Survivalist Bear Grylls is feeling the social media heat after referring to Mary, the mother of Jesus, as a “Palestinian girl.” Grylls posted to X to promote his new book, The Greatest Story Ever Told, a retelling of the biblical account. On his post, Grylls wrote, “In these next few days billions of us around the world celebrate the birth of a Middle Eastern refugee who, 2,000 years ago, changed the course of the world forever.” He went on to describe Mary, the mother of Jesus as, “a young, poor, and no doubt terrified Palestinian girl, [who] gives birth in a run-down animal pen, to a baby who was foretold for hundreds of years. Yet she was not alone. And she never would be.”

Grylls’ original post received instant criticism for characterizing Jesus as a “refugee” and Mary as a “Palestinian girl.” The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) reposted Grylls’ original message, calling the use of Palestine “propaganda.” “The region wasn’t called ‘Palestine’ until 100 years later when the Judeans (Jews) were exiled and Emperor Hadrian renamed it Syria Palaestina after the Bar Kokhba Revolt to try to sever the Jewish connection to the land,” the CAA stated. It also took issue with the characterization of Jesus and his family as refugees. “While Mary’s family fled to Egypt to escape King Herod’s persecution, calling her a ‘Palestinian refugee’ not only imposes modern terminology on ancient history, but completely eradicates her Jewish identity.”

Grylls quickly took down the original post and replaced it on Christmas day. While still referring to Jesus as “an impoverished Middle Eastern refugee,” he changed his characterization of Mary as “a young, poor, and no doubt terrified girl living in first-century Palestine…” He defended his decision to refer to the area as “Palestine” in the comments. “I referred to this area as Palestine as per the maps you will find in most Bibles,” he wrote. “I refer to Palestine as the general area that Mary lived in. I am not referring to her nationality or ethnicity. She was clearly Jewish,” he later said. He also defended referring to Jesus as a refugee, noting how he, Mary, and Joseph were forced to flee to Egypt to avoid Herod’s decree to kill all male babies born in Bethlehem, as described in the Gospel of Mattew. In another post, he wrote, “And if you think Mary’s country of origin is controversial wait until you read the bulk of what is in The Greatest Story Ever Told.”

The use of “Palestine” to characterize the region of Israel has been controversial for decades, with tensions increasing since the attack against Israeli concertgoers on October 7, 2023, and the subsequent response from Israel against the Gaza region, which has been characterized by some critics as a “genocide.” In an op-ed for The Telegraph, George Chesterton warned against using “Palestinian” to refer to Jesus in a way the Bible never uses. “There is, of course, a deeper precedent for this, in that Jesus’ Jewishness has been played down since the third century, when Christianity proliferated into Roman society. Then, even more so when his death became an excuse for anti-Semitism in the Middle Ages,” wrote Chesterton. “In that sense, this attempt to politicise him is nothing new. There was also a certain German group you may have heard of from the 1930s and 40s who were very keen to eliminate any link between Jesus and his Jewish identity.” He called the reference “a political identity that didn’t exist.” “That’s not something Jesus would have approved of,” concluded Chesterton. “He was Jewish, after all.”