A story in Vulture, the entertainment and culture outlet of New York Magazine, takes a long look at what it calls “Nepo Babies” — the children of famous people. It includes the following sentence:
The Hadid sisters are a tricky case: As with that other famous Palestinian, Jesus Christ, the benefits of the filial relationship clearly flowed both ways.”
Clearly, as HonestReporting has previously explained, Jesus was most definitely not a Palestinian. Rather, he was born in Judea, a client kingdom of the Roman Empire, and identified as a Jew.
Related Reading: Jesus Was a Jew, Not a Palestinian
We contacted the author of Vulture’s article to explain this and to request a correction. His response?
I appreciate the request, but this was a joke. We are aware Jesus was actually Jewish.”
Granted, the article was undoubtedly light-hearted. However, while it may very well be that Vulture was kidding around, satire is meant to ridicule and expose other people’s stupidity or vices.
Where Jews are concerned, however, there are far too many people out there who will believe anything, thus rendering satire ineffectual and potentially dangerous. As we approach Christmas, it’s once again that time of year when Jesus’s identity becomes politicized in an attempt by some Palestinian activists and antisemites to claim him for themselves.
Here are just a few examples from the past several days as seen on Twitter:
Every year around Christmas, Palestinian activists push the same lie that Jesus was a Palestinian, fabricating their own history, and spreading disinformation to try and erase all Jewish history in the land of Israel. pic.twitter.com/jQWYCNiemB
— Ari Ingel (@OGAride) December 21, 2022
No, @AmerZahr, Jesus was a Jew from Judea, the ancestral Jewish homeland (now the modern State of Israel). The Romans created the name “Palestine” as a rebuke to the Jews after occupying their land, and this name wasn’t used until over 130 years after Jesus had been crucified. pic.twitter.com/F9iqGJSkvn
— Michael Dickson (@michaeldickson) December 21, 2022
https://twitter.com/Pali_NY/status/1604887715832483840?s=20&t=ikW1tqGq1I2IZHkkOGdmTQ
Jesus is the most famous what now? https://t.co/cDXVSPvF0g
— Jacki Alexander (@JackiAlexander_) December 22, 2022
Why should we care? Why should Vulture care when it prints what its writer claims to be a “joke”?
Facts matter. History matters. If Jesus was not a Jew, but a Palestinian, then that serves a political end, as it calls into question the legitimacy of the Jewish connection to the Holy Land while suggesting that the Palestinians have ancient roots there.
Far from being an innocent claim or in this case a joke, the assertion that Jesus was Palestinian serves to invalidate Jewish history. This is particularly useful to political activists and politicians who seek to undermine the Jewish people’s connection to the land of Israel.
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We don’t believe that Vulture’s writer should be taking such a casual and indifferent attitude to this issue and we believe that Vulture should be more careful before printing an inciteful falsehood.
Please send your (polite) emails to New York Magazine and request a correction: [email protected]
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© Divuach Ne’eman R”A, 2025
