The phrase “Jesus is Palestinian” is a false narrative aimed at distorting history and erasing Jesus’s Jewish identity to promote Palestinian claims to the land. It discusses the implications of this revisionism for Christianity and Judaism, warning against accepting fabricated doctrines that undermine biblical truths.
On this day, when hopefully the first group of Israeli hostages will be released by the Palestinian terrorists, I want to zoom in on another figure who’s been held hostage by the Palestinians: Jesus.
“Jesus is Palestinian.” I am not sure if you got the memo, but many pro-Palestine supporters are now repeating this mantra over and over again. Why are they so hung up about it, while most of them don’t even believe in Jesus?
The more you look into it, the more you find out that this is a coordinated attempt to falsify history. The obvious reason is that they want to erase the connection between a Jewish Jesus and the land, which they are unwilling to call Israel.
Wipe out actual history, replace it with fake Palestinian history, and people will think the land is yours. This, of course, results in increased international pressure on the “genocidal” regime of Israel. Why are they “colonizing” the land that is not theirs in the first place?
The people that promote this false narrative use lies and deception in an attempt to hide the fact that the Jews do have very strong ties to the land. In order to do this, they have to distract from very clear clues in the Bible, as well as from many other historical facts that no one doubted for the last 2000 years.
A different doctrine
What is happening around us reminds me of what Paul said in 1 Timothy:
“If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.” (1 Timothy 6:3-5 ESV)
If Jesus is not Jewish, the Bible can’t be true
The apostle Paul here warns against teachers that bring a controversial doctrine. “Jesus is a Palestinian” is a great example of that. Can’t we just ignore his Jewishness and go along with this narrative as a way to build bridges with a community that is otherwise hard to reach with the gospel?
Here’s the thing, though: if Jesus is not Jewish, the Bible is not true. So the “Jesus is a Palestinian” cuts to the core of the Christian faith.
Jesus, the Muslim prophet
Another “different doctrine” that’s a little older than the Palestinian Jesus doctrine is the attempt to make Jesus a Muslim and a prophet of Islam, but not the Son of God and Savior who died for our sins.
Could Muslims maybe be right? Well: why would you believe a self-proclaimed prophet who 1) never met God face-to-face, 2) who had no eyewitnesses for any of his encounters with the “angel” Jibril (or Gabriel, although his personality in Islamic tradition resembles more that of a demon than that an angel), 3) who couldn’t read or write, 4) and – if he even existed – appeared on the scene some 600 years later?
An attack on the credibility of Judaism and Christianity
All Islam tries to do is attack ancient Judaism’s and Christianity’s credibility, so that Islam would become more palatable, and so that those who are uninformed about or uninterested in historical facts become an easy prey for this cult. The “Palestinian Jesus” hype is just another try to make use of the public opinion against Israel and the Jews, in favor of the Islamic cult.
First the Saturday people, then the Sunday people
Since October 7, attitudes towards Israel and the Jews are shifting rapidly. I am still shocked by how the attempted genocide of Israelis, the bloodthirsty murder of 1200 people, and the kidnapping of several hundreds of others by Hamas, with support of the majority of the Gazan people, was weaponized against Israel to make Israel look like the bad guy. Hamas and its allies have a seriously good PR machine! Show a few photos of children, some of those pictures not even from Gaza itself, and facts don’t matter anymore in the public debate!
Antisemitism is rising to new heights, and not just among Muslims. The atmosphere in the world has become even more toxic than before WWII and the Holocaust. “Never again” may very well become “soon again.” And this next time not only the Jews will be the target. Christians also and other kaffirs (those who don’t believe in Islam) will be next. After the Saturday people, the Sunday people will be the target.
What makes Jesus Jewish?
How can the “Jesus is a Palestinian” lie persist while historical facts are widely available online? I believe that it is a demonic blindness that is spread over the nations, and in particular on those who reject the God of the Bible and his Son, Jesus (cf. Isa.25:7).
If you even took a little bit of time researching historical facts, you’ll find out that Jesus is far from a Palestinian or a Muslim. During the time when Jesus walked this earth, there were no Palestinians around in the area and no Arabs (except for maybe a trader here or there). And there was definitely no Islam for at least the next 6 centuries.
The Biblical record is 100% clear and shows that Jesus is a Jew and was born in Roman controlled Judah (Bethlehem, Luke 2:1-7). He grew up in Roman-controlled Galilee (Nazareth, Luke 2:39-49). His lineage can be traced back to King David, the great king of Israel, and Juda, one of Jacob’s / Israel’s sons (Luke 3:23-38). All this to fulfill the ancient prophecies from the Tanakh (the Old Testament) about the coming Messiah.
Jesus was circumcised as a Jewish baby boy on the 8th day (Luke 2:21). He was dedicated in the Jewish temple in Jerusalem (Luke 2:22-24). His parents took him to Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish feast of Passover every single year (Luke 2:41). He taught in the Jewish synagogues (Luke 4:16) and kept the Sabbath (Luke 4:31). The proofs of Jesus’ Jewishness go on and on and on.
But isn’t “Palestine” the ancient name of the area?
Unlike the maps in some of our Bibles, the area where Jesus lived during his time here on earth wasn’t called Palestine until 135 AD. After the Romans put down the Jewish Bar Kochba revolt and flattened Jerusalem, they renamed the area Palestine, and changed Jerusalem’s name to Aelia Capitolina to make a very firm point that it was now a Roman city.
They wanted to erase every trace of Jewishness from the land, so the Jews would never even think of starting a rebellion against Rome again. The name Palestine became what then seemed the ultimate defeat of the Jewish population. Now their Jewish land was renamed after their long-extinct arch-enemy, the Philistines (Palestine and Philistia are different ways to refer to the same place).
What about Herodotus?
If you’ve seen all the arguments back and forth, you probably have seen the claim that the area was already called Palestine in the 5th century BC. Fact is, there was a historian called Herodotus who travelled to the land and referred to it as Palestine. Doesn’t this prove the case of the “Jesus is Palestinian” people?
Well, when you read about Herodotus’ trip, you’ll notice that he only visited the coastal area. There is no record of him going to Jerusalem or Judea. So the probability that he even encountered a Jew was minimal. And get this: he didn’t refer to the area as Palestine because there were Palestinians living there. The coastal area around Gaza, where Herodotus set foot, was originally referred to as Philistia after its then already extinct inhabitants. Herodotus just knew his history well. Those ancient Philistines were a sea-faring people originating from the area of current-day Greece (interesting side-note: the term “Philistines” means “settlers”, in other words: colonialists!)
What will happen when the lie becomes the “truth”?
If you look at the plain historical facts and the witness of the Bible, you know that calling Jesus a Palestinian or a Muslim is an anachronism. Even more than that: it’s a flagrant lie.
At this point, it’s still pretty clear that this is fabricated history. It’s still a highly controversial “doctrine” among Bible-believing Christians. But there is so much brainwashing going around on social media. The people who share this false doctrine about Jesus’ background are even very strategic in de-Judaizing articles on Wikipedia… where many people get their information from!
If you believe in absolute truth, like me, you know that by repeating a lie it does not become truth. The truth is the truth. It’s as simple as that. But it does get harder and harder in our AI-controlled world to find out what’s right from wrong. Our world more and more becomes a fact-free place, where opinions take prevalence over hard facts. Ten years down the road, it will be much harder to find the truth for someone who genuinely seeks answers, who genuinely seeks God and genuinely wants to know who Jesus really is.
Will persecution come?
And think of what this could mean for us, for those who believe Jesus is both a Jewish man and the Son of God. When we talk about Jesus, our Jewish King and Savior, it won’t be long until this is seen by the general public as controversial and offensive. We will be seen as bigots. We will be cancelled. We will be persecuted. We may even physically suffer and die when we follow that Jewish God-man from Galilee, and when we declare his name.
The truth will become controversial
The lies about Jesus could become so mainstream that the truth becomes more and more concealed and controversial. This has happened in church history before. It happened leading up to Word War II, when the “German Christians” tuned Jesus into an Aryan. But also in other areas of our culture. Remember the days when it was normal to believe that there were only two genders? When you say that now, you’ll be frowned upon and even cancelled.
Keep standing for truth!
When the truth is deliberately clouded, it will become controversial. The words Paul used in 1 Timothy 6:3-5 can even be used against us by other “Christians” who bought into the “Jesus is Palestinian” narrative. May we who truly honor God and his Son Jesus, never pervert the truth, because truth is the thing that sets people free (John 8:32). Don’t ever forget that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6)! Don’t ever fall for the lies that Jesus is a Palestinian Muslim and not a Jew, not the Son of God, and unable to save.
In this time we’re living in, it is really important that we try to understand all of Scripture through the lens of its original readers. That is the only way we can arrive at truth. We cannot let the filters of Islam and Palestinian activism determine what we believe about Jesus, just as much as we can’t let queer theology or other contemporary western approaches to scripture determine what we believe about him. It is idolatry, even blasphemy, to make a mental image of Jesus that doesn’t match who he truly is.
How do I keep my theology straight?
How do I make sure I don’t get deceived by false theology?
Well, the obvious answer is: stay close to Jesus (the biblical, Jewish Jesus who is the Son of God, that is 😉). His Spirit leads us into all truth (John 16:13)!
I also read books by biblical scholars and theologians who have a strong knowledge of the ancient world in which the various books of the Bible were revealed. If you understand the context better, you’ll understand the text better.
Last but not least, I deliberately seek covenant relationships with apostolic leaders from various cultural backgrounds, and in particular Messianic Jewish leaders who live in the land of Israel. Why? Because if you live as a Messianic Jew in the land, the Book of your forefathers just comes to life like nowhere else in the world. Since I started connecting with them and have been traveling to Israel to spend time with them, my life and ministry have been enriched like never before.
