Israel deported 11 American Christians on October 29 in a stepped-up campaign against foreign Christian apocalyptic sects which are said to create violence in the country.

　 The 11 Americans were expelled on an overnight flight to New York, hours after two Britons were put on a flight for London Thursday, the police said.

　 The 13 deportees were among the 21 people rounded up by Israeli police Monday in their quarters on Jerusalem's Mount of Olives. They were members of two Christian groups, the "Temple Group" and "House of Prayer."

　 Police suspected these people of making preparations for apocalyptic groups to come to Mount of Olives, where tradition says Jesus will first arrive in the Second Coming, and planning provocative acts to facilitate the Coming.

　 Eleven of those detained had appealed their deportation to the Interior Ministry, but Interior Minister Natan Sharansky rejected the appeals after consulting with the police and other involved parties.

　 "Israeli police has information that the deportees pose a threat to public order," said the Interior Ministry in a statement issued Thursday.

　 This was the third time in a year that Israel deported Christian doomsday groups suspected of planning violence or mass suicide in Jerusalem, the city holy to Christians as well as to Jews and Muslims, in order to hasten the Second Coming.

　 In October last year, Israel expelled 14 members of a Denver-based doomsday cult, the Concerned Christians. Earlier this month, 25 Irish and Romanian members of another Christian group, which Israeli police called "an extreme Christian cult," were deported.