David moved here nearly 20 years ago after running a trailer park in Syracuse, N.Y.

This is the third group to be deported in a year, as Israeli authorities crack down on suspected doomsday cults feared to be planning mayhem at holy sites in Jerusalem next year.

Tourism Minister Amnon Lipkin-Shahak said the information about the groups comes mostly from their home countries. He admitted that police could make mistakes but said his first priority is safety for tourists and the holy sites.