Evangelical leader slams Palestinian officials Bible claims as contemptible

A leading American evangelical leader has condemned remarks made by a Palestinian official claiming the Bible as a "Palestinian book."

Palestinian Ambassador to the U.K. Husam Zomlot made the comments earlier this month at the University of Bradford as the revisionist argument takes shape asserting Jesus was a Palestinian.

Zomlots claims that the Bible is a "Palestinian book" and that, by extension, all Christians are Palestinian has drawn sharp criticism from those who say the remarks advance a contested historical narrative about the land.

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"The Palestinians arent the people of the Book. When the Book was written, the term Palestinian had not yet been coined," Pastor John Hagee, founder and chairman of Christians United for Israel (CUFI), told Fox News Digital.

"The Palestinian ambassadors attempt to claim the Jewish mantle of religion and history as his own is the clearest indication that his own narrative lacks both," he said, adding: "Such attacks are contemptible, but their danger is decided by who will listen and who will challenge such bigotry."

Hagee argued that describing Jesus as Palestinian because Bethlehem is today in the Palestinian-controlled West Bank would be anachronistic, comparing it to calling television personality Dr. Phil Cherokee simply because he was born in Oklahoma.

"History also disproves what the ambassador is saying. The Romans intentionally adopted the name Palestine as a replacement for Judea in an effort to erase the Jews from the land, roughly a century after Christ was crucified," he added.

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Hagee, whose group counts over 10 million members, added, "no reasonable person should entertain its existence in the future — given the horrors of October 7 and the ongoing effort by radical Islamists to annihilate the Jewish people."

Zomlot made the comments on Sept. 3 during a conversation with Humza Yousaf, the former first minister of Scotland, at the University of Bradford. He recalled that, during a private audience with the late Queen Elizabeth II arranged by the British Foreign Office, he told her, "Jesus is our gift to you."

"The Bible is a Palestinian book, and it has been used against us. It has been rewritten to be used against the people of the Book," Zomlot continued. "We are the original Christians, all the names that you see here, all the saints that you hear about came from my land and I am so proud about that, spreading Jesus message worldwide."

Critics contend the Palestinian Authority has sought to shape the international historical narrative surrounding the land through institutions such as UNESCO and the United Nations. They point to UNESCOs designation of the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron in the name of the "State of Palestine" in 2016 and its 2023 designation of Tell es-Sultan near Jericho as a World Heritage site in "Palestine."

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