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Social media boycott targets film that casts the mother of Jesus with an Israeli rather than a Palestinian actress

The large number of Israelis in the cast was a conscious choice by director DJ Caruso to make the film more historically authentic. 

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Outrage has erupted on social media following the release of a trailer for a Netflix film featuring the mother of a Jesus played by an Israeli actress.

Despite historical records establishing that Mary, Jesus’ mother was Jewish, many on social media are upset that a Palestinian woman wasn’t cast in the role.

The film Mary, directed by DJ Caruso, stars 21-year-old Israeli actress Noa Cohenin as Mary and 22-year-old Israeli actor Ido Tako as Joseph. It will be released on Netflix on December 6.

In fact, the large number of Israelis in the cast, which also includes Ori Pfeffer, Mili Avital, Keren Tzur, and Hilla Vidor, was a conscious choice by director DJ Caruso to make the film more historically authentic.

Caruso emphasized it was “important to us that Mary, along with most of our primary cast, be selected from Israel to ensure authenticity.”

Reacting to the trailer, posters resorted to blatant antisemitism with posts like, “This is a joke and a slap in the face to all Christians. How dare you let that disgusting jew play Mary.”

Another poster wrote, “There is something deeply blasphemous about casting an Israeli to play the role of Mary, the mother of Jesus, while Israel is carrying out a genocide against Palestinians, killing some of the oldest Christian populations in the area and destroying their heritage sites.”

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Someone else mistakenly assumed that the actors were “white Europeans,” which would presumably be a non-starter.

“The actors in the show are both Ashkenazi Israeli Jews, and white Europeans. The closest people to Mary’s race are Palestinians. Middle Easterners always get whitewashed, blackwashed or indianwashed,” they wrote.

The movie deals with society’s rejection of Mary, an unwed mother, and her brave struggle for survival under Herod’s decree, leading her to go into hiding with Joseph.