Jesus was a Jew. He was born into a Jewish family, in a Jewish community. He was circumcised then presented at the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. He taught in Jewish circles as part of the wide rabbinic community, using Jewish texts and ideas. His last supper was a seder, the Jewish meal on the first night of Passover. The Romans labelled him “King of the Jews”.

Despite all this, at the start of December when the Pope inaugurated a series of nativity scenes in the Vatican, one depicted the baby Jesus lying on a keffiyeh, the scarf used by many Palestinians as a national symbol. The inference is clear: Jesus either was Palestinian, or today’s Palestinians embody the spirit of Jesus.