Benjamin Netanyahu has recently come under fire for his comments comparing Jesus Christ to Genghis Khan at a recent press conference — but like most clips that go viral, it doesn’t tell the full story.
“Unfortunately and unhappily, Jesus Christ has no advantage over Genghis Khan because if you are strong enough, ruthless enough, powerful enough, evil will overcome good, aggression will overcome moderation,” Netanyahu said.
“So you have no choice. If you look at the world as it is today, you have to be blind not to see that the democracies led by the United States have to reassert their will to defend themselves,” he added.
While many conservatives were in an uproar after hearing Netanyahu’s comments, BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey believes that some nuance and context are required in order to understand what he meant.
“He’s quoting an American historian, Will Durant, he was a Catholic. He turned into an agnostic as an adult. And his 1968 book, you see that actually at the beginning of the full clip, that he is quoting this book called ‘The Lessons of History,’” Stuckey says, before reading the full clip.
“Nature and history do not agree with our conceptions of good and bad; they define good as that which survives, and bad as that which goes under; and the universe has no prejudice in favor of Christ as against Genghis Khan,” Durant wrote.
Netanyahu later clarified on X that the outrage was “fake news” regarding his “attitude toward Christians” and that he “did not denigrate Jesus Christ.”
“A morally superior civilization may still fall to a ruthless enemy if it does not have the power to defend itself. No offense was meant,” the prime minister added in another post.
“Now I disagree that he is insulting Jesus Christ here. He actually seems to me to be making an effort to caveat what he’s saying, that unfortunately he says, unhappily, it’s not the way of Jesus that wins wars,” Stuckey says.
“However, it was also an unfortunate way to make his point because the quote, I think, is a misunderstanding of the Christian worldview. We do serve a Jesus who tells us, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, blessed are the meek, blessed are the poor in spirit,’” she continues.
“The characteristics of the Christian life are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. But there is also the just war theory that Christian thinkers over time have taught that asserts that there are good reasons to wield violence in defense of the innocent against the wicked,” she adds.
Stuckey points out that in the Old Testament, there was a demand for war and violence by God.
“I’m not saying that the Old Testament is a justification for America’s wars,” Stuckey says, adding, “It is to say and to point out that one cannot state that in principle God is always against war and violence.”
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