EXTREMISMUntangling False Claims About Ashkenazi Jews, Khazars, and Israel 

Research from ADL has documented in detail the rise in antisemitism and anti-Zionism in the weeks and months following Hamas’s brutal assault on Israel on October 7, 2023. One of the most insidious claims used to discredit both Jews and Israel is that Ashkenazi Jews (i.e., Jews who trace their ancestry to Northern and Eastern Europe) have no historical or genetic relationship to Jewish antiquity in the land of Israel—making Jews “colonizers” with no legitimate claim to the land that makes up the Jewish state.   

Some proponents of these claims invoke the so-called Khazar theory, which posits that modern Ashkenazi Jews are descended from a Turkic population of converts to Judaism from the Caucasus area of Central and Eastern Asia (known as the Khazars) during the early Middle Ages.   

Although legends about the Khazars have circulated in Jewish and non-Jewish literature for centuries, and there is some evidence of Jewish influence or presence among the Khazars over a thousand years ago, anti-Israel activists often seize upon a 2012 study by Eran Elhaik, which claimed to find genetic evidence for this theory. His study was harshly criticized in a 2013 article with more than 20 co-authors, published in Human Biology, which argued that Elhaik inappropriately used modern-day Armenians and Georgians as proxies for Khazars. The authors of this more comprehensive study acknowledge that they cannot rule out the possibility that Ashkenazi Jews have any Khazar ancestry, but that because no living people claim direct descent from Khazars, Elhaik’s methodology was flawed from the start.  

Peer-reviewed journals such as Science conclude that evidence firmly establishes that Ashkenazi Jews “stem from a common Middle Eastern origin and heritage.” The 20 co-authors of the study in Human Biology confirm that Ashkenazi Jews “derive [shared Jewish genetic markers] primarily from populations of the Middle East and Europe.” 

In addition, people who weaponize this hypothesis to discredit the Jewish claim to the land of Israel should note that Ashkenazi Jews do not make up the majority of Israel’s Jewish population. According to a 2016 Pew Research report, only about 45% of Israeli Jews identify as Ashkenazi, while 48% identify as Sephardic or Mizrahi.  

Nonetheless, antisemites and people attempting to discredit the Jewish state repeatedly cite Elhaik’s study. For example, one X user wrote, “According to Israeli geneticist Eran Elhaik, most current Israelis are Ashkenazis of European origin that descend from the Black Sea Khazars that converted to Judaism in the 8th Century. This means that their ‘Ancestral Home’ is NOT Palestine. It’s the Crimean Peninsula.” Similarly, another user attempted to discredit Jewish claims to the Holy Land, writing, “Zionist settlers are eastern european [sic] ‘Jews’ who headed for Palestine after 1882. They claim to be God’s Chosen, but they are the descendants of the ancient Khazars…”  

Some antisemites use the Khazar hypothesis to attack Jewish people more directly. They claim, for example, that if Jews are not genetically linked to the land of Israel, then they are “parasites” who “force Talmudic Satanic Thinking” on people. Calling Jews “parasites” is a centuries-old accusation that suggests that Jews are perpetual outsiders who “invade” or “infest” other nations. The Nazi propaganda film The Eternal Jew notoriously used swarms of rats to illustrate this antisemitic trope.   

Other social media users have deployed the Khazar theory to suggest that the “invading” Jews be expelled from the land of Israel altogether and to directly compare Israelis to Nazis. These offensive narratives have two explanations: Antisemites suggest that if Jews are descended from people not native to Israel (i.e., Khazars), then they have no legitimate claim to the land. In addition, because Nazis sought to expel Jews and others from their homes in Europe in order to obtain lebensraum (“living space”) for “Aryan”people, antisemites have argued that Jews are doing the same thing because they have no historic claim to the land of Israel. 

Ashkenazi Jews have scientifically confirmed genetic links to the land of Israel and claims otherwise constitute a dishonest and antisemitic attempt to delegitimize the state of Israel and the Jewish claim to the land.  

More information about ancient Jewish life and civilization in the land of Israel based on archaeological, historical, religious and literary sources, may be found in numerous books, including The Story of the Jews: Finding the Words 1000 BC-1492 AD by Simon Schama. 

The article is published courtesy of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).