Was Jesus a Palestinian

Was Jesus a Palestinian?

Jesus was a Jew, born to Jewish parents, raised in a Jewish culture, and executed under Roman occupation for claims of being the Jewish Messiah – a fact documented in the New Testament and affirmed by all leading scholars of the historical Jesus.

At the time of his birth (circa 4 BCE), the region was known as Judea, a Roman province named after the Jewish people. Jesus lived in Nazareth, a small Jewish village in Galilee. He preached in Jewish synagogues, observed the Jewish Sabbath, quoted the Hebrew Scriptures, and celebrated Jewish festivals like Passover.

He was circumcised on the eighth day according to Jewish law;was called Rabbi by his followers; and taught using the Tanach. He claimed continuity with Moses, Isaiah, and David; and was crucified under Roman authority for being the “King of the Jews” (a phrase recorded in all four Gospels).

It was not until 135 CE — a full century after the crucifixion — that the Roman Emperor Hadrian renamed Judea to “Syria Palaestina” following the Bar Kokhba Revolt, a Jewish uprising against Roman rule. The renaming was not benign. It was a deliberate Roman punishment, meant to sever Jewish ties to their ancestral land and humiliate the rebellious Jews by naming the region after the Philistines, ancient enemies of Israel.

The term “Palestine” did not exist as a political or cultural designation during Jesus’ lifetime. It only emerged during the mid-to-late 20th century, notably from the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).  Yasser Arafat regularly called Jesus “the first Palestinian martyr.”¹ Mahmoud Abbas has echoed similar sentiments, calling Jesus “a Palestinian messenger.”¹ These statements are not off-the-cuff errors; they are part of a systematic strategy of historical deception. The modern campaign to rebrand Jesus as Palestinian is about delegitimizing Jewish history and dismantling Israel’s claim to its homeland.

The Jewish people are indigenous to the Land of Israel. Their language, faith, customs, and ancient texts are rooted in that soil. Jesus was one of them.

To erase his Jewishness and repackage him as something else is not just a mistake. It is an act of historical theft and ideological aggression.

Jesus was a Jew. He was born in Bethlehem of Judea, lived in Nazareth of Galilee, and died in Jerusalem — all cities with Jewish histories stretching back centuries before his birth.