British survivalist Bear Grylls courted controversy in a Christmas message and advertisement for his new book in which he described Jesus's mother, Mary, as Palestinian refugee in a social media post.
In the now-deleted X post, Grylls explained that the holiday would celebrate the birth of a “Middle Eastern Refugee” Jesus, who changed the course of history.
Grylls new book “The Greatest Story Ever Told,” a retelling of the New Testament story, began “When Maryam, a young, poor, and no doubt terrified Palestinian girl, gives birth in a run-down animal pen, to a baby who was foretold for hundreds of years.”
Grylls deleted the original post after backlash about his characterization of Jesus and Mary and, on December 25, issued a new advertisement describing Mary as “living in first-century Palestine.”
Campaign Against Antisemitism argued last Tuesday that the region wasn't called Palestine until much later after Jesus's birth.
"The region wasn’t called ‘Palestine’ until 100 years later when the Judeans (Jews) were exiled and Emperor Hadrian renamed it Syria Palaestina after the Bar Kokhba Revolt to try to sever the Jewish connection to the land. A lot of people over the millennia since have believed his propaganda," said CAA. "While Mary’s family fled to Egypt to escape King Herod’s persecution, calling her a 'Palestinian refugee' not only imposes modern terminology on ancient history, but completely eradicates her Jewish identity. It’s historical nonsense, with an agenda."
Criticism against Grylls
Jewish Community of Berkshire Rabbi Zvi Solomon criticized Grylls last Thursday, arguing on X that Jesus and Mary were Jews.
"Her name was Miriam. She lived in Judea. Jesus was born in Judea," said Solomons. "It’s spoken of explicitly in the New Testament."
Grylls addressed the criticism on Thursday, explaining that he didn't doubt that Mary was Jewish, and was referring to the area as maps in bibles labeled it
"Scholars will always go and back forward debating the technicality of exact dates that various regions became known by their names, but in this case I am simply setting the scene for the Greatest Story Ever Told. I refer to Palestine as the general area that Mary lived in. I am not referring to her nationality or ethnicity. She was clearly Jewish," said Grylls. "In response to whether Jesus was a refugee, yes he was. Mary, Joseph and Jesus were forced to flee their homeland to live as refugees in the Egyptian desert. They were escaping Herod’s decree to kill all the young male babies in Bethlehem."