Khazar myth

[[File:Khazar map1.PNG|thumb|right|165px|Khazaria, c. 820 CE]]
{{Antisemitism}}{{Pseudohistory}}

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 [[Judaism#Minhagim and ethnic groups| 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 Israelism|British]]/[[Christian Identity|Aryans]]/[[Black Hebrew Israelites|Blacks]]/[[Arab supremacy|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.<ref>[https://archive.ph/wip/B0i2t 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).</ref> This [[bullshit]] is popular among [[Qanon]] idiots.

==The Khazar state==
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 Empire]]s by emigrating to the Khazar region, and by the 10<sup>th</sup> century CE, it is estimated that there were about thirty thousand Jews living in Khazaria.<ref name=Khazaria>[http://www.khazaria.com/khazar-history.html AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF KHAZARIA, Kevin Alan Brook]</ref>  Around the 9<sup>th</sup> 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 10<sup>th</sup> century.

==Works and history==
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===
Nazi scholar {{wpl|Herman Wirth}} began working on an untitled manuscript commonly known as the {{wpl|Palestinabuch}} (Book of Palestine) prior to [[World War II]]. The text, greatly influenced by a {{wpl|Oera Linda Book|forged document}}, 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 {{wpl|Miguel Serrano}} 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 [[International Jewish conspiracy|powers that be hadn't covered it up!]]{{cn}}

===''The Thirteenth Tribe''===
''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.<ref>''The Thirteenth Tribe: The Khazar Empire and its Heritage'' by Arthur Koestler (1976) Random House. ISBN 0394402847.</ref> 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 [[Passion play|"Christ-Killer"]] accusations would end and [[Antisemitism]] would disappear.<ref>Michael Scammell ''Koestler: The Literary and Political Odyssey of a Twentieth-Century Skeptic'' Random House, 2009, p. 546</ref> It did not.

==Genetic studies==
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.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120826125659/http://www.jpost.com/Sci-Tech/Article.aspx?id=282584 Jews: A religious group, people or race?] Judy Siegel-Itzkovich</ref> 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]].<ref>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.</ref> 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.<ref>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.</ref>

This argument has been challenged by one recent genetic study by Johns Hopkins University geneticist Dr. Eran Elhaik.<ref>Eran Elhaik (December 14, 2012) [http://gbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/12/14/gbe.evs119.short?rss=1 "The Missing Link of Jewish European Ancestry: Contrasting the Rhineland and the Khazarian Hypotheses"]</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20130321235013/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iJN90t2gN6hxGiFQuBv-gYQE060w?docId=CNG.52483183e4e0f60d963361c17572c848.81 Gene study settles debate over origin of European Jews] (Jan 16, 2013) ''AFP'' (archived from March 21, 2013).</ref> 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.<ref>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". https://reich.hms.harvard.edu/sites/reich.hms.harvard.edu/files/inline-files/2011Moorjani_PLOS.pdf</ref><ref> 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/</ref> 

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.

==Why it wouldn't matter anyway==
Though Ashkenazi Jews are the largest ethnic group of Jews today, Sephardim (Jews of [[Spain|Spanish]] and North African descent) and Mizrahim (Jews of [[Middle East]]ern descent) make up the majority of the Jewish population in [[Israel]].{{cn}} Furthermore, Israel has become the home of many smaller Jewish ethnic groups, such as [[Ethiopia]]n 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 American]]s 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 [[Rape|have a say in the matter]]. [[Thomas Jefferson]] and his children are just one well-known example of this.{{efn|In the case of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, what often gets left out is that Sally Hemings 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.}} [[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.<ref>{{wpa|Family of Barack Obama}}</ref> 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==

Issa Nakhkeh (1915-2003), who, as the ''Falastin'' correspondent in London,<ref>[https://www.nli.org.il/en/newspapers/pls/1938/01/14/01/article/7/ The Palestine Post, 14 January 1938, p. 2] "A Gliding Policy."</ref> had defended Arab propaganda center in Nazi Germany (in 1939)<ref>[https://www.nli.org.il/en/newspapers/pls/1939/07/13/01/article/84 The Palestine Post, 13 July 1939, p. 6]. "The 'Settlement' in Palestine A Triumph For The 'Axis' "</ref>; of infamous ex-Mufti  al-Husseini's Henchmen (1946) at the ''Arab Higher Commitee''<ref>The Nation.(1947).United States:J.H. Richards, [https://books.google.com/books?id=2qvzeqji9kEC&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=Nakhleh p. 561]. May 17, 1947.
"The Mufti's Henchmen" -"A Who's Who"</ref>; he pioneered in Nazi comparisons and even making Nazi atrocities "less" bad (June 1949).<ref>I. Nakhleh ''Memorandum'' to the UN June-17-1949.</ref> Nakhleh has been praising [[Nazi]] regime (1950s),<ref>Anti-Jewish Activities of the Arabs in Argentine - ''DAIA'', 1958. pp.18-9.
[https://www.bjpa.org/content/upload/bjpa/anti/ANTI-JEWISH%20ACTIVITIES%20OF%20THE%20ARABS%20IN%20ARGENTINE%20APRIL%201958.pdf].
{{quotebox|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.}}</ref> 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"<ref>Rein,R.(2022).[https://books.google.com/books?id=Knh3EAAAQBAJ&pg=PT140 Jewish Self-Defense in South America: Facing Anti-Semitism with a Club in Hand].United Kingdom:Taylor & Francis</ref>; had denied the Holocaust: May-1970,<ref>(1970)"Anti‐Zionists" and antisemites,Patterns of Prejudice,4:4,28,DOI:10.1080/0031322X.1970.9968931
[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0031322X.1970.9968931]</ref> [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").<ref>The Times from San Mateo, November 14, 1972, [https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/52360169/ p 10].{{quotebox|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...}}</ref><ref>National Lampoon.(1973).United States:(n.p.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=wk0oAQAAMAAJ&q=issa+nakhleh+hitler p. 18]</ref><ref>Jewish Observer and Middle East Review, vol. 21,  William Samuel & Company Limited, 1972, [https://books.google.com/books?id=4AENAQAAMAAJ&q=%22NAZI%20EXTERMINATION%22 p. 7]</ref>
At the time he again promoted Khazar myth.<ref>B'nai B'rith Messenger, 17 November 1972, [https://www.nli.org.il/en/newspapers/bbh/1972/11/17/01/article/204 p. 34]. "Behind The Scenes".</ref>

He continued Holocaust denial in Sep-1978 sending his Memorandum to [[Jimmy Carter]] and Anwar Sadat not to make peace - ''Camp David'',<ref>Dalin,D.(2017).Icon of Evil: Hitler's Mufti and the Rise of Radical Islam.United Kingdom:Taylor & Francis.
[https://books.google.com/books?id=dUz4AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA120#v=onepage&q&f=false p. 120]</ref> and in 1981,<ref name=spectator/> and 1982;<ref name=nizkor/><ref>Manor,Y.(1984).Anti-Zionism.Israel:Department of Information, World Zionist Organization, p. 20.
[https://books.google.com/books?id=O71tAAAAMAAJ&q=issa%20nakhleh%20hitler]
{{quotebox|...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...}}</ref> had been working with [[neo-Nazis]] for decades (1963-1984).<ref>Nadeau,J.(2011).The Canadian Fuhrer: The Life of Adrien Arcand.Canada:James Lorimer Limited, Publishers, [https://books.google.com/books?id=D630umvXNKoC&pg=PA351 p. 351]</ref>
<ref>(1979)National front reverse,Patterns of Prejudice,13:2,26-27,DOI:10.1080/0031322X.1979.9969498
[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0031322X.1979.9969498]
"Swedish authorities’ action."
'... veteran Palestine antisemite, Issa Nakhleh...}}</ref><ref name=spectator>The American Spectator.(1986).United States:American Spectator,
[https://books.google.com/books?id=hPUSAQAAMAAJ&dq=&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=Nakhleh p. 20].{{quotebox|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...}}</ref><ref name=nizkor>
[https://web.archive.org/web/20200712061023/http://www.nizkor.com/ftp.cgi?orgs/american/ihr//nakhleh The Nizkor Project].
{{quotebox|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.}}</ref><ref>
[https://www.nli.org.il/en/newspapers/austjewishtimes/1983/04/07/01/article/50 The Australian Jewish Times, 7 April 1983].
"Whitewashing Hitler"
"Neo-Nazi Attempts to Rewrite History"
[https://www.nli.org.il/en/newspapers/ajnm/1983/01/07/01/article/73 The Australian Jewish News (Melbourne), 7 January 1983]</ref><ref>Seidel,G.(1986).The Holocaust denial : antisemitism, racism & the new right.United Kingdom:Beyond the Pale Collective,
[https://books.google.com/books?id=VMksAQAAIAAJ&q=%22the+previous+year+the+conference+had+been+addressed+by+Mr%C2%A0Issah+Nakhleh%22 p. 28]
{{quotebox|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.}}</ref>

He had rationalizing Nazi persecution of Jews in Germany (1972).<ref>Near East Report.(1972).United States:Near East Research, Incorporated, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wEoiAQAAMAAJ&q=nakhleh p. 139] {{quotebox|you Jews...}}</ref>

It's this Issa Nakhkeh, in 1961 announced his (renewal org. under title) ''PAD'' - ''Palestine Arab Delegation.''<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=magcAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA5 The Canadian Jewish Chronicle, Aug 4, 1961, p. 5]. "Israel At the United Nations."
By Saul Carson.</ref>
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.<ref>"Nasser's Anti-Jewish Propaganda."
Publication Date:July 8, 1965
[https://web.archive.org/web/20210809191150/https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp67b00446r000400170011-8 CIA]
{{quotebox|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...}}</ref> - Thus, making propaganda history of a non-history canard.

==See also==
*[[Kuzari principle]], an unrelated argument found in Jewish [[apologetics]]
*[[Ten Lost Tribes]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:Antisemitism]]
[[Category:Pseudohistory]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups]]
[[Category:Racism]]

Categories: Antisemitism, Pseudohistory, Ethnic groups, Racism