Israeli media to BBC: Jesus was not Palestinian

The presenter of BBC World Service radio program Heart and Soul referred to Jesus' national identity as a Palestinian.

A man talks on a mobile phone inside the BBC headquarters in London November 21, 2008.
Reuters Archive

A man talks on a mobile phone inside the BBC headquarters in London November 21, 2008.

Israeli media have lashed out at BBC for airing a program on Jesus in which it claimed he was a Palestinian.

The BBC World Service radio program Heart and Soul aired a program on December 18 in which presenter Robert Beckford noted that artistic depictions of Jesus as blonde and European are historically inaccurate and referred to his national identity as a Palestinian.

Israeli daily Jerusalem Post on Monday cited The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) as disputing the inaccuracy of the national identity of Jesus.

According to CAMERA, the term "Palestinian," only came into use some 100 years after the crucifixion.

References to Jesus as "Palestinian" were also made on the December 13th edition of BBC Radio Scotland’s Sunday Morning, without any explicit mention of Jesus' Jewish identity, according to CAMERA.

The organisation said it intends to ask the BBC for clarification with a formal request.

Route 6