The Lie

• Jesus was a Palestinian.

The Truth

• Jesus was a Jew from Judea. The “Palestinian” identity did not exist until the 1960s.

Background

• On December 24, 2025, Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac—one of Tucker Carlson’s pro-Palestinian guests—wrote an op-ed for Al Jazeera claiming Jesus was a “Palestinian Jew” and that Christmas is “Palestinian.” (Al Jazeera)
• In the days before Christmas 2025, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) funded a billboard in Times Square reading: “Jesus was a Palestinian.” (New York Post)
• Other pro-Palestinian activists, including Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Linda Sarsour, have echoed similar claims.
• The idea that Jesus was a Palestinian has grown in popularity as part of a broader effort to co-opt Christianity for the pro-Palestinian movement.

Truth Explained:

• Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in Judea, in the tribal territory of Judah, then occupied by the Roman Empire, and identified as a Jew. (Matthew)
• He was raised in Nazareth, in the Galilee, in the tribal territory of Zebulon. 
• The name “Palestine” was invented and imposed on Israel centuries later. The Roman Emperor Hadrian renamed Judea to Syria Palaestina in 135 CE, after the Bar Kokhba revolt, long after Jesus’ death, in an attempt to erase the Jewish people’s connection to the land. (BibleHub)
• The genealogy of Jesus traces back to King David, highlighting his Jewish heritage. (Matthew)
• Jesus’ identity was ethnically and religiously Jewish, not connected to any national identity called “Palestinian.” (BibleHub)
• In Jesus’s era, Romans and locals referred to Judea, Samaria, Galilee, and Decapolis — never “Palestine.”
• The New Testament repeatedly mentions Israel and the Jews; “Palestine” does not appear even once.
• The Arab presence in Israel came centuries later. Arabs entered the Holy Land roughly 700 years after Jesus’ crucifixion, during the 7th-century Muslim conquest. Modern Palestinians are Arab, not descendants of first-century Judeans. (BESA Center)
• The modern “Palestinian” identity is recent. The identity was created in the 1960s by Yasser Arafat. (Hoover Institution)

Quotes:

• “Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the newborn king of the Jews?’” — Matthew 2:1
• “Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, called Bethlehem, because he belonged to the house and line of David, to register for the census with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.” — Luke 2:4
• “He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom.” — Luke 4:16

Takeaway:

Jesus was ethnically and religiously Jewish, born in Judea, and lived in a Jewish cultural and religious context under Roman rule. Claims that he was a “Palestinian” are historically and biblically false.