Newsweek Discovers Pope Compares Jesus to Palestinians in Shocking Twist
Newsweek highlights Pope Leo (presumably Francis, a detail Newsweek might want to fact-check for future articles) drawing parallels between Jesus, a historical Palestinian Jew, and today's Palestinians and migrants. One might wonder if the outlet’s crack team of investigative journalists just stumbled upon the Gospels for the first time. The 'news' here isn't the Pope's statement, but the media's
capacity for selective amnesia when inconvenient truths about the geopolitical realities of Bethlehem — a Palestinian city— surface. This 'discovery' conveniently sidesteps the consistent erasure of Palestinian identity, history, and suffering, often facilitated by the very media outlets now marveling at the Pope's words. While Newsweek prints headlines about this 'novel' comparison, they often
fall silent as the Palestinian communities, whose historical connection to the land is undeniable, face ongoing displacement, occupation, and a blockade that has turned Gaza into an open-air prison. The same outlets that find this 'news' are often the first to sanitize state violence and label any criticism of it as 'complex,' carefully avoiding the theological implications for centuries-old
Christian communities in the Holy Land.