This Easter, let's not try to pretend Jesus was a 'Palestinian Jew'

[Mosby]

Easter marks the resurrection of Jesus, but this year the holiday comes with a twist: Jesus resurrected as Palestinian. Never mind that Jesus was born and died a Jew in Judaea. From the pronouncement of a member of Congress to the pages of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Jesus is now heralded as a “Palestinian” or, more delicately, as a “Palestinian Jew.”

Jesus made an appearance on social media as a “Palestinian” around Christmas, and the meme has flourished since then. The gambit casts 1st-century Jews in the role of an occupying power and “Palestinians” as their victims. Just as Herod, the king of Judaea in Jesus’ time, persecuted the “Palestinian” holy family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, so, too, goes the claim, is modern Israel an occupying power persecuting Palestinians today.

So caught up were these advocates in their own spin that they mischaracterized reality. In a Christmastime post on Instagram, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) condemned modern Israelis as “right-wing forces violently occupying Bethlehem.” But Bethlehem has been administered by the Palestinian Authority since 1995. Once a significant majority there the Christian population plunged from 86 percent in 1950 to less than 12 percent in 2016.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/03/28/easter-jesus-not-palestinian-jew/

What would happen today if Mary and Joseph went to find an inn in the West Bank so Mary could have her baby? 🤔

[SamKnause]

1. Let's not pretend zombies are real.

[Sky Jewels]

60. ...

Thank you. It’s beyond pathetic that people still talk about magic and deities and sky wizards as if they’re real.

Modern people really think an undead carpenter from the Roman-occupied Judea of 2024 years ago is hovering around in the clouds and deciding what happens to people on this one little planet amongst trillions? It’s mind-boggling to me.

[LeftInTX]

2. Or that he looked like a Dravidian from Sri Lanka

[Igel]

23. Both equally crazy. n/t

[PJMcK]

53. Doesn't Jesus look like Kenny Loggins? (n/t)

[CincyDem]

54. He did in my house growing up. n/t

[LeftInTX]

58. Or Hrithik Roshan..LOL

Hrithik Roshan to enact Jesus Christ
https://www.boloji.com/articles/7213/hrithik-roshan-to-enact-jesus-christ



(Zee News ; Mumbai, June 09: With his Greek god looks, fervent temperament and a physique toned to perfection, Hrithik Roshan has stirred many comparisons with international hotties. But now the actor's look in his upcoming flick 'Kites' has left Hollywood buzzing with comparison between the actor and Jesus Christ.

Ever since the multi lingual film 'Kites' was showcased at the Cannes Film Festival, Latin American distributors are astounded by the actor's resemblance to the Lord.

Story goes that the foreign distributors, who saw the fist look of 'Kites' at Cannes were much too amazed by Hrithik's look in the film. So much so were they smitten by Hrithik's bearded avatar that they started to comment on the uncanny resemblance between him and Christ.

A daily even quoted a source as saying "Western distributors were reportedly taken up by the searing intensity in his eyes, his lithe frame and Adonis-like tan. Some of them were heard commenting that Hrithik would be the ideal actor to play Christ in a western production".

______________________

Note: The first time I saw Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan, I thought, "This guy looks like a European portrait of Jesus", so I googled "Hrithik Roshan looks like Jesus". Hrithik never portrayed Jesus, but I thought the buzz was funny.

We will never know what Jesus looked like because there is no description of his appearance.

[Towlie]

3. Easter was originally a festival honoring a goddess of fertility. (Bunnies & eggs are symbols of fertility.)

So this Easter, let's not try to pretend it originally had anything to do with Jesus.

[dembotoz]

4. palistine is a location. Jewish is a faith

2 different things

is a jew born in america a jew or american or both

[LeftInTX]

5. He wasn't even born in the Palestinian region, he was born and died in Judea.

[ColinC]

7. I always thought he was born in Bethlehem... which is in the West Bank.

[LeftInTX]

11. Judea back then. Jeez....It was part of the Roman Empire

"West Bank" is a term invented in the 20th Century.

[ColinC]

15. Ah i see! That region did not get conquered by the Arab Muslims until 629

That makes sense

[Igel]

24. It's simplistic.

He was born in the Romance province of Palestina.

Arabs were present, but mostly as traders and in a small minority. Nabateans to the east were Arabs, of a sort. Bedouins were moving in from the SW to the extreme south of Palestine.

Iisus was born in Palestina. He was Palestinian. It's just a homophone with modern the modern idea of "Palestine".

Geographic names tend to be conservative. And weird.

I've been told--but have trouble verifying--that if you were speaking as an educated adult in 1925 in the US and referred to "Palestinians," you'd almost certainly mean Jews that lived in Palestine; Arabs were referred to as "Arabs." At the time Arabs from Amman to the Mediterranean were "Jordanians." Or just "Arabs."

Now, I'm fascinated by ethnogenesis--how a population tends to cut itself off from a larger population and regard itself as a separate ethnic entity. It's devilishly hard to find anything reliable because since this has become a topic it's become ideologized. In other words, it's clear that Slavs at some point stopped being just "Slavs" but became srbove and hrvatske, for example. But this happened in the background. As it happens in real time issues of oppression, social justice, yada-yada all come to the fore and mask the facts, processes, etc., that are happening because it's all overlain with Big Issues of Justice and Righteousness. When it all boils down to, I think, ultimately, "They're not like us, we don't want to be--ugh--like them ... yewwww! ... and we're sure they don't want be like us!" Maybe I'm wrong, but you slather 8 inches of fiberglass over what's going on and all you see is fiberglass.

Still, it's fairly clear that Palestinian ethnogenesis is recent, in the last century, and still not nearly as complete as, say, Scottish versus English or even white American versus Black American ethnicities.

[LeftInTX]

35. He was born in the Roman province of Judea, not Palestina

Palestina was on the coast when he was alive

I think Arabs were more or less known by the tribal names. Around that time, the Palestina region had a fairly high European population due to sea trade.

The Romans got mad at the Jews and eventually renamed Judea, Israel and Samaria: Syria/Palestina, but that was after the temple was destroyed.

[muriel_volestrangler]

47. If you want to be accurate, Matthew's gospel says he was born in the Kingdom of Judea

under Herod, ie pre 4 BCE; Luke says he was born in Bethlehem after Quirinius/Cyrenius had become governor of Syria, ie 6 CE or later, by which time it had become the Roman province of Judea; and Mark and John don't mention Bethlehem at all, just saying he grew up in Galilee (as the other 2 say too), ruled over by Herod Antipas. Galilee didn't become part of a Roman province until 39 CE.

'Palestina' would not have been called Arabic then; 'Arabic' meant those on the east coast of the Red Sea. The ethnic origins of the Philistines, from where the name 'Palestine' comes, are unclear; perhaps from both Canaanite (which covers the whole region - the Hebrews had Canaanite roots too) and Aegean roots.

[JustAnotherGen]

28. That's why my husband

Who is from Italy - says its okay to eat lasagna on Easter.

[EarnestPutz]

51. Never met him, but I love that man.

[dembotoz]

10. depends on your map

[LeftInTX]

13. Show me your map. I'm looking at the history. It was in the Roman Empire.

Where, then, did the name “Palestine” come from? From a foreign imperial colonizing power: Rome. Judeans revolted twice against the Romans. The first revolt, from A.D. 66 to 73, reached an awful climax with the destruction of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. Still, Rome kept “Judaea” as the region’s designation. But in A.D. 132-135, the Jews again revolted. By that point, Rome had had enough. The empire changed the administrative name of the region to “Syria-Palestina” — a full century after Jesus’ death. It was a deliberate way to “de-Judaize” the territory by using the throwback term for the coastal Philistines.

[dembotoz]

41. whole damn place called Palestine

https://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=paliistine+maps&fr=yhs-iba-3&type=gyff_9318_FFW_US&hspart=iba&hsimp=yhs-3&imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.etsystatic.com%2F7701433%2Fr%2Fil%2F557579%2F1391571677%2Fil_fullxfull.1391571677_t0ae.jpg#id=14&iurl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.etsystatic.com%2F7701433%2Fr%2Fil%2F557579%2F1391571677%2Fil_fullxfull.1391571677_t0ae.jpg&action=click

[LeftInTX]

48. Map is of the Holy Land dated 1895 and it appears to be a religious map with Jerusalem and Bethlehem in Judah.

In 1895, the Holy Land region was known as Palestine.

However, the map appears to locate ancient areas and clearly Philistines are on the coast. Jerusalem and Bethlehem are in Judah.

[ColinC]

6. Jesus wasn't born in Bethlehem? 🤔

[Mosby]

9. Bethlehem is in Judea, Yeshua was born to Jewish parents, Miriam and Yosef.

His hebrew name:

ישוע בן יוסף ומרים

Jesus, son of Joseph and Mary.

[Sibelius Fan]

18. Bethlehem did not exist when Jesus was supposedly born.

[sarisataka]

19. True if you're talking about Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

The Bethlehem in Judea, however, had been around for at least 1300 years.

[ColinC]

21. Although it is true that the Roman's controlled that region during the time Jesus was supposed to be born

And it took another 600 years before Muslims controlled the region.

[sarisataka]

25. Yes however that has no relevance

To the existence of the village of Bethlehem during the timeline of the New Testament.

[Fichefinder]

8. First i have to believe he existed

After that, it's anyone's game

[GreenWave]

12. And I would have to forget how much plagiarism of Hercules there was.

[Igel]

26. Did Socrates exist?

Apparently a few say they knew him, but otherwise ... All we have is hear-say and innuendo.

Few make Socrates' existence an issue because it doesn't matter, not really.

That's an important difference.

[Bucky]

42. Socrates was mortal. All men are mortal. Therefore all men are Socrates

[Iggo]

75. The Church Of Socrates isn't trying to fuck my nephew while denying my niece healthcare.

[Aussie105]

14. Jesus needs to make a re-appearance

just to straighten out the folklore surrounding his existence.

But for most people Easter is about a few days off work, going somewhere in that free time, eating chocolate and hot cross buns.

And a vague feeling that you don't really know what this Easter thing is all about, and that one day you may seriously look into it.

[Xolodno]

30. I don't know.....

....would you want to come back if the instrument of your death was on every church?

[Bucky]

43. That means he'd get a sweet slice of that merch money

Frankly, he'd be a fool not to come back and cash in

[Sky Jewels]

61. The reappearance thing is yet another factor

in religion that makes zero sense. Christians think that Jesus enters their internal organs, namely, their hearts. So it follows that if JC does that, he’s already back on Earth, right? So what’s the deal with the Second Coming?

And don’t even get me started on the “Jesus is actually his own father” weirdness! I mean what the actual fuck?!

Even as convoluted mythology, Christianity is a twisted mess of nonsense.

[Jirel]

16. Anyone can retcon a fictional character.

Those fictional characters are used as hand puppets to stand for murdering LGBT folks, destroy women’s lives and bodies, maintain slavery as a national institution, and much much more. So if someone wants to say “Palestinian Jew,” so be it. Their take is much less harmful than many. Plus, anything goes in fanfic.

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

40. Preach!

[Sibelius Fan]

17. So much hand wringing over a guy who most likely never existed, let alone was a god.

First clue- people don’t come back from the dead.

[Lancero]

20. Lazarus Syndrome

[LeftInTX]

36. This is about people who are trying to make ancient Jews look like bad guys.

[Autumn]

59. Do those long dead ancient Jews give a fuck? I'm not gonna be offended

if someone says they were bad guys. They were. Bunch of religious control freaks and these fucks today that admire that shit want women to go back to that place.

[sarisataka]

62. Jewish deicide

Those who dies 2000 years ago don't care but Jews alive today care when it is a group slander used to justify violence against them.

Jewish deicide is the notion that the Jews as a people are collectively responsible for the killing of Jesus, even through the successive generations following his death.[1][2] A Biblical justification for the charge of Jewish deicide is derived from Matthew 27:24–25.

The notion arose in early Christianity, the charge having been made by Justin Martyr and Melito of Sardis as early as the 2nd century.[3] The accusation that the Jews were Christ-killers fed Christian antisemitism[4] and spurred on acts of violence against Jews such as pogroms, massacres of Jews during the Crusades, expulsions of the Jews from England, France, Spain, Portugal and other places, and torture during the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions.

In the catechism that was produced by the Council of Trent in the mid-16th century, the Catholic Church taught the belief that the collectivity of sinful humanity was responsible for the death of Jesus, not only the Jews.[5] If one were to claim that only the Jews were responsible for Jesus' death, the logical corollary to this would be that Jesus' redemptive suffering, death and resurrection was for the sins of Jews alone and not all of humanity, as is taught by the Church. In the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), the Catholic Church under Pope Paul VI issued the declaration Nostra aetate that repudiated the idea of a collective, multigenerational Jewish guilt for the crucifixion of Jesus. It declared that the accusation could not be made "against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today".[1]

Most other churches do not have any binding position on the matter, but some Christian denominations have issued declarations against the accusation.[

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_deicide

As for the religious control freaks that want to control women, that would be the Islamic fundamentalism Hamas wishes to impose on Palestine.

[Autumn]

63. So you say none of these silly religions attempt to control women. Only Hamas does?

Come on. You are here today you don't see that? That pope sounds a bit crazy too. As you can see I'm certainty not a believer in that historical religious "stuff". None of them can prove anything and people who have been dead for 2000 years can not be offended nor do their bones feel guilt. That is a fact. Science beats woo every time.

[sarisataka]

64. I didn't say that at all

I was referring to Israel/ Gaza. Israel is a very liberal country AFAIK and there is equality. There are of course the ultra-orthodox who would like to see the situation change.

Hamas plan for Palestine is to have strict Sharia law apply to everyone.

I note you skipped over how the accusation of deicide is used to justify modern antisemitism.

[Autumn]

65. You just described the entire middle east and the fucking Christian right all over the world.

I skipped over nothing. Since my post had nothing to do with Israel/ Gaza, I saw no need to address that bullshit. As for what is or is not anti-Semitism the words of some dead catholic pope mean as much to me as a living or dead pope being the final word on pedophilia.

[sarisataka]

66. In the real world the accusation of being "Christ killers"

is a reality. It still exists and is still used to persecute Jews.

That a "dead catholic pope" said there was never any sin and to hold Jews accountable for the Crucifixion is wrong may be meaningless to you but it was quite the reversal for the Catholic church. The declaration meant that the 1000+ years the Church held Jews at fault was wrong and the many persecutions and pogroms were also wrong. For the largest sect of Christianity to say "we were wrong" is not a small deal. Does that make the Church perfect or absolve anyone- no, but it is an important step.

I could address what I believe your opinion of what is and is not antisemitic, but I will do the courtesy of not putting words in your mouth.

[Autumn]

67. I gave no opinion on what is or is not anti-Semitic so there is no way of you believing what

my opinion is on anything but religion.

So thank you for not addressing what you don't know about?

[RockRaven]

22. Of all the things not to pretend about Jesus, every day and not just Easter,

the contemporaneous geographical adjective is way down the list.

[JustAnotherGen]

27. Thank you Mosby!

[SocialDemocrat61]

29. Jesus was a white european

at least according to FAUX news

[Iggo]

39. He's white like Santa. Ask Megyn Kelley.

[madaboutharry]

31. The latest canard to erase Jewish history.

“Jesus was not Palestinian, we need to dispel that myth forever” - opinion

In reality, Jesus was a proud, observant Jew who lived in his indigenous homeland of Judea and Galilee – from manger to grave. The myth that Jesus was Palestinian, a ploy designed to invite Christians to support Palestinian nationalism, often morphs into deliberate efforts to deny Jews their history, indigeneity, and right to sovereignty in Israel. Ironically, as Jews seek to combat rising antisemitism, now might be a good time to set the record straight on Christianity’s most important figure.

Trying to erase Jewish connections to the land
The term Palestine derives from Philistia after the land of the Philistines, a people originally from the Aegean coastline (modern-day Greece and Turkey). Goliath was defeated and the Philistines disappeared centuries before Jesus was born. After Imperial Rome defeated the third Jewish uprising, Roman forces massacred and expelled massive numbers of Jews from Judea and renamed it: Syria Palaestina. This was in 135 CE, over a century after Jesus’s death (sometime around 27-33 CE).
The new name was “to minimize Jewish identification with the land” and punish the rebellious Jews by naming the country after their biblical enemies.
As evidenced by the Romans, the erasure of Jewish memory, identity, and culture from Israel has become a mainstay tactic for antisemites over millennia.

What would Jesus now say about Palestinian-American “activists” such as comedian Amer Zaher, BDS supporter Linda Sarsour, and even Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who in recent years have depicted Jesus as “Palestinian?”
Speculation abounds, but the motive for Jewish erasure deserves quick mention, given its dangerous implications.
In October 2023, Hamas terrorists invaded Israel, massacring 1,200 people. Hamas’s charter clearly seeks to distort and deny Jewish history in Israel, presenting Jews as foreign colonizers.

https://m.jpost.com/opinion/article-779313

[Xolodno]

33. Well, Palestine is just referring to territory.

And Jesus was a Galilean Jew...also an arbitrary area that refers to dirt.

But I find it rather interesting they are trying to claim him, as they would also have to acknowledge that they themselves are very likely to be converted Jews to Islam. Of course, if you say that to a Muslim or Jew in that area, it would be like calling a Persian and Arab, you'll wake up in the hospital from a coma.

[LeftInTX]

37. It's about getting Christians (who are a huge majority) to not support Israel and support Palestinians instead.

[Xolodno]

32. Well, technically....

...he died the first night of Passover. But that changes every year based on the lunar calendar. This year it falls on....dang, late April.

Easter was just a pagan fertility holiday, hence the symbolism with eggs and rabbits. The Catholic/Orthodox church just gave in and "converted" it for all the gentiles.

And of course, Palestine is just a "territory" and there are maps that separate Judea, Samaria and Galilee, plus Jesus was a citizen of Gallilee where his mother was from. And he lived in Nazareth (also Galilee), the verse "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" is actually a joke. It was basically like Compton in its not so glorious years.

So he was technically a Galilean Jew. And when the Romans expelled everyone in Jerusalem and nearby areas, it was only in the area known as Judea. Samaria, Galilee, etc. were left largely intact. Of course, most of those Jews would later convert to Islam due to similarities at that time, Muslims were also protecting them from those damn blood thirsty Christians.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

34. It was named Palestine by the Romans after they sacked and destroyed the Herod's temple

This was after the time of Jesus,

[Bucky]

45. The word Palestinian is derived from the Philistines

They were a Phoenician people, proto-Carthaginian, if you will.

But literally none of this is relevant to the problems in Gaza.

[Iggo]

38. You had me at "pretend Jesus."

[Bucky]

44. Therefore it's okay to bomb Gazan families

I really detest these threads using historical minutiae in order to make it easier for war crimes supporters to sleep at night.

[elocs]

46. It's all pretense anyways. n/t

[Lasher]

50. Kick.

[republianmushroom]

52. No, lets pretend he was Lily-White and blue eyed as seen in many bibles.

[JI7]

55. I am seeing some say Jesus was a Muslim

and those in Gaza descend from Jesus and others living from that time.

Also Adam is the first Muslim.

[EX500rider]

69. Well that seems unlikely...as Muhammad, the founder of Islam was born in c.570

[JI7]

71. They believe everyone is born a Muslim but they get "corrupted"

and turn away from it . That's why when someone converts to Islam they refer to it ad "reverted" to Islam.

[Cha]

73. What? They don't like their own history?

Why try to take someone else's?

[Jilly_in_VA]

56. Actually a Jew from Nazareth in Galilee

in the Roman province of Judea, which is in present-day Israel, which is also the former British colony of Palestine and was part of the Ottoman Empire before that, when it was known as ?????
In the Orthodox Church, whatever branch, icons always show him as dark-skinned and dark-eyed, as a person from that area likely would have been.

[Beastly Boy]

57. I can't believe what I am seeing. We have remarkable consensus on a Israel/Palestine issue.

Regardless of how you look at it, calling Jesus a Palestinian Jew is fiction at best.

And, my own two cents: since it is fiction, the only significance of calling Jesus a Palestinian Jew has to do with cultural appropriation in the service of propaganda.

[Autumn]

68. Does it matter what he was? No proof he existed, no proof he died. Judaism rejects

the claim that Jesus was divine and was a failed messiah. That map has changed so much over the last 2000 years what does it matter.

[Beastly Boy]

70. No, it doesn't matter at all. What matters is that there is a certain established narrative associated with his name,

and claiming that Jesus was a Palestinian Jew goes against this narrative. It doesn't matter whether he existed or not, or who claims him to be divine or a failed messiah, or how much the map has changed over the past 2000 years.

What matters is that his name and his cultural background, fictional or not, is being appropriated today, in contradiction to the established narrative, by the people who invoke his name in the service of their propaganda.

Thar was what I said in my post.

[Autumn]

72. His name and his cultural background, fictional or not, has been appropriated for a long

fucking time. Blond hair blue eyed Jesus, who has spent hours in a gym getting buff doesn't seem to bother anybody. So if someone says that a Palestinian could have been involved being mentioned during a pagan celebration that's just too far over the line!!

I bet there some crossover somewhere if someone could find his DNA.

[Beastly Boy]

74. I was talking about the recent one that was raised in the OP

As far as appropriations go, sure, I agree 100% A blond blue-eyed Aryan Jesus is an even more ridiculous conception than a Palestinian Jesus.