Bethlehem has staged a more subdued Christmas celebration in solidarity with victims in Gaza
Israel's human suffering is heartbreaking: Dean Cain
Actor Dean Cain discusses his time in the Holy Land with his son and the impact of faith-based films on 'FOX & Friends.'
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., faced blowback for her social media post that tried to liken Jesus to the Palestinian people and criticize Israel but made no mention of Hamas or their hostages.
"In the story of Christmas, Christ was born in modern-day Palestine under the threat of a government engaged in a massacre of innocents," Ocasio-Cortez wrote, referencing Jews who lived in the land over 2,000 years ago under Roman control. "He was part of a targeted population being indiscriminately killed to protect an unjust leader’s power."
"Thousands of years later, right-wing forces are violently occupying Bethlehem as similar stories unfold for today’s Palestinians, so much so that the Christian community in Bethlehem has canceled this year’s Christmas Eve celebrations out of both [fear for their] safety and respect," she added, although the area is currently under the control of the Palestinian Authority.
"The entire story of Christmas and Christ himself is about standing with the poor and powerless, the marginalized and maligned, the refugees and immigrants, the outcast and misunderstood without exception," she concluded.
JESUS WAS BORN IN THIS VILLAGE. NOW THEY'VE CANCELED CHRISTMAS. ARE HIS FOLLOWERS NO LONGER WELCOME?
House Oversight and Accountability Committee member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) speaks to reporters as she is joined by fellow House Democrats in the Rayburn House Office Building on Dec. 13, 2023 in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Jacob Kornbluh, a senior political reporter at The Forward, responded with a post on X that called out the representative for making "no mention of Hamas terror" or "the victims of Oct. 7 attack."
Pro-Israel activist Andrea Karshan lamented that some people are not enjoying Christmas, instead seeking to get "so social justice political about it," The New York Post reported.
NYC COUNCILWOMAN'S GLAMOROUS GOWN SENDS MESSAGE TO ‘THE SQUAD’
Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the top Catholic clergyman in the Holy Land, arrives at the Church of the Nativity, traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus, on Christmas Eve, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Sunday, Dec. 24, 2023. Bethlehem is having a subdued Christmas after officials in Jesus' traditional birthplace decided to forgo celebrations due to the Israel-Hamas war. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Ocasio-Cortez in November joined with 23 Democrats to ask President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken for details about their plans to de-escalate violence in the region as Israel continued its invasion of the Gaza Strip.
"We reaffirm our unequivocal condemnation of the Hamas attacks on Israel that took place on October 7th, in which Hamas killed over 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals, and captured over 200 hostages, who were subsequently taken to Gaza," the Democrats wrote.
"We also share dire concerns with the ongoing Israeli response, in which the Israeli Defense Forces have killed over 11,078 Palestinians, nearly half of whom have been children," they continued, citing numbers provided by Hamas.
BERNIE SANDERS OPPOSES ‘SQUAD,’ REJECTS PERMANENT CEASE-FIRE BETWEEN ISRAEL, HAMAS
A woman lights a candle next to an installation of a scene of the nativity of Christ with a figure "symbolizing baby Jesus lying in his manger amid rubble", in reference to Gaza, inside the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank on Dec. 6, 2023, a few weeks before Christmas amid continuing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. (HAZEM BADER/AFP via Getty Images)
Bethlehem, the long-held birthplace of Jesus Christ, announced it would not hold its usual Christmas festivities in solidarity with Gaza and the ongoing violence. Regularly displayed decorations were also removed "in honor of the martyrs," the city council wrote in a post on Facebook.
Theologian Jonathan Morris told Fox News that the whole decision amounted to "a political statement overtaking something that we Christians and that Christians of Bethlehem consider to be so sacred."
However, a spokesperson for the Bethlehem city council told the Telegraph in November that celebrating "is not appropriate … while there is a massacre happening in Gaza and attacks in the West Bank."
Fox News Digital’s Megan Myers contributed to this report.
Peter Aitken is a Fox News Digital reporter with a focus on national and global news.
