Khazar myth

From RationalWiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Khazaria, c. 820 CE
Hate for hate's sake
Antisemitism
Antisemitismicon.svg
Perpetuating prejudice
Hate mongers
Fiction over fact
Pseudohistory
Icon ancient aliens.svg
How it didn't happen

The Khazar myth (officially the Khazar hypothesis of Ashkenazi ancestry) holds that Ashkenazi Jews (i.e., those descended from an Eastern European bloodline) are not ethnically Jewish at all, but descend from the inhabitants of the medieval Turkic Khazar Empire. Myth-makers often harness this idea in attempts to discredit Zionism and/or to explain why the British/Aryans/Blacks/Arabs/insert race here, and not the Jews, are the REAL "chosen people" of the Bible. Anti-Zionists, on the alt-right and elsewhere, often deploy the Khazar myth in an attempt to delegitimize Ashkenazi claims to being Jewish, and by extension Jewish claims to ancestral Israel.[1] This bullshit is popular among Qanon idiots.

The Khazar state[edit]

The Khazar state, at various times referred to as the Khazar Khaganate or Khazaria, was a Central Asian polity in the medieval era. Many Jews sought refuge from turmoil in the Persian and Eastern Roman Empires by emigrating to the Khazar region, and by the 10th century CE, it is estimated that there were about thirty thousand Jews living in Khazaria.[2] Around the 9th century CE with Obadiah, the Khazars' ruling class converted to Judaism, and from then on they cultivated relations with diasporic Jewish communities across Europe and Asia until their fall in the 10th century.

Works and history[edit]

The Khazar myth has existed for over two centuries, all the way back in the early 1800s. In the early years, it was espoused both by Jews and anti-semites. Curiously, the Khazar myth was occasionally promoted for much the opposite reason we see today: some proponents believed that it would discredit anti-semitism. However, as evidence mounted against the theory, and it became more and more popular with Nazis, it is pretty much exclusively found being promulgated by anti-semites in the modern era.

Palestinabuch[edit]

Nazi scholar Herman WirthWikipedia began working on an untitled manuscript commonly known as the PalestinabuchWikipedia (Book of Palestine) prior to World War II. The text, greatly influenced by a forged documentWikipedia would have explained the Aryan origins of Jesus Christ, and how Christianity, supposedly an ancient Nordic faith, had been corrupted by Jews. It was never published, and no known manuscripts of this text survive, but its memory lives on. Figures like Miguel SerranoWikipedia and Aleksandr Dugin claim that the text would have changed the world and revealed once and for all the true history of Western civilization, if only the powers that be hadn't covered it up![citation needed]

The Thirteenth Tribe[edit]

The Thirteenth Tribe is a book written in 1976 by flaming nutjob (parapsychologist) Arthur Koestler, claiming that Ashkenazi Jews were descended from Khazar converts to Judaism.[3] The author, himself Jewish, apparently had the best of intentions, and thought that by establishing Khazar descendants rather than from the Jews of Jesus' time and area, the "Christ-Killer" accusations would end and Antisemitism would disappear.[4] It did not.

Genetic studies[edit]

Many argue that genetic studies on Jewish populations have refuted any claims of significant Khazar lineage, and have shown that most ethnic Jews draw their roots from the Middle East.[5] A genetic study led by Dr. Gil Atzmon found that European Jews were most closely related to Middle-Eastern Jews, Palestinians, Druze, and non-Jewish Southern Europeans — evidence inconsistent with Khazar/Slavic hypotheses.[6] Another genetic study led by Doron Behar found that, despite admixture from local populations, autosomal genetic samples from the Ashkenazi Jews, Caucasian Jews, Middle Eastern Jews, North African Jews, and Sephardi Jews form a relatively tight genetic cluster which overlaps with Samaritans and Israeli Druze which is strongly indicative of common Levantine ancestry.[7]

This argument has been challenged by one recent genetic study by Johns Hopkins University geneticist Dr. Eran Elhaik.[8][9] However, Elhaik's study does not fully address the findings of previous studies, particularly the overlap between Ashkenazi Jewish populations and native endogamous Levantine populations such as the Samaritans and Druze. Elhaik's use of Palestinian Arabs as representative of ancestral Israelite genetics is questionable in light of previous genetic studies which have uncovered evidence of significant African gene flow present in Arab, but not non-Arab Middle-Eastern populations.[10][11] White supremacist blogger[12] Razib Khan argues that Elhaik's conclusions rely on poorly reasoned assumptions and that "the Caucasian component that is being detected in this paper may simply be a[n] indigenous Middle Eastern ancestral element which has now been somewhat displaced northward in its modal frequency due to the expansion of the Arabs."[13]

None of these studies of Ashkenazi Jews have detected evidence of a significant Central or East Asian genetic component which is present in other Turkic populations. The actual Khazars would likely have been assimilated by the Krymchaks (Crimean Jews) following the fall of Khazaria. Even so, the Krymchaks had a long history of assimilating other Jews who came to the Crimea, so their ancestry is still largely Levantine.[14]

Why it wouldn't matter anyway[edit]

Though Ashkenazi Jews are the largest ethnic group of Jews today, Sephardim (Jews of Spanish and North African descent) and Mizrahim (Jews of Middle Eastern descent) make up the majority of the Jewish population in Israel.[citation needed] Furthermore, Israel has become the home of many smaller Jewish ethnic groups, such as Ethiopian Jews, Yemenite Jews, and Kaifeng Jews. Since the Khazar myth doesn't address those Jews at all, any use of it to prove that "the Jews" aren't real Jews has significant holes.

Furthermore, Judaism has allowed for voluntary conversion through most of its history. Indeed, the great-grandmother of King David, Ruth, was a Moabite convert. Therefore, even if the Ashkenazi were descendants of Khazar converts, they would still be entirely, legitimately Jewish in the eyes of Jewish law.

Additionally there is the question of gene mixing which would inevitably occur when two populations lived close together. No matter how stringent social or religious constraints might be against either, mixed marriages and extramarital sex are still going to happen. An excellent example of this are African Americans that have a much lighter skin-tone than is common in the West-African home of their ancestors. This is of course due to widespread marital and extramarital mixture with non-black populations in the US, and slaves often didn't have a say in the matter. Thomas Jefferson and his children are just one well-known example of this.[note 1] Obama's mother is another good example; it turns out that one of her ancestors happened to be among the first Africans in the colonies and arguably the first slave.[15] And this was a result of — at best — four centuries of living side-by-side, not twelve centuries as would be the case with the Khazars.

Neo-Nazi Issa Nakhleh[edit]

Issa Nakhkeh (1915-2003), who, as the Falastin correspondent in London,[16] had defended Arab propaganda center in Nazi Germany (in 1939)[17]; of infamous ex-Mufti al-Husseini's Henchmen (1946) at the Arab Higher Commitee[18]; he pioneered in Nazi comparisons and even making Nazi atrocities "less" bad (June 1949).[19] Nakhleh has been praising Nazi regime (1950s),[20] as he was weaving "a network of connections with.. the movements of the nationalist right, and with German immigrants nostalgic for the days of the Third Reich"[21]; had denied the Holocaust: May-1970,[22] [also recycling Hitler's talking points], Nov-1972 (- some 27 years only after the Holocaust - he dared stated in public, at the UN that the millions are "alive").[23][24][25] At the time he again promoted Khazar myth.[26]

He continued Holocaust denial in Sep-1978 sending his Memorandum to Jimmy Carter and Anwar Sadat not to make peace - Camp David,[27] and in 1981,[28] and 1982;[29][30] had been working with neo-Nazis for decades (1963-1984).[31] [32][28][29][33][34]

He had rationalizing Nazi persecution of Jews in Germany (1972).[35]

It's this Issa Nakhkeh, in 1961 announced his (renewal org. under title) PAD - Palestine Arab Delegation.[36] By then, he disseminates at U.N. delegations a formal statement of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem declaring: "The enmity of Nazis to Jews was based" on supposed "research." In August 1961, it adopted the anti-Semitic canard of the Khazar.[37] - Thus, making propaganda history of a non-history canard.

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. In the case of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings, what often gets left out is that Sally Hemmings was Jefferson's wife's half-sister and was 3/4 white. She was a slave by accident of birth, and her six children with Jefferson were 7/8 white yet born into slavery, highlighting the whole absurdity and cruelty of the practice.

References[edit]

  1. FYI, there is nothing semetic about israel or israelis. they are decended from Khazar. ( Fake satanic jews ) Put a palestinian next to an israeli. palestinian looks arabic, the israeli looks polish/german. by @charismoa001 (7:48 AM · Apr 28, 2020) Twitter (archived from 30 Apr 2020 03:00:12 UTC).
  2. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF KHAZARIA, Kevin Alan Brook
  3. The Thirteenth Tribe: The Khazar Empire and its Heritage by Arthur Koestler (1976) Random House. ISBN 0394402847.
  4. Michael Scammell Koestler: The Literary and Political Odyssey of a Twentieth-Century Skeptic Random House, 2009, p. 546
  5. Jews: A religious group, people or race? Judy Siegel-Itzkovich
  6. Atzmon, Gil, Li Hao, Itsik Pe'er, Christopher Velez, Alexander Pearlman, Pier Francesco Palamara, Bernice Morrow, Eitan Friedman, Carole Oddoux, Edward Burns, and Harry Ostrer. 2010. "Abraham's Children in the Genome Era: Major Jewish Diaspora Populations Comprise Distinct Genetic Clusters with Shared Middle Eastern Ancestry". The American Journal of Human Genetics, 86: 850–859.
  7. Behar, Doron M, Bayazit Yunusbayev, Mait Metspalu, Ene Metspalu, Saharon Rosset, Jüri Parik, Siiri Rootsi, Gyaneshwer Chaubey, Ildus Kutuev, Guennady Yudkovsky, Elza K. Khusnutdinova, Oleg Balanovsky, Ornella Semino, Luisa Pereira, David Comas, David Gurwitz, Batsheva Bonne-Tamir, Tudor Parfitt, Michael F. Hammer, Karl Skorecki1, and Richard Villems. 2010. "The genome-wide structure of the Jewish people". Nature, 466: 238–242.
  8. Eran Elhaik (December 14, 2012) "The Missing Link of Jewish European Ancestry: Contrasting the Rhineland and the Khazarian Hypotheses"
  9. Gene study settles debate over origin of European Jews (Jan 16, 2013) AFP (archived from March 21, 2013).
  10. Moorjani P, Patterson N, Hirschhorn JN, Keinan A, Hao L, et al. (2011) "The History of African Gene Flow into Southern Europeans, Levantines, and Jews". http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/...l.pgen.1001373
  11. Martin Richards, Chiara Rengo, Fulvio Cruciani, Fiona Gratrix, et al. (2003) "Extensive Female-Mediated Gene Flow from Sub-Saharan Africa into Near Eastern Arab Populations" http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1180338/
  12. New York Times drops Razib Khan Byers, Dylan Politico 19 march 2015
  13. Ashkenazi Jews are probably not descended from the Khazars by Razib Khan (August 8, 2012 11:27 pm) Discover.
  14. "Who Were The Krymchaks?" http://www.family.askinazy.com/WhoWereTheKrymchaks.pdf
  15. See the Wikipedia article on Family of Barack Obama.
  16. The Palestine Post, 14 January 1938, p. 2 "A Gliding Policy."
  17. The Palestine Post, 13 July 1939, p. 6. "The 'Settlement' in Palestine A Triumph For The 'Axis' "
  18. The Nation.(1947).United States:J.H. Richards, p. 561. May 17, 1947. "The Mufti's Henchmen" -"A Who's Who"
  19. I. Nakhleh Memorandum to the UN June-17-1949.
  20. Anti-Jewish Activities of the Arabs in Argentine - DAIA, 1958. pp.18-9. [1].

    There he publishes 'America y Oriente' from November 20, 1952, "known for its systematical anti-jewish campaign and its glorification of the totalitarian regimes, particularly of the nazi Germany.

  21. Rein,R.(2022).Jewish Self-Defense in South America: Facing Anti-Semitism with a Club in Hand.United Kingdom:Taylor & Francis
  22. (1970)"Anti‐Zionists" and antisemites,Patterns of Prejudice,4:4,28,DOI:10.1080/0031322X.1970.9968931 [2]
  23. The Times from San Mateo, November 14, 1972, p 10.

    Arab Says Hitler Didn't Kill Jews.... Issa Nakhleh, head of the so called "Palestine Arab Delegation." addressed the General Assembly's special political committee...

  24. National Lampoon.(1973).United States:(n.p.), p. 18
  25. Jewish Observer and Middle East Review, vol. 21, William Samuel & Company Limited, 1972, p. 7
  26. B'nai B'rith Messenger, 17 November 1972, p. 34. "Behind The Scenes".
  27. Dalin,D.(2017).Icon of Evil: Hitler's Mufti and the Rise of Radical Islam.United Kingdom:Taylor & Francis. p. 120
  28. 28.0 28.1 The American Spectator.(1986).United States:American Spectator, p. 20.

    Muslim Congress's representatives at the symposium was Issa Nakhleh, an attorney who has served as U.N. Observer ... The Six Million Reconsidered attempts to prove that the Holocaust never occurred; Antizion, a compendium of anti-Semitic writing, includes a description of Hitler as a "twentieth century statesman" ... and with the racist West Coast group, Western Front. In 1981 Nakhleh spoke at the Third Annual Convention of the Institute for Historical Review...

  29. 29.0 29.1 The Nizkor Project.

    One participant of the 1982 conference was Issa Nakhleh, head of the Palestine Arab Delegation, an extremist pro-PLO group originally formed by the notorious Grand Mufti of Jerusalem who broadcast from Nazi Germany to the Arabs in the Middle East. In the US, Nakhleh has associated in recent years with Western Front, an antisemitic organisation.

  30. Manor,Y.(1984).Anti-Zionism.Israel:Department of Information, World Zionist Organization, p. 20. [3]

    ...also the telegram sent by Issa Nakhleh, President of the Palestinian Arab Delegation to the United Nations and Judicial Adviser to the World Muslim Congress, to the Attorney-General of Stockholm...

  31. Nadeau,J.(2011).The Canadian Fuhrer: The Life of Adrien Arcand.Canada:James Lorimer Limited, Publishers, p. 351
  32. (1979)National front reverse,Patterns of Prejudice,13:2,26-27,DOI:10.1080/0031322X.1979.9969498 [4] "Swedish authorities’ action." '... veteran Palestine antisemite, Issa Nakhleh...}}
  33. The Australian Jewish Times, 7 April 1983. "Whitewashing Hitler" "Neo-Nazi Attempts to Rewrite History" The Australian Jewish News (Melbourne), 7 January 1983
  34. Seidel,G.(1986).The Holocaust denial : antisemitism, racism & the new right.United Kingdom:Beyond the Pale Collective, p. 28

    The Holocaust Denial... TheIHR, in advertising cassettes of its 1982 Conference proceedingsoffers recordings of the speech given by"Mr.Hadawi, a Palestinian with a long and illustrious diplomatic career. The previous year the conference had been addressed by Mr Issah Nakhleh, who describes himself as "Legal Adviser to the World Muslim Conference". In 1982, when the Swedish Holocaust- denier, Ditlieb Felderer, was convicted of defaming the Jews, Nakhleh sent at telegram of protest to the Swedish District Attorney.

  35. Near East Report.(1972).United States:Near East Research, Incorporated, p. 139

    you Jews...

  36. The Canadian Jewish Chronicle, Aug 4, 1961, p. 5. "Israel At the United Nations." By Saul Carson.
  37. "Nasser's Anti-Jewish Propaganda." Publication Date:July 8, 1965 CIA

    October 1961: The Palestine Arab Delegation sent to all U.N. delegations a formal statement of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem declaring: "The enmity of Nazis to Jews was based on (supposed) well-documented[sic] research [sic] and studies" which showed that the Jews were "a strong factor" in bringing about the defeat of Germany in World War I and dominated[sic] the "political, economic, and professional life of Germany." August 1, 1961: "The Crescent and the Cross," newsletter of the Palestine Arab Delegation, adopted the anti-Semitic canard of the Khazar...