Social media outrage after Israeli Jew cast as Jesus’ mother in Netflix biblical epic

A Netflix trailer has sparked outrage and boycott calls following the announcement that an Israeli Jew will be playing Jesus’ mother Mary in an upcoming biblical epic.

Mary, directed by DJ Caruso, will star 21-year-old Noa Cohenin the starring role, alongside 22-year-old Israeli actor Ido Tako as Joseph, and is set to be released on December 6.

The release of the trailer on social media on Tuesday sparked a storm among users on X/Twitter, who immediately criticised the film for its casting of Cohen as the Virgin Mary, who some claim should be depicted by an actress of Palestinian descent.

The cast contains many other Israeli actors, including Ori Pfeffer, Mili Avital, Keren Tzur and Hilla Vidor, and features British film and theatre veteran Anthony Hopkins as King Herrod.

“Half the cast is Israeli, including Noa Cohen who plays Mary. Looks like shit anyway, but needless to say avoid this like the plague,” tweeted one account, joining the call to boycott the film.

Antisemitic comments followed the trailer, with one account tweeting: “This is a joke and a slap in the face to all Christians. How dare you let that disgusting jew play Mary.”

Another account described the casting of Cohen in the titular role as blasphemous.

“There is something deeply blasphemous about casting an Israeli to play the role of Mary, the mother of Jesus, while Israel is carrying out a genocide against Palestinians, killing some of the oldest Christian populations in the area and destroying their heritage sites.”

Meanwhile, a different social media user took issue with the film because the titular roles would be played by “white Europeans”.

“The actors in the show are both Ashkenazi Israeli Jews, and white Europeans. The closest people to Mary’s race are Palestinians. Middle Easterners always get whitewashed, blackwashed or indianwashed,” they wrote.

Another claimed that “Jesus is a Palestinian man. Mary, aka Mariam was Palestinian as well”.

The director, Caruso, described his film to Entertainment Weekly as a “coming of age” story following a “smart, strong-willed young woman facing monumental challenges: overcoming social stigma, evading a jealous king and bearing the weight of a world-changing destiny”.

Explaining his decision to cast Israeli actors in the lead roles, he said it was “important to us that Mary, along with most of our primary cast, be selected from Israel to ensure authenticity”.

Cohen has previously starred in many Israeli films and TV shows, including the “Silent Game” (2022) and “8200” (2024), but Mary marks her biggest role to date, putting her in front of international audiences for the first time.