Evangelical Leader Condemns Palestinian Official’s Bible Claims as ‘Contemptible’

A prominent American evangelical leader has criticized comments by a Palestinian official who described the Bible as a “Palestinian book.”

Palestinian Ambassador to the U.K. Husam Zomlot made the remarks earlier this month at the University of Bradford, as a revisionist narrative portraying Jesus as Palestinian has gained attention.

Zomlot’s assertion that the Bible is Palestinian—and that all Christians are therefore Palestinian—has drawn fierce criticism from historians and others who say it promotes a disputed account of the region’s past.

“The Palestinians aren’t 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 News Media.

Hagee said the ambassador’s effort to claim Jewish religious and historical identity as Palestinian reveals what he described as weaknesses in the Palestinian narrative. He called the remarks “contemptible,” while warning that their impact depends on who accepts them and who challenges what he characterized as bigotry.

Hagee also rejected the idea that Jesus should be called Palestinian because Bethlehem is now located in the Palestinian-controlled West Bank. He described that label as anachronistic, comparing it to calling television personality Dr. Phil Cherokee solely because he was born in Oklahoma.

“History also disproves what the ambassador is saying,” Hagee said. He argued that the Romans adopted the name “Palestine” in place of “Judea” in an attempt to erase the Jews from the land, roughly a century after Christ’s crucifixion.

Hagee, whose organization says it has more than 10 million members, also said that “no reasonable person should entertain its existence in the future,” citing the October 7 attacks and what he called the continuing efforts of radical Islamists to destroy the Jewish people.

Zomlot made the comments Sept. 3 while speaking with Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s former first minister, at the University of Bradford. He recalled a private audience with the late Queen Elizabeth II, arranged through the British Foreign Office, during which he told her, “Jesus is our gift to you.”

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“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 said. He added that Palestinians are “the original Christians,” arguing that the saints named in Christian history came from his land and helped spread Jesus’ message around the world.

Critics say the Palestinian Authority has worked through organizations including UNESCO and the United Nations to influence the international historical narrative surrounding the land. They cite UNESCO’s 2016 designation of the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron under the name “State of Palestine,” as well as its 2023 designation of Tell es-Sultan near Jericho as a World Heritage site in “Palestine.”

Critics also point to a 2021 U.N. General Assembly resolution that referred to the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site, only by its Muslim name, “Haram al-Sharif.” They cite Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ 2024 statement that the site is the “exclusive property of Muslims,” along with the use of Arabic names for locations with longstanding Jewish associations, including Rachel’s Tomb in Nablus, or Shechem, which is called the “Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque.”

Ze’ev Orenstein, director of international affairs for the City of David Foundation in Jerusalem, told News Media that Islam emerged during the era of the Prophet Muhammad, about 1,300 years ago. Jesus lived roughly 2,000 years ago, while King David lived approximately 3,000 years ago, he said.

Orenstein emphasized that Jesus was Jewish, as were his disciples. He said Jesus knew the Hebrew Bible, observed the Sabbath and Jewish dietary laws, and celebrated Jewish festivals such as Passover.

“To somehow say that Jesus was a Palestinian or that the Bible comes from ‘Palestine,’ no,” Orenstein said. “Jesus lived in a place called Judea, and Jews come from Judea.”

Orenstein accused Zomlot of appropriating Jewish and Christian religious history by assigning the foundations of those faiths to a country he said did not exist in its modern form during the time of Jesus.

“It’s an act of cultural and historical appropriation; it’s identity theft, an attempt to rewrite the foundations of faith, history, heritage, values and ideals for billions of people around the world. And so, it sets a very dangerous precedent,” he said.

News Media repeatedly reached out to Ambassador Zomlot for comment but did not receive a response.