The Rev. Edward L. Beck, a Roman Catholic priest, received backlash after he claimed Jesus Christ is a “Palestinian Jew.”
In an interview with CNN on Monday, Beck spoke about keeping “faith and hope alive” during the Christmas season despite the world’s turmoil — namely, the war between Israel and Hamas.
“What I’m so struck by is that the story of Christmas is about a Palestinian Jew — how often do you find those words put together?” he said.
Beck also claimed Jesus was “born into a time when his country was occupied.”
“They can’t find a place for her to even give birth, his mother. They’re homeless. They eventually have to flee as refugees into Egypt, no less,” he continued.
Beck added, “I mean, you can’t make up the parallels to our current world situation right now.”
Conservative radio show host Jason Rantz slammed Beck for his controversial statements on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“[Father Edward Beck], who is now a full-time activist trying to push Christians into Palestinian nationalism & erase Jewish history,” he wrote in the caption of the short clip.
Another user wrote, “This ‘Father’ doesn’t represent orthodox Christians or practicing catholics in anyway. Christ was born in Israel and salvation is for the jews first and then for the gentiles.”
“God’s promises to Israel will never be broken and those who lie about history in order to promote Hamas have nothing to do with my faith,” the user declared.
The user added, “But you can always find some minister who calls themselves ‘christian’ (sic) who are wolves amongst the sheep.
“Since when is it ok for men of the cloth to lie on national television, [Father Edward Beck]?” one user stated.
The user also inquired whether “there a special absolution when lying about the Jewish people, their history and their ancestral Land of [Israel].”
“Hope you get smacked with a community note. Shame,” the user continued, addressing Beck.