(Jewish Group) Al Jazeera anchor promotes anti-Semitic conspiracy theory on Twitter

[Behind the Aegis]

An Al Jazeera anchor promoted an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory on Twitter on Thursday.

“This Holy Land belongs to Palestinians Because Palestinians are Semitic unlike the Israeli Khazars who are occupiers !!” tweeted Ghada Oueiss, a Qatar-based news presenter.

The Khazar theory claims that European Jews are the descendants of Khazars, a Turkic people who lived in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, rather than from Jews who originated in the Middle East. The theory has been used by anti-Semites and anti-Zionists to discount Jewish claims to the land of Israel. Scholars have discounted the theory.

Oueiss sparred with critics and defended her comment, sharing a photo of a book that supported the hypothesis.

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[MosheFeingold]

1. For those that don't know

The Khzar theory has been soundly debunked by genetic studies.

It’s also somewhat moot. Roughly half of Israelis are Sephardic— either they never left or were ethnically cleansed out of neighboring Muslim counties.

[Mosby]

2. Yup, and the genetic studies have shown small differences

Between ashkenazic and sephardic Jews.

The ashkenazi are most closely related to Palestinian Arabs, Kurdish Muslims, Cypriots, Greeks and Bedouins, europeans are farther down on the list. (Behar et al 2004).