Also, as for the assumed purity of one race over another, I don't think there's anything explicitly about that in the Bible, though some people have tried to use stories like the "curse of Ham" and the Cain and Abel story to imply some races are "cursed" or inferior.
The irony of that, is that God did not even place that curse. It was Noah; and it doesn't even say God ever honored that curse (people probably assumed he did, because the Canaanites played such a negative role later in scripture. But that was just because they remained close by. Otherwise, all other gentile groups were basically similar in religion and morality).
I don't think Jesus would have been white like he is portrayed in the catholic artwork. I think he would of been on the darker side and probably a more olive skin tone.
It was a 15th or so century Italian who supposedly modeled for that. Then, subsequent pictures were modified, like replacing the blond hair with the long brown hair, the less round face, etc.
It's not uncommon to consider middle easters as caucasians because they ARE technically caucasian. Of course I know Israel is full of white people from europe now, but the same cannot be said for Lebanon or Syria, and you'll still find plenty of people that - excepting the large amount of sunlight they receive - would be white. Btw, many people from Algeria, Libya, Egypt etc. quickly become white when unexposed to strong sunlight. I know because both in Italy and France there are many immigrants from those countries, their 2nd gen's skin tone is basically the same as your average native...
Anyway yes he probably didn't look anything like that, it's just one among many pictorial representations....
But weren't those still people who ultimately migrated down there from Europe, and then mixed in?
I know the census form used to define all of the people from the whole area as "Caucasian", but Caucasian means the people from the Caucasus mountains, which were the waves of tribes that came down from that regions (The Iranians: Medes, Persians, Scythians; the Greeks: Ionians, Dorians, etc. The Romans: Latins, Etruscans, etc. The Teutons (Germanic): Angles, Saxons, Vandals, Goths, Heruli, etc; and the Celts, Baltics, etc).
Hebrews and Arabs are a totally different stock. Using the Noah-based table of nations, the Caucasians are Japhetic like the Asians, while the Hebrews and Arabs are Semitic. They may have been lighter than Africans, but they were still "colored".
Here in NY, where you have strong Jewish areas, you will often see dark Israelis.