Anti-Israel protesters are vowing to boycott Netflix’s upcoming biblical film about the mother of Jesus Christ, titled “Mary,” after the network chose an Israeli actress to play the part of the iconic matriarch. 

The trailer, which was released earlier this week, prompted a barrage of criticism from users who accused the network of erasing Palestinian history by casting a Jewish Israeli woman, Noa Cohen, to play the part of Mary, who they claim was Palestinian. The film also features several other Israeli actors, including Ori Pfeffer, Mili Avital, Keren Tzur, and Hilla Vidor. 

“Mary was Palestinian. Now she’s going to be played by a settler from a state that is trying to wipe Palestine out of existence,” one user, who goes by the handle @AdameMedia, and boasts more than 200,000 followers, shared on X. Some left even more overtly antisemitic comments, with one user writing: “A disgusting Jew got the part. Lol.” Their comment, which they left under Netflix’s post releasing the trailer, received more than a thousand likes. 

The criticism has historians rolling their eyes, given that Mary, according to all historical records, was an observant Jew. 

 “Mary was Jewish. Jesus was also Jewish. Jesus was born in Judea,” a journalist and antisemitism researcher, David Collier, wrote on X, telling the anti-Israel crowd to “stop rewriting history.” He added that those who “have a problem with this — or try arguing that these people were Palestinians (when Palestine did not exist)” don’t have a problem “with Israel” but are “simply an antisemite.” 

An Arab peace activist, Loay Alshareef, offered a similar rebuke: “Mary, the mother of Jesus, was Jewish—she was from the Children of Israel,” he wrote on X, adding that “Saying otherwise is purely idiotic, stupid, and utterly ignorant.” 

An Iranian activist and attorney, Elica Le Bon, who is not Jewish, also came to Netflix’s defense. “The internet is having a melt down that a Jewish woman of the land 2,000 years ago is being played by a Jewish woman of the land today,” she wrote on X. “Why? Because it reminds us of Jewish indigeneity before conquests & defeats their white colonizer narrative — a lie they’ll die to protect.” 

In fact, the director of the film, D.J. Caruso, said that he intentionally cast Israeli actors in an effort to make the film historically accurate. “It was important to us that Mary, along with most of our primary cast, be selected from Israel to ensure authenticity,” he told Entertainment Weekly, in October.  

The incident marks yet another example of anti-Israel critics pledging to boycott a network for casting an Israeli actor amid the ongoing war in Gaza. Over the summer, Disney faced backlash for hiring Israeli movie star, Gal Gadot, to play the Wicked Queen in a live action version of “Snow White.” 

Ms. Gadot’s co-star, Rachel Zegler, was accused of egging on the antisemitic backlash by telling her fans to “always remember, free palesine” in a statement she posted on X just just 24 hours after the trailer was released and a barrage of antisemitic criticism was launched at Ms. Gadot. 

While some of the commenters voiced their support for Ms. Zegler’s pro-Palestinian message, her post was overwhelmingly flooded with criticism and support for Ms. Gadot, who has been outspoken in her support for the State of Israel. A Jewish advocacy group, StopAntisemism, in a message on X called out Ms. Zegler for “defending antisemitic threats against her Jewish co-star” rather than “supporting Gadot.”