“There are no words to describe how much of an unholy desecration this is.”
At best, the iconic keffiyeh is a provocative symbol of Palestinian resistance and solidarity with Palestinian nationalism. At worst, the checkered black-and-white scarf made most famous by the late Yasser Arafat is synonymous with the headgear worn by Islamic terrorists and antisemitic mobs baying for Jewish blood.
But last Saturday, the keffiyeh became the swaddling clothes for the baby Jesus to lie on in His cradle as a wheelchair-bound Pope Francis prayed before a politicized “Palestinian” nativity scene in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall.
Jews and Christians erupted with outrage, both reminding the pope that depicting Jesus as a “Palestinian” when he was born a “Jew” was not only historically inaccurate, but a display of partisanship with the antisemitic terrorist organization Hamas.
Earlier today, the controversial nativity scene was removed from the Paul VI Hall with no explanation.
Associating Jesus with Violence
“There are no words to describe how much of an unholy desecration this is,” wrote Elica Le Bon, an attorney, singer, activist, and speaker of Iranian extraction, blasting Francis for unveiling “the nativity scene with baby Jesus in a keffiyeh.”
“This symbol has nothing to do with Jesus who lived 2,000 years ago in Judea,” she remarked, explaining in a lengthy social media post how the “keffiyeh emerged as a symbol for [the] Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire beginning in the early 1900’s” and “subsequently became a symbol for Palestinian resistance after being popularized by Yasser Arafat in the 1960’s.
“Today, it is used as a symbol for solidarity with Palestinians in the Israel-Hamas conflict, and often worn by those advocating for the destruction of Israel and its replacement with an Arab/Muslim state, which was not the identity of the land Jesus was born in,” Le Bon observed.
“To associate Jesus with violence and wars by forcing him to wear a symbol associated with one side against the other is abhorrent, and a complete misevaluation of Jesus’s teachings. He was a Jewish rabbi and a man of peace.”
Islamic scholar Robert Spencer agreed.
“The worst aspect of it is that Pope Francis is endorsing a bloody and genocidal jihad that does not allow for the existence of a Jewish state,” he said. “‘Palestinian’ leaders have made it clear that no Jew will be allowed to live in their ‘Palestinian’ state. So what will be done with the seven million Jews in Israel? This is the real genocidal intent in the region.”
Symbol of Terrorism --->READ MORE HERE
Nativity scenes around the world have added a new accessory this Christmas season: the keffiyeh.
In a controversial take on the classic holiday display, some churches are replacing the baby Jesus’s traditional swaddling blanket with the black-and-white scarf — which has become a symbol of pro-Palestine activism. The manger used as a crib, meanwhile, is being surrounded by piles of rubble.
Even Pope Francis has gotten in on it. But many Christians and pro-Israel advocates are outraged by the apparent politicization of a sacred religious symbol.
So-called “Christ in the Rubble” displays have become so popular that they’ve popped up everywhere from St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Washington, DC, to All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California, to the Vatican.
According to the Palestinian pastor who started the trend, the scenes are meant to send the message that, if Jesus were born in the same spot today, it would be in war-torn Palestine.
Although Bethlehem is located in modern-day Palestine, Jesus was very much not a Palestinian.
Many Christian faith leaders are offended, included Pastor Mark Burns of Harvest Faith Center in Easley, South Carolina.
“The fact of the matter is, Jesus was a Jew… To suggest Jesus was a Palestinian is to push a political agenda that is extremely offensive,” Burns told The Post. “The nativity is for everyone. It’s something that should surpass politics.”
Pastor Johnny Ellison of Chatt Valley Church in Phenix City, Alabama agreed: “If the Pope, or any group, is trying to turn the baby Jesus into a metaphor for Palestinian resistance, then they have failed before even getting started. Making the baby Jesus a symbol of military resistance is a defective biblical model.”
Outrage exploded online after Pope Francis inaugurated a nativity scene, designed by two artists from Bethlehem and featuring a keffiyeh wrapped around Jesus’s manger, in St. Peter’s Square on Saturday.
“Dressing baby Jesus in a keffiyeh is not only a cynical exploitation of the manger scene for political and propagandistic purposes, but it is also an absurd rewriting of history,” Dr. André Villeneuve, a professor of Old Testament and Biblical Languages at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, told The Post. “Everyone knows that Jesus was a Jew, a son of Israel. If he had been born in our generation, he would pray in a synagogue—not in a church or mosque.”
Luke Moon, executive director of the Philos Project which promotes Christian-Jewish relations, told The Post: “The Church should be telling the [nativity] story as it is written in the Bible — the story of a Jewish girl giving birth to a very special Jewish baby in a manger in the Jewish town of Bethlehem. It’s a story that shouldn’t be politicized by the Vatican.” --->READ MORE HEREFollow link below to a relevant story:
+++++Bethlehem artist defends presence of Palestinian keffiyeh in Nativity scene after backlash+++++
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