Written by by JOEL B. POLLAK at breitbart.com
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) posted on Christmas Eve that the story the birth of Jesus Christ paralleled the plight of Palestinians today, inverting the facts about both Jesus and contemporary Israel.
Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Instagram that “Christ was born in modern-day Palestine” as “part of a targeted population indiscriminately killed to protect an unjust leader’s power.” She added: “Thousands of years later, right-wing forces are violently occupying Bethlehem as similar stories unfold for today’s Palestinians.”
Jesus and his family, she added, would be “Jewish Palestinians” if Jesus had been born today.
The attempt to portray Jesus as “Palestinian” is not new; it is a frequent staple of Palestinian propaganda, though the term “Palestine” was not generally in use to describe Israel, or Judea, until more than a century after Jesus was crucified.
Even well into the 20th century, the term “Palestinian” itself was rejected by local Arabs; it typically referred to Jewish residents of the area until mid-century.
There are no “Jewish Palestinians” in the Palestinian Authority today; Bethlehem under Palestinian rule is considered dangerous for Jews, so much so that tour guides tell Jewish visitors to hide any outward Jewish symbols.
Critics pushed back, with noted Los Angeles rabbi David Wolpe commenting that Ocasio-Cortez had simply borrowed old antisemitic themes: