I expect nothing in the way of accuracy or honesty from mainstream journalism, but I have come to expect better from Breitbart.  So I was surprised last week when I found an article by Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D., entitled "Pope Francis Compares Trump to Herod, Who Tried to Kill Jesus."  The intent of the pope's comment is not the issue.  What is the issue is the phrasing "King Herod who massacred innocent children in ancient Palestine."

There was no ancient country of Palestine.  There may have been regions that bore that name, but that is in question.  What is not in question is that King Herod ruled Judea, the land in which the Israelites, the tribes of Jacob or the Jews, lived and had occupied for at least 1,000 years at the time of the birth of Jesus.  King Herod was a Jew ruling Judea.  Jesus was a Jew born in Judea.  His parents were also Jewish.

So why would Mr. Williams attribute the events of known history (the Romans kept pretty good records) to a nonexistent country called Palestine?  Please note thata he did not even try the subtle cover of "the region now called Palestine."  No, he went back in history and, like the memory hole of 1984, tried to wipe Judea from the historical record and substitute a fictitious country called Palestine.  This is part of a not-so-subtle attempt to delegitimize the Jewish claim to their land, Judea (or Israel), which certainly was a country, owned, occupied, and ruled by the Jews prior to the Roman diaspora.

I love Breitbart.  It is a great organization.  I start each day listening to Alex Marlow of Breitbart on XM Radio Channel 125, The Patriot.  Before I turn that on, I read American Thinker, then check Breitbart News, followed by Real Clear Politics.  I don't believe that Breitbart is remotely anti-Semitic, but sometimes the editors miss one, and this was a case of helping a lie race around the world before the truth has got its pants on.  How about a correction?