Archbishop Atallah Hanna, Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Sebastia, Jerusalem; March 21, 2026: They want a Jesus shaped by their own agendas and desires, while Jesus Christ came into this world to spread love, compassion, and fraternity among human beings.
Netanyahu’s offensive remarks about Christianity have angered Christians everywhere, as well as every reasonable and wise person in this region and across the world.
His statements are insulting and wholly unacceptable, yet they are not surprising. They stem from a Zionist ideology that excludes and marginalizes anyone who is not Jewish, viewing followers of other faiths as lesser beings.
Netanyahu is a product of this racist school of thought. But what concerns us most is not only what he says, but what his government continues to do to our Palestinian people, who are targeted in every aspect of their lives.
At the very moment he insults Christianity and Christians everywhere, he persists in his aggressive policies against our people.
The genocidal war in Gaza stands as the clearest testimony to the crimes committed against a people who seek nothing more than to live freely and with dignity in their homeland and on their sacred soil.
This Zionist current to which Netanyahu belongs seeks a Jesus of a different kind—one molded to their whims and political needs.
They want a Jesus who tells the killer to remain a killer, the criminal to remain a criminal, and the butcher to continue his brutality.
Jesus Christ came into this world to correct false concepts, including some recorded in the Old Testament. He came to straighten what had gone crooked, and to call every human being to live with integrity, mercy, and humanity.
Christ came to call sinners to repentance, to tell the killer to stop killing, and the wrongdoer to abandon wrongdoing.
Yet Netanyahu seems to want a Jesus tailored to his own mood and interests—one who blesses his policies, his practices, and his repression of the Palestinian people.
Netanyahu’s provocative statements demand responses from churches around the world—not necessarily directed at him, for he does not merit that—but as clarifications of the true Christian values that do not justify killing, war, or the degradation of human dignity and freedom.
When Christ came into this world, he was persecuted by those who wanted him to be a Jesus that served their agendas. They wanted a one who would tell the killer to keep killing, the thief to keep stealing, and the sinner to remain in the mire of sin.
But Jesus came to spark a revolt against all forms of evil and to call all people to embrace noble moral and human values.
Many in this world offend Christianity simply because they have never truly encountered it or experienced its spirituality.
Some attack or distort the Christian faith because they want a version of Christianity that permits what God has forbidden. Yet God does not sanction killing, war, or the violation of human dignity.
We recall the immortal words spoken by Christ on the cross, after being pierced with a spear and mocked by onlookers: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Our problem with Netanyahu and his circle is that they do know what they are doing. They believe that their military power and their targeting of the Palestinian people are acts of heroism worthy of medals and honors.
Lethal military force directed at civilians is not heroism. It stands in absolute contradiction to every human and spiritual value.
Our Christian faith teaches us to pray for our enemies and for those who have gone astray, in the hope that one day they may return to reason and to their humanity.
Netanyahu’s inflammatory words reflect narcissism, arrogance, and a sense of domination—an affliction that plagues our world today.
And this affliction is not limited to Netanyahu; it is rooted in a global political system that believes in war, killing, and vengeance, at a time when the world desperately needs leaders who extinguish flames rather than fuel them, and who promote love, fraternity, and peace instead of death, threats, and war.
Let it be said clearly: Netanyahu did not insult Jesus Christ. He insulted himself and the political system he represents. In fact, he merely lifted the mask off the true face of a brutal occupation whose policies are a stain on the conscience of humanity.
Christ remains the Redeemer, the Savior, and the Teacher—no matter how much he is insulted. Whoever insults Christ only harms himself.
As we enter the season of Great Lent, we lift our prayers for our world and its leaders, and for all those who hold power over the destinies of nations. We pray that they may possess the humanity and moral clarity needed to work for the good of the world and to uphold the values of love and peace.
There is no Jesus of the kind Netanyahu and his followers imagine, and there is no scripture that justifies what the occupation does to our people.
The Holy Bible—distorted by some Zionist currents—is innocent of these false interpretations. God does not sanction oppression, injustice, or the targeting of the innocent.
Our God is a God of peace and love. Do not turn Him into a god of hatred, racism, war, and death.
We prepare for Easter, the feast of resurrection—victory of good over evil, life over death, and love over hatred and racism.
This is Christianity. This is Jesus Christ, the one they insult with their statements, yet whose message remains steadfast, upheld and defended by believers in today’s world.
Editorial Remark: Netanyahu’s statement that “Jesus was a Jew, and Christianity is part of our heritage” was framed as an outreach message to Western Christian audiences, yet it was received by Palestinian Christians as deeply provocative.
The concern was not the historical accuracy of the phrase itself, but the context in which it was delivered—during a devastating war in Gaza and amid ongoing Israeli policies that continue to harm Palestinian Christian and Muslim communities.
Church leaders argue that invoking Christian identity while directing military actions that have killed thousands amounted to a political use of the faith, reducing Christianity to a public‑relations tool rather than a moral framework.
It is this stark contrast between rhetoric and lived reality that fueled widespread anger among Christian leaders in Jerusalem and beyond.
