Western Asia

POSTED WEDNESDAY, NOV. 4,  6:00 p.m.

An Evangelical leader who believes Jews can accept Jesus without giving up their Jewish identity will be the keynote speaker in two weeks at an event for Birthright Israel alumni, sponsored by Birthright NEXT and the Jewish Enrichment Center.

What do Israel’s left-wingers and right-wingers, religious zealots and punk rockers, sports fans and cynics have in common?

All of them apparently feel quite comfortable strolling up to a wall in a public place with a can of spray paint and leaving behind their sometimes quite elaborate messages.

With the appointment of a new Israeli tourism minister, a debate is taking shape about how best to market the Jewish state.

As Pope Benedict XVI paid his first official visit to the Jewish state, the Consulate General of Israel in New York launched a Facebook application geared particularly toward Christian audiences, which employs photographs and multiple-choice quiz questions to test users’ knowledge of Israel. Through “Holy Land Trivia: From Creation to Creativity,” the Consulate hopes to expose people to Israel’s historical gems, from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem to the Bahai Gardens in Haifa and the Bauhaus arc