Hatred of Jews, otherwise known as antisemitism, seems to override just about everything else, including common sense. That explains how critics of Netflix’s upcoming drama “Mary” can be so upset by the casting of Israeli actors to play characters that the Bible unambiguously identifies as Jews.

The film focuses on the immaculate conception of Jesus by the virgin and unwed Mary. King Herod is played by British icon Anthony Hopkins, while much of the rest of the characters, including the titular Mary, are played by Israeli actors. The producers said this was done to enhance the authenticity of the movie.

That would seem to make sense, to all but those with no sense.

The social media backlash to the release of the movie’s trailer was telling.

“Half the cast is Israeli! …Avoid this like the plague,” wrote one commenter. “Jesus was a Palestinian man,” insisted another. One particularly ignorant critic stated: “If you make a movie about Mary where everyone is portrayed as non-Middle Easter, you deserve criticism; if you make a movie about Mary and she’s played by an Israeli, you deserve to be shot in the head.”

Of course, Mary, mother of Jesus, was a Jew from the Land of Israel, ie. an Israeli.

In Luke chapter one, we have the account of Mary visiting her cousin Elizabeth, wife of the priest Zechariah and mother of John the Baptist. Our first clue that Mary is indeed Jewish is found in Luke 1:5, which informs us that Elizabeth is a descendant of Moses’ brother Aaron of the Tribe of Levi. If Mary is a blood relative, then she, too, must be Jewish. Upon entering their home Mary goes on to make a proclamation commonly referred to as “Mary’s Song” in which she thanks God for helping “his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.”

Here, Mary clearly identifies herself as a child of the fathers of Israel.

Scripture is even more unequivocal regarding the Jewishness of Jesus.

In Matthew 2 we are told that Jesus was “born in Bethlehem of Judea,” Judea being the region that bestowed upon Jews the label of “Jew.” Or is it the other way around? Doesn’t matter, the point stands. The very next verse recounts the Magi from the East coming to visit Jesus, whom they call “king of the Jews.” The Romans later call Jesus the same thing during his crucifixion. Both Matthew and Luke provide a genealogy for Jesus, and both show us a long list of Jewish (read: Israelite/Israeli) ancestry. And the gospels then go on to present Jesus teaching in synagogues, keeping the Shabbat, and celebrating the feasts outlined in the Book of Leviticus. All things that only a Jew would do.

The New Testament really couldn’t do more to clarify that Jesus was born, lived, and died as a Jew.

To promote a narrative that strips Jesus and Mary of their Jewishness and denies Jewish history in this land is to call into question everything else the Bible has to say, as well.