Israel’s Diaspora Minister to Pope: ‘Jesus lived and died as a Jew’

‘There is no other way to understand this decision than as a deliberate adoption of the Palestinian narrative.’

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli wrote a harshly worded letter to the Pope on Thursday, calling on him to stop spreading a “dangerous blood libel.”

Chikli’s criticism focused on the Pope’s statement that the question of genocide in Gaza “should be carefully investigated” and on the nativity display at the Vatican featuring baby Jesus on a keffiyeh as swaddling clothes, implying he was a Palestinian Arab.

“Two weeks ago, you took part in a display that echoes the Palestinian narrative, portraying Jesus as a Palestinian Arab,” Chikli wrote.

“Had this been a one-time matter, I would not have written. However, in a more severe expression, you recently insinuated that the State of Israel ‘might be’ committing genocide in Gaza,” he added.

The letter continued, “As a nation that lost six million of its sons and daughters in the Holocaust, we are especially sensitive to the trivialization of the term ‘genocide’—a trivialization that is dangerously close to Holocaust denial.”

The Vatican unveiled a Nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square on Saturday, featuring baby Jesus in a keffiyeh-wrapped cradle.

The display, created by two artists from Bethlehem, Johnny Andonia and Faten Nastas Mitwasi, depicted Jesus lying on top of the checkered black-and-white scarf that is a symbol of Palestinian nationalism.

Speaking at the scene, Pope Francis said that the Nativity exhibit reminds the world to “remember the brothers and sisters, who, right there [in Bethlehem] and in other parts of the world, are suffering from the tragedy of war.”

He then slammed the international arms trade and added, “Enough war, enough violence!”

Chikli addressed the historical distortion in the display and wrote, “It is a well-known fact that Jesus was born to a Jewish mother, lived as a Jew, and died as a Jew,”

Chikli stated. “There is no other way to understand this decision than as a deliberate adoption of the Palestinian narrative.”

“Bethlehem is the city where Rachel, our matriarch, died giving birth to Benjamin, and where David, son of Jesse, was born—the same David who became the King of Israel and made Jerusalem its capital,” he added.