When Christmas is Politicized to Target Israel

During Christmas last year, there was a concerted effort by some Palestinian factions and their supporters worldwide to gaslight public opinion into believing the current Israel-Hamas war is in fact a Jewish-Christian issue. In the Arab press and across social media, there were invocations of the age-old antisemitic trope of deicide – the accusation that Jews killed Jesus – by depicting baby Jesus being targeted by the Israeli army, including when he was born. It was particularly ironic to see that Israel’s detractors, who often hailed from countries where Christians are on the brink of extinction after centuries of violent persecution, attack the Jewish state, which is the only country in the Middle East where the population of the Christian community has remained relatively stable. These voices have been completely silent over the years in the face of reports of Hamas and its allies persecuting Christian communities in Gaza and the West Bank, including through a ban on Christmas celebrations.