Israeli FM’s blunder on Jesus ignites online backlash

Hundreds took to social media platform X after the Israeli Foreign Ministry made a factual error about Jesus' birthplace in a post on their official account, "Israel," which was later corrected.

Early Sunday, cities in northern Israel came under heavy attack from Hezbollah, with over 100 rockets fired, including in Nazareth—a city with a large Arab population and a significant Christian minority. While reporting the attack, the account initially stated, "Nazareth, the birthplace of Jesus, is under attack by Hezbollah."

The post quickly drew criticism, with one user commenting, "The idiots running this official account don't even know the birthplace of Jesus is Bethlehem," while another added, "Another day, another propaganda fail."

In the familiar online clash between anti-Israel and pro-Israel users, some comments took a darker turn, with one even targeting Jews: "Why are you flexing Jesus? Didn't your people kill him?"

Though the Foreign Ministry swiftly corrected the post, clarifying that Nazareth was Jesus' hometown, the error had already sparked significant buzz on social media.

* Israel Hayom contributed to this article.