The most recent manifestation of the desire to de-Judaize Jesus has come not from European Christian churches, but from anti-Israel activists in the Arab world, who have engaged in a campaign to assert that Jesus was, in fact, a Palestinian (in other words, a member of a people that did not come into being until roughly 100 years ago), and that the Jews are guilty of deicide and genocide, among other -cides.

The most famous proponent of this idea has been the Reverend Naim Ateek of the Sabeel Center in Jerusalem, which was established to argue against the historical and theological claims of the Jewish people to the land of Israel. Ateek foments anti-Semitism by making terrible accusations such as this one: “Jesus is on the cross again with thousands of crucified Palestinians around him. … The Israeli government crucifixion system is operating daily.”

Aslan is a critic of Israel, and he gave a telling answer when Fisher asked him to describe what Jesus might have looked like. “Well, what we know about him is that he was a Galilean. As a Galilean, he would have been what is referred to as a Palestinian Jew. He would look the way that the average Palestinian would look today. So that would mean dark features, hairy, probably a longer nose, black hair.”