r/askanything • • Sep 09 '26

Political Question Why don’t more Christians empathize with Palestinians, considering that Palestinians are the most genetically and ancestrally connected to the people who lived in the Levant during Jesus’s time? They could even share physical features similar to what Jesus himself may have looked like ?

Of course I am talking about the civilians

0 Upvotes

129 comments sorted by

9

u/Sal-LeMandeur Sep 09 '26

We ain't racist like that. I keep a Korean Jesus on my wall.

11

u/jewboy916 Sep 09 '26

Muslims kicked Christians out of the areas they were predominantly living in in the Levant during Jesus's time. The city of Bethlehem (now in the West Bank) was 90% Christian from about 400 years after Jesus until 1950. It's now 90% Muslim. Christians in that area resent Muslims.

4

u/drchippy18 Sep 09 '26

Also Jesus was not a Christian and explicitly said that.

1

u/RobertTheTraveler Sep 09 '26

explicitly said what?

2

u/[deleted] Sep 09 '26

[deleted]

1

u/RobertTheTraveler Sep 09 '26

Yeah, that was my guess, but the wording fails.
Martin Luther explicitly said he wasn't starting a new religion.
Jesus never explicitly said he was not a Christian.
He did explicitly state that he was sent to the Jews
(and then went to the Samaritans).

1

u/Nearby_Initial2409 Sep 09 '26

At no point does Jesus explicitly say He was not a Christian. Jesus was a Jew but the term Christian did not exist yet. If you definite Christian as, "Person who believes Jesus is God." Jesus absolutely believed that because he said as much.       

2

u/Due-Designer4078 Sep 09 '26 edited Sep 09 '26

James chapter 2 says demons also believe Jesus is God. I don't think anyone would consider them to be Christians though.

2

u/Nearby_Initial2409 Sep 09 '26

That's a fair argument and to be honest I think I may have oversimplified since personally I don't believe Christian is the right word to describe Christ. The term Christian specifically means Christ Follower and you can't exactly follow yourself so using that term to describe Christ is awkward. However many use the example of, "Christ never referred to Himself as a Christian." To suggest Christ would have no commonality with Christianity which I think is incorrect and purposefully misleading because the term Christian did not exist in His time and realistically couldn't have since so much of Christianity is foundational tied to His Death, Resurrection, and Ascension. However suggesting Christ was more similar to modern Jews or any other group instead of Christians simply because the term didn't exist yet is like saying, "Nobody was gay before the 1860's!" Because the word Homosexual didn't exist. Instead Christ is the subject on which all of Christianity is built. Christianity stems from Him and His beliefs so while He may not explicitly define as a Christian it is probably the closest and most accurate term if we define it as. A person who dedicates themselves to following the teachings of God who they believe was made flesh in Christ.        

2

u/Due-Designer4078 Sep 09 '26

Thanks, I appreciate your detailed response. We're in agreement😊

1

u/kabekew Sep 09 '26

Looks in the mirror and nods slightly

0

u/Sudden_Sentence_8534 🤔 Sep 09 '26

Actually no, the Crusades killed all the Christians in Jerusalem.

•

u/SuperSaint77x 1m ago

The crusades protected Christians and Christian pilgrims. The churches were razed and they were being massacred by Muslim aggression.

0

u/jewboy916 Sep 09 '26

Is Jerusalem Bethlehem?

-1

u/WangPrime Sep 09 '26

Christians didn’t exist during Jesus’ time.

1

u/jewboy916 Sep 09 '26

Man I miss reading comprehension. Yikes.

I said Bethlehem was 90% Christian starting from about 400 years AFTER Jesus' time. Never said anything about the religious composition of Bethlehem during Jesus' time.

1

u/WangPrime Sep 09 '26

"Muslims kicked Christians out of the areas they were predominantly living in in the Levant during Jesus’s time."

9

u/Pitiful_Hedgehog6343 Sep 09 '26

Are they though? How many times has that area been conquered in the last 2000 years?

1

u/Worldly-Bid-3591 Sep 09 '26

Local populations basically stayed they just converted to wtv the new religion or government was

3

u/noviceartificer Sep 09 '26

You mean Christian’s who white washed Jesus those Christian’s?

3

u/meinkausalitat Sep 09 '26 edited Sep 09 '26

Jesus was a Jew from the Judea region of Israel, his descendants who were expelled from the region are not the same people as who Palestinians are. Most of the modern day Palestinians came to the region through Byzantine and Islamic conquest after the Jews were driven from the region. And before people come at me, the European descendants of those Jews are so interbred with Europeans that they also can’t lay claim.

The only group who could lay claim to being the descendants of Jesus both genetically and faith wise are the Jews who were expelled from Arab lands in 1948. They have more or less maintained their blood lines from ancient Israel. If Jesus was real and he did come back those would be the people he would most identify with.

3

u/Justin27M Sep 09 '26

Because some idiot fundamentalist, doomsday-cult, evangelical chuds blew up some verses in the Bible that they interpret as Israel being necessary for the end times and for Jesus to come back dominated the conversation within American Christianity for decades

2

u/ponderosa_barclay Sep 09 '26

You have not seen the white Christian Jesus? They forgot he had a tan.

2

u/thatwitchlefay Sep 09 '26

A lot of Christian Zionists believe that Israel must be a nation and rule that land before Jesus will return. For them, supporting Israel is doing God’s bidding. It’s doing their part in a big cosmic battle.

1

u/ARealForHonorDev Sep 09 '26

Religious psychosis is a powerful thing

2

u/rivers-end Sep 09 '26

Any real Christian does empathize with the Palestinians.

Jesus Christ was quite clear on the subject of how to treat and care for others. Any Christian who disagrees needs to study the Bible. Having love toward others is literally what He taught us to do. It's so simple.

2

u/Chipotle-Dancin_manG Sep 09 '26

Most christians hate jesus, going by their behavior lately.

2

u/Themoastoriginalname Sep 09 '26

Idk why people here use Jesus as "factual" .... It was a book , and people will use this excuse to kill and occupy...

5

u/Big-Pains Sep 09 '26

Jesus was a jew from judea first of all . And has no ties to the arab palestinians . As for the sympathy part , i wonder if islamic aparthaid has something to do with it

https://efile.fara.gov/docs/7649-Informational-Materials-20251211-73.pdf

4

u/Myiagros3 Sep 09 '26

I read the article. Could you help me with with explaining why did christians stay until now for them to be leaving now? As far as i know, muslims are in Bethlehem for over 1000 years.

Also the OP is about Palestinians, not muslims.

0

u/Big-Pains Sep 09 '26

They leave now as the islamists harras and threathen them to live . Notice how the dip started after israel handed betlehem to the pa in the 90's

Betlehem was almost always 90% christian before the pa took over

1

u/Myiagros3 Sep 09 '26

PA is shit, noone denies that. But why did it start in the 90s

0

u/Big-Pains Sep 09 '26

Cause israel gave control of it to the palestinians . I already shown that it started exectly when palestinians got the keys to betlehem

0

u/Myiagros3 Sep 09 '26

Understood, the problem is that I had studied this conflict.

  1. The article you provided is NOT independent, in fact it is serving one party over the other, as at the bottom it discloses that the material was distributed by Clock Tower X LLC on behalf of the State of Israel under FARA. This is not research, this is cherry picking.

  2. Then can you help me why this report from the US State Department religious freedom from the 2000s specifically mentioned :

https://1997-2001.state.gov/global/human_rights/irf/irf_rpt/irf_occterr.html?safe=1

"he PA generally does not restrict freedom of religion, and there is no pattern of PA discrimination against or harassment of Christians. However, since the establishment of the PA, there have been periodic allegations that a small number of Muslim converts to Christianity sometimes are subject to societal discrimination and harassment by PA officials"

" The Consulate continues to investigate allegations of unequal treatment of religious minorities. It made inquiries to try to ascertain the facts of a land dispute case in which the PA allegedly acquiesced to the confiscation of Christian-owned land by Muslims; there was no basis found for these allegations during the period covered by this report. "

Then a couple of reports after that : (which is much more critical)

https://2021-2025.state.gov/reports/2020-report-on-international-religious-freedom/israel-west-bank-and-gaza/west-bank-and-gaza/?safe=1

https://2021-2025.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/441219-WEST-BANK-AND-GAZA-2022-INTERNATIONAL-RELIGIOUS-FREEDOM-REPORT.pdf?safe=1

Stating :

"Christians also criticized the PA for failing to better protect their communities and way of life.." “Bethlehem residents said political instability affected tourism, Bethlehem’s key economic sector." Which led to : “a factor compelling many young Christians to emigrate.”

But it identifies some of the reasons. And one of the main ones : “economic hardships created by the establishment of the barrier and the imposition of travel restrictions.”

  1. Regarding your "factual" claim that the city had 90% Christians and it is much less now.

https://jewishvirtuallibrary.org/bethlehem?

This explicitly states, obviously pro Jewish source BTW. “Of its 8,000 inhabitants in 1947, 75% were Christians and the rest Muslims” “while the Christians of various denominations numbered 6,231 or 46.1%.

https://cris.biu.ac.il/en/publications/language-migration-and-urbanization-the-case-of-bethlehem/

This is a paper in 2025 “During the period of the Jordanian rule, Bethlehem was transformed completely by continued emigration of Christians and immigration of Muslims” “Economic reasons remained prevalent although the disruption and disillusionment of political and military events also surely played a part.” Since people were actually promised in Jordan a citizenship, and industrial/agricultural development.

This was published in Bar Ilan University, with strong jewish and zionist heritage.

I really would appreciate your comeback at these questions/articles so you can help me out understand your point. No hate in discussion)

1

u/Myiagros3 Sep 11 '26

Ofc he didnt reply. What a shame.

2

u/DeliciousPool2245 Sep 09 '26

The people stayed where they were, and converted to Islam. Many Palestinians are descend from Jews.

0

u/Big-Pains Sep 09 '26 edited Sep 09 '26

And many more palestinians are migrants from egypt , jordan , or heck even bosnia of all places that came in the 1900's for the economic boom that happend there before and after ww1

The most common palestinian last name is el masri wich means the egyptian . Arafat was also born in cairo

Meanwhile jews kept their idnetity and ethnicity for 2000 years since jesus's birth

1

u/PerformerOk4312 Sep 09 '26

The vast majority of Palestinians were native to Palestine actually. Arafat was born in Cairo as his family were working there. The American tennis player John Mcenroe was born in Germany but he isn't a German

-1

u/Big-Pains Sep 09 '26

1

u/Myiagros3 Sep 09 '26

Incorrect

Filastin was already being published in Jaffa in 1911, way before Arafat was even born

ʿIsa al-ʿIsa, a founding father of Palestinian nationalism.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-middle-east-studies/article/abs/impossible-is-not-ottoman-menashe-meirovitch-isa-alisa-and-imperial-citizenship-in-palestine/8672F59C5A5C45C327867EFC10846D31

Even the national library of israel states the same, the newspaper was calling for this idea since 1911 and ottoman days.

https://www.nli.org.il/en/newspapers/falastin/1935/01

Also before Arafat there was the Palestinian Arab Congress

For the immigration, ill not discuss it as itll open a bigger pandora box.

About that Palestinians, Jordanians, Syrians, Lebanese, ..etc. are simply one people: Zuheir Mohsen was expressing a pan-Arab/Ba'athist ideological mentality. Its That ideology believing that Arabs are one nation divided by western borders

This mentaliry is also behind United Arab Republic, which made a union between Egypt and Syria But that ideology was only one political faction in the Arab world..

Jordan, Saudi Arabia and other Arab states strongly disagreed with revolutionary arab nationalisim and Ba'athist movements, and Jordan literally fought the PLO and (maybe syria) in 1971

So quoting one Ba'athist PLO faction leader does not prove that Palestinian identity was invented by arafat and that it doesnt exist..

Palestinian nationalisim predates both these people by decades at least

6

u/[deleted] Sep 09 '26 edited Sep 09 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

-4

u/PerformerOk4312 Sep 09 '26

When have Hamas said that they wish to kill ALL Jews?

4

u/AdhesivenessTight400 Sep 09 '26

In their charter.

2

u/reddit7867 Sep 09 '26

1988 in their doctrine. They have a holy war, jihad with the Jews. They’ve recently changed Jews to zionists. However “river to the sea” is pretty clear.

4

u/Big-Pains Sep 09 '26

0

u/Mazrath Sep 09 '26

The Charter has been updated since tho.

0

u/Big-Pains Sep 09 '26

Not realy , just switched the word jews to zionist ( a stupid dogwhistle as was proven with octiber 7th and hamas attacks on diaspora jews )

1

u/Mazrath Sep 09 '26

When did Hamas attack diaspora jews? I did’t find any occurence but I didn’t search long.

-2

u/Worldly-Bid-3591 Sep 09 '26

I mean it is a complicated situation

4

u/Big-Pains Sep 09 '26

Its not realy . Hamas is a terror org that is bent to kill all jews and after that all christians

1

u/JakeHelldiver Sep 09 '26

Woaw, they really are comic book villians.

0

u/Big-Pains Sep 09 '26

I mean what did you expect from a world recognized terror org ?

1

u/PerformerOk4312 Sep 09 '26

Yes considering that Hamas was funded and encouraged by Israel. Netanyahu was filmed admitting it.

2

u/vctrlzzr420 Sep 09 '26

There is a big population of Christians that are indoctrinated due to funding, most things they believe aren’t Christian. They believe it if someone or networks that claim to support “Christian ideology” are funded to say  it. Also it’s the goofiest, most malicious shit you’ve ever heard. Don’t ask people to make sense, you will be bewildered by the logic they use. 

2

u/Sudden_Sentence_8534 🤔 Sep 09 '26

Cos the Zionists give them money and the Palestinians don't

2

u/Maleficent-Win-6520 Sep 09 '26

Rather than the Palestinians than the Israelis for me any day.

2

u/Dave_A480 Sep 09 '26 edited Sep 09 '26

Because they aren't.

The Jews are.

3

u/Worldly-Bid-3591 Sep 09 '26

Palestinians literally have levantine DNa

3

u/Big-Pains Sep 09 '26 edited Sep 09 '26

So are lebanease , syrians , jordenians ( who are also ethnicly the same as palestinians ) . Jesus was a jew though both ethnicly and religously .

2

u/Dave_A480 Sep 09 '26

So do Jews.

1

u/ARealForHonorDev Sep 09 '26

Lol wrong. Most are European transplants

1

u/Big-Pains Sep 09 '26

0

u/ARealForHonorDev Sep 09 '26

Your link literally proved my point

"Genetic evidence corroborating this biblical-based account has been disputed"

Furthermore

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliyah

"For much of their history, most Jews have lived in diasporas outside of the Land of Israel."

1

u/Big-Pains Sep 09 '26

So yiu just cherry picked as expected

Studies on Jewish populations have been principally conducted using all three types of genealogical DNA tests: autosomal (atDNA), mitochondrial (mtDNA), and Y-chromosome (Y-DNA). Autosomal testing, which looks at the largest sets of genes within peoples' DNA, shows that Jewish populations tend to form genetic isolates – relatively closely related groups in independent communities with most in a community sharing significant ancestry. The Ashkenazi Jews form the largest such group.[1] Mitochondrial and Y-DNA tests look at maternal and paternal ancestry respectively, via two small groups of genes transmitted only via female or male ancestors.[2]

Studies on the genetic composition of Ashkenazi, Sephardi, and Mizrahi Jewish populations of the Jewish diaspora show significant amounts of shared Middle Eastern ancestry,[3][4] as well as admixture from local populations.[5]Jews living in the North African, Italian, and Iberian regions show variable frequencies of genetic overlap with the historical non-Jewish population along the maternal lines. In the case of Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews (in particular Moroccan Jews), who are closely related, the source of non-Middle-Eastern admixture is mainly Southern European. Some researchers have remarked on an especially close relationship between Ashkenazi Jews and modern Italians, Greeks, and other Southern Europeans.[6][7][8] Bene Israel and the Cochin Jews of India, and Beta Israel of Ethiopia, resemble their local populations but also may have some admixture.[5]

0

u/ARealForHonorDev Sep 09 '26

Again there's a large ad mixture of European DNA. Modern Jews then migrated, primarily from Europe, to Israel. They have not occupied the region, for the most part, for thousands of years, unlike Palestinians.

1

u/Big-Pains Sep 09 '26

0

u/ARealForHonorDev Sep 09 '26

You completely misinterpreted that quote. He's saying that the term "Palestinians" is a new invention, but Arab people have always occupied the area, not European Jews 

1

u/Big-Pains Sep 09 '26

Again european jews is literaly an oximoron . As both genetics and culture proved they werent european , and they were literaly genocided for not being european

Also moveing the goalposts ? Arabs are from the arabian gulf not the levant , nice slip

0

u/ARealForHonorDev Sep 09 '26

You're the one who quoted a ba'athist pan-arab spokesman. You also read the quote that explains the european DNA admixture prevalent in both Ashkenazi and sephardic Jews. Furthermore, Israel has promoted migration from europe since it was founded. You are the one moving goal posts, as now you are claiming European as a broad cultural identity vs merely a geographical location. Just because they faced discrimination from a variety of different cultures in europe doesn't negate the fact that europe was the primary location most israeli Jews came from. Meanwhile, Palestinians have, for far longer historically, occupied the geographical location of israel.

1

u/UtahUtopia Sep 09 '26

My jewish friend lives in Israel. He has blue eyes and blonde hair.

2

u/RobertTheTraveler Sep 09 '26

And?
Are you really this dense or are you trying to make some sort of point?

1

u/UtahUtopia Sep 09 '26

My point is that his family emigrated from eastern Europe less about 70 years ago.

1

u/Fit_Professional1916 1h ago

And how did they end up in Europe in the first place

2

u/Big-Pains Sep 09 '26

And there are plenty of palestinians who fit that description as well

For example

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahed_Tamimi

-1

u/irrationallogic Sep 09 '26

The jews are what?

3

u/JakeHelldiver Sep 09 '26

Are! Can't you read!?

1

u/Dave_A480 Sep 09 '26

The Jews are the closest modern ethnicity to Jesus.

They are not - contrary to Hamas/Iranian propaganda - foreign colonists.

2

u/ARealForHonorDev Sep 09 '26

Lol that can't be proven until you find Jesus' dead body

1

u/irrationallogic Sep 09 '26

This sounds even more like propaganda.

1

u/Dave_A480 Sep 09 '26

It's the truth.

Propaganda would be claiming that the Arab population is indigenous and Jews never lived in Israel before the 1800s....

1

u/irrationallogic Sep 09 '26

What percentage of the Jewish population in Israel can trace themselves back continuously before 1940s?  My understanding is that it is less than 5%.  I ask out of genuine curiousity because what you are claiming doesnt line up with what I have been taught about World history and I am very open to being wrong.

1

u/Dave_A480 Sep 09 '26

Effectively all of them, whether they can do the geneologies or not...

Europe was not a good place to be a Jew after the Bar Kokbah revolt and they largely kept to their own communities....

And Judaisim is not a convert seeking religion, it's passed through the maternal line....

The idea that Jews are colonists originates with people that denies Jerusalem was ever Jewish... Which we of course know to be false thanks to numerous external sources.....

1

u/kitsnet Sep 09 '26

most genetically and ancestrally connected

Colossians 3:11

1

u/thegameisafoooooot Sep 09 '26

Cousins become the most fervent enemies.

1

u/Onlyslightlychaotic Sep 09 '26

Empathize yes. Agree? No. It’s entirely possible to do both.

1

u/CG20370417 Sep 09 '26

Im ethnically English, Scottish, German and Scandinavian....my people are not "genetically or ancestrally" connected to Palestinians.

My people were converted to Christianity by Romans (different tale in Scandinavia but that's another post).

The Romans were/are an ethnic group separate from those native to the Levant. And for that matter separate from the people local to what is now Germany and the the British Isles.

Then on top of that, my people immigrated to the US over the course of 200 years, resulting in me being born west of the Rocky Mountains.

The religion may have started in the Holy Land....but im separated by 3 cultures, and 2000 years from the people and location it was founded in.

1

u/2LostFlamingos Sep 09 '26

Christianity came from Judaism and they share more in common regarding how to live in society

1

u/PirateSteve85 Sep 09 '26

There are any number of reasons but to start, Christians share pretty much similar beliefs with Jews up until Jesus. For Islam it pretty much stops at Abraham.

As far as ancestry, American Christians have a very European view of Jesus so for many that is white. Other races may have their own view.

Also one final thing which maybe isnt as much for the younger generations but American’s still have a pretty sour taste in their mouth about Islam due to an event that happened 25 years ago almost to the day. Not a great look when Palestinians are governed by a terrorist organization that hates America.

1

u/Remarkable_Wish_5106 Sep 09 '26

Religious tribalism doesn't bring unity, it usually bring division and lack of empathy.

1

u/AbbreviationsTop4959 Sep 09 '26

There are certain pockets of Western Christians that are also Zionists. That's the main reason. There are, however, other Christians who are more aware of the continued existence of Christians in the Middle East, including Palestine, and that awareness makes political alignment with Israel appalling.

1

u/DyersvilleStLambert Sep 09 '26

Your category is too broadly defined. Most Catholics are familiar with Christian Arab communities visiting their parishes annually, from inside of Israel, seeking assistance for their communities. Lots of Catholics also have connections to Lebanese or Syrian Christian immigrants (I do). Some communities have Chaldean Catholic Churches in them and others Antiochian Orthodox communities which are Apostolic Christians bodies from the Middle East, as are Maronite Catholics.

I'm going to assume you're an American, fwiw, who tend to throw all Christians into one group, which for Americans tends to be default Protestant. I'm not saying that to be offensive, it's just the truth. Every Catholic sooner or later gets the "why do you Christians believe" about some Protestant belief we don't believe. Individuals vary, but as a group we're probably more sympathetic to Palestinians than, lets say, some Evangelicals may be.

1

u/Retired_Jarhead55 Sep 09 '26

I’m 71 and I don’t know any Jews, Palestinians or Gentiles. It seems that this fight has gone on for millennia. My opinion, of which I genuinely don’t have, is of no value to anyone. I’m not in favor of what I see in Gaza but I am uninformed as to why they should be allowed to be treated like this. I hate all religions for this very reason. You all started this nonsense, you solve it. Also, I don’t want to pay for either side unless it’s to feed innocent children.

1

u/NoSurprise6383 7h ago

Because there's billions and billions invested in propaganda and subversion, during the last 80 years to keep them from that.

1

u/Yayhoo0978 5h ago

Because we’re not all hung up on race. Hope that helps. We’re more interested in what’s in a man’s heart than what’s in his DNA. Make sense?

1

u/LostxJuul Sep 09 '26

Probably because of what they did on Oct. 7th

1

u/RobertTheTraveler Sep 09 '26

because of what who did?

1

u/IceColdSkimMilk Sep 09 '26

Who says they don't?

2

u/Worldly-Bid-3591 Sep 09 '26

At least in the US a lot don’t.

1

u/IceColdSkimMilk Sep 09 '26

Several churches in my metro do donations to it.

1

u/Warm_Stress_1654 Sep 09 '26

Because Palestinians are sometimes Catholics and sometimes Orthodox but rarely Protestant.

1

u/LarryUpSky Sep 09 '26

There were no Palestinians back then. It’s only after Yasser Arafat (the Egyptian) they started calling themselves Palestinians.

1

u/PerformerOk4312 Sep 09 '26

Totally untrue

1

u/dougs_46 Sep 09 '26

Not a "christian" I support the people of Palestine. I Do NOT supprt the goverment just the INNOCENT people. Disgusting what the Israeli goverment has done to them. Bombing schools and hospitals. Then using food to as weapon. That is what the Nazi did to the Jewish people in the 1930's.

1

u/AntonioLovesHippos Sep 09 '26

“The Jews have made him [Yahweh] the assassin of the human species, to make room for the religion of the Jews. The Christians have made him the murderer of himself, and the founder of a new religion to supersede and expel the Jewish religion. And to find pretence and admission for these things, they must have supposed his power or his wisdom imperfect, or his will changeable; and the changeableness of the will is the imperfection of the judgement.”

Thomas Paine

1

u/ARealForHonorDev Sep 09 '26

Always brilliant

0

u/virtual_adam Sep 09 '26

Ask yourself why there hasn’t been a Palestinian pope, and then you understand what Europeans did to Christianity

0

u/Enough-Cicada7601 Sep 09 '26

What do you mean by this? You mean that there hasn't been a pope of middle eastern descent? Pope Gregory III was Syrian. Not long after that Islam conquered much of the middle east

1

u/virtual_adam Sep 09 '26

European Christian’s (not the genetically correct Christian’s) decided on a ranking of elite Christianity, and the Levantine Christian’s are pretty low on the totem pole

1

u/Enough-Cicada7601 Sep 09 '26

The bishop of Rome is the pope and for a long time they were mostly Italian. We just finally got a North American Pope

0

u/HenriEttaTheVoid Sep 09 '26

You mean the christians who think empathy is a sin?

-2

u/Guilty-Cow4325 Sep 09 '26

Because they're racist. No other reason.

-1

u/ruum-502 Sep 09 '26 edited Sep 09 '26

Because america is infiltrated by Israeli money and influence and that influence trickles all the way down to the easily brainwashed evangelicals

Palestine has yet to buy American politicians and influence so there is no brainwashing to be pro-Palestine.

Most support for Palestine currently is generated from disgust of Israel’s actions as they are on display for the world to see now.

1

u/dudesicle182 Sep 09 '26

Qatar is the largest foreign funder of US higher education so I’d imagine there’s some brainwashing going on.

0

u/zoppaTheDim Sep 09 '26

Because the “Christians” who think they need Jews in Israel for Jesus to come back tend to be racist and believe Jesus was a white guy.

0

u/Bumpy-road Sep 09 '26

This is a racist sentiment

0

u/Nearby_Initial2409 Sep 09 '26

Hey, Former Pastor here. Hope this helps.

So, as Christians, we do have a lot of empathy for any civilians being killed, Palestinian or otherwise. And for those who don't, we should. One of the basic teachings of Christ was to love our enemies. That being said, our empathy does not come from the fact that they may be genetically closer to Christ somehow. We don't necessarily care who's genetically closer or not to Christ. We are all God's creations, and thus believe there is an intrinsic value in human life. However, speaking from my personal experience and the conversations I've had with fellow believers, I can tell you that while we do have a lot of sympathy for those civilians that are currently caught in the crossfire of the fighting, a lot of us also see this war as an inevitable and unfortunate necessity. Of course we believe civilian losses should be minimized as much as possible. And if anyone is purposely targeting civilians or not taking necessary precautions to protect civilians, that's wrong regardless of who's doing it. But Israel didn't start this war. Hamas did. Hamas was democratically elected by the Palestinian people in 2005 on a platform of kill all Jews from the face of the planet, and have held power in the region ever since and used Gaza and the West Bank to launch attacks on Israel, often targeting Jewish civilians and then hiding behind Palestinian ones. The way a lot of us see it, Israel has made efforts towards peace in the past, while Palestine has consistently refused to compromise and has continued to endorse a kill every Jew on the face of the planet policy, with many Hamas leaders even going as far as saying that even if Israel were to completely dissolve itself as a nation and give all of the territory back to a single Palestinian state, that that would not be sufficient for them and that it would still be their objective to hunt and kill all Jews on the face of the planet. Because to share an existence with them is too terrible a fate for them to accept. What other alternative can the Jewish people of Israel then pursue in the face of that kind of rabid hatred other than to say, Okay, we're just gonna wipe out your organization then. And hopefully when the dust settles, we can rebuild and our two peoples can live in peace. But to just keep having tit-for-tat retaliations and proportional responses, as has been done over the last 80 years, is clearly not effective and is just continuing the conflict down the generations. Better to win it now, even if the cost is terrible, than to force more generations of children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to grow up and fight the same battles their forefathers did. Since lasting peace clearly is not on the table.        

0

u/itstrueitellyou Sep 09 '26

Because Israel needs to exist for the second coming of Jesus.

-1

u/New-Sandwich6813 Sep 09 '26

Maybe because of the decades of hatred shown toward the American people. Here’s an example from 9/12/01.

https://reddit.com/link/p8swcb4/video/zafu479gljoh1/player

2

u/Mazrath Sep 09 '26

And the link with Palestinians is…?

1

u/New-Sandwich6813 Sep 09 '26

The video shows palestinians celebrating the 9/11 attacks.

-3

u/No-Bake-730 Sep 09 '26

Why should I care who is genetically more like Jesus? Wasn't that guy a Jew?

And what does it even have to do with politics?

Also, the civilians who dragged dead people through the street and partied like crazy?