Times Square Christmas Billboards Laud “Jesus was palestinian”

By: Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz – Israel 365 News; israel365news.com

Twenty-seven billboards across Times Square went dark and then lit up with a single message: “Jesus is Palestinian.” The digital ads, funded by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, appeared during the height of the Christmas season, drawing immediate backlash from holiday tourists who recognized the message for what it was—an inflammatory political statement disguised as religious dialogue.

The billboards represent more than a seasonal controversy. They embody a calculated attempt to rewrite history and erase Jewish identity from the land where that identity was forged. When Adeb Ayoub, the organization’s National Executive Director, claimed the subject of Jesus’s identity was “up for interpretation,” he revealed the intellectual dishonesty at the campaign’s core. History is not interpretation. Geography is not negotiable. Facts matter.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, lived in the Galilee, and died in Jerusalem—all within the land of Israel. The New Testament records His birth during the reign of Herod, King of Judea, when Caesar Augustus ordered a census of the Roman Empire. The Gospel accounts place Jesus squarely within Jewish society: He was circumcised on the eighth day according to Jewish law, presented at the Temple in Jerusalem, celebrated Passover, debated Torah interpretation with Pharisees and Sadducees, and was called “Rabbi” by His followers.

The term “Palestine” as a designation for this region did not exist during Jesus’s lifetime. After the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135 CE, Roman Emperor Hadrian renamed Judea “Syria Palaestina” specifically to sever the Jewish connection to their ancestral homeland. The renaming was an act of colonial erasure—an attempt to wipe Jewish identity from the map after crushing Jewish independence. To call Jesus “Palestinian” requires ignoring two thousand years of documented history and accepting Roman imperial propaganda designed to erase Jewish presence from the very land where Jesus walked.

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Times Square Christmas Billboards Laud “Jesus was Palestinian”