San Francisco 49ers Player Upsets Jewish Community With 'Jesus' Tweet

A member of the San Francisco 49ers football team has reportedly created controversy regarding recent Twitter comments about Jesus and Judaism.

Australian football player Jarryd Hayne gained criticism online recently after posting multiple tweets regarding Jesus' life and death.

In the tweets, Hayne suggests that the Jewish people took Jesus to the Romans to be crucified, a comment that has upset some members of the Jewish community on Twitter.

"Jesus wanted to help people but was killed by his own people," Hayne tweeted on July 1.

"The Jews were the people who took him to the Romans n forced them to give the order because they couldn't," Hayne added, also on July 1.

Some have criticized Hayne's social media comments as damaging to the Jewish faith. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Dvir Abramovich, chairman of the B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation Commission, described the footballer's comments as "damaging, painful and irresponsible." 

"For thousands of years Jews were held in contempt and were persecuted and murdered because they were labelled as Christ-killers," he said in a statement.

"Rather than fuelling anti-Semitism, we need sportspeople to be powerful voices in countering racism and Jewish-hatred, especially when attacks against Jews worldwide are on the increase," Abramovich added.

Hayne has previously attended the Hillsong annual conference in Sydney, Australia, as well as visited with American evangelical pastor Judah Smith of The City Church.