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'No, Jesus Was Not a Palestinian': Why Jews, Christians Are Blasting Ilhan Omar Again

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Jews and Christians are calling out Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and the New York Times for promoting the idea that Jesus was Palestinian, and not a Jew living in Roman-occupied Judea.

Omar faced backlash after she retweeted a tweet from Omar Suleiman, an American Muslim scholar and civil rights activist, accusing conservative Christians of being ignorant about Jesus' Palestinian heritage.

"I was once asked by a relative who is a Palestinian Christian why the Christian right in America largely supports their oppression," Suleiman wrote. "Don't they know we're Christian too? Do they even consider us human? Don't they know Jesus was a Palestinian?'

Just hours before that tweet, the New York Times published an opinion piece that claimed, "Jesus, born in Bethlehem, was most likely a Palestinian man with dark skin." 

Jews and Christians alike quickly challenged the notion that Jesus was anything other than an Israeli Jew living under Roman occupation.

"No, @Ilhan Omar, Jesus was not a 'Palestinian', he was a Jew born in Israel under Roman occupation and your need to misrepresent history and misappropriate his background to further a political cause says more about you than it does about anything else," said Michael Dickson, Executive Director of StandWithUs-Israel.

Israeli Bible scholar and founder of Behold Israel Ministry, Amir Tsarfati, told Omar to read the Bible.

"Congresswoman @IlhanMN retweet's a message claiming that #Jesus was a #Palestinian! I suggest that she reads the #Bible and see for herself that the Lion from the tribe of #Judah that came from the house of David was definitely a #Jew who taught in #synagogues and not #mosques!" he said.

Conservative commentator Allie Beth Stuckey accused Omar and others who claim Jesus is Palestinian of promoting revisionist history.

"People who call Jesus a 'Palestinian,' despite the fact that the geographical region of Palestine didn't exist until years after his death, are simply projecting modern-day intersectionality onto him in order to make their 'wokeness' seem biblical. This is idolatry," Stuckey said.

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About The Author

Emily
Jones

Emily Jones is a multi-media journalist for CBN News in Jerusalem. Before she moved to the Middle East in 2019, she spent years regularly traveling to the region to study the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, meet with government officials, and raise awareness about Christian persecution. During her college years, Emily served as president of Regent University's Christians United for Israel chapter and spoke alongside world leaders at numerous conferences and events. She is an active member of the Philos Project, an organization that seeks to promote positive Christian engagement with the Middle