Observations.net

Eran Elhaik has a nice summary article on the origins of today's Jews.

Brief background: The Judeans / Hebrews of the 1st century were a Mediterranean people of Canaanite stock (Ezek 16:1-3). They would be ethnically close to today's Lebanese, Palestinians, western Syrians, some Jordanians, Greeks, and southern Italians. If you want some idea of what Jesus looked like, look at pictures of Lebanese people or even the blue-eyed president of Syria Bashar al-Assad. (Compare this article that discusses the appearance of 1st century Mediterraneans.)

The majority of current day “Jews” call themselves Ashkenazim. These Ashkenazim are not Mediterranean.

Dr. Elhaik explains that “their DNA only has 3% ancient ancestry which links them with the Eastern Mediterranean (also known as the Middle East) - namely Israel, Lebanon, parts of Syria, and western Jordan… But 3% is a minuscule amount, and similar to what modern Europeans as a whole share with Neanderthals.”

He explains further - In the 6th century AD, most surviving Hebrew Jews were living in Persia. They converted groups of people in the Black Sea area to Judaism.

Elhaik writes, “Among these converts were the Alans (Iranian nomadic pastoral people), Greeks, and Slavs who resided along the southern shores of the Black Sea. Upon conversion, they translated the Old Testament into Greek, built synagogues, and continued expanding the Jewish trade network. These Jews adopted the name Ashkenaz, and the DNA of Ashkenazic Jews can be traced to “Ancient Ashkenaz” - an intersection of trade routes in eastern Turkey.”

Also during the 6th century AD, a Siberian Turkic tribe called the Ashina were driven westward by the Chinese. These Ashina formed the Khazar kingdom between the Black and Caspian Seas. By the 8th century, the Khazars converted from shamanism to Judaism.

These Khazar converts came to make up much of the Jewish population. As noted, at best, Ashkenaz Jews are only 3 percent Hebrew. Most probably have no Hebrew blood.

Elhaik explains further that elite non-Hebrew Jews adopted Slavic customs and developed the Yiddish language, which is based on Slavic grammar. Yiddish would later borrow many German words, but would retain its Slavic structure.

The point of all this is that today’s Jews are not Biblical Hebrews. They are a mixed group of Khazars, Slavs, Iranians, Germans, Greeks, Arabs, Russians, etc. Yet, zionist evangelicals have taken their eyes off Jesus and have directed their religious veneration towards these people. The zionist evangelicals have made fools of themselves by mistaking non-Hebrew, non-Mediterranean peoples for ancient Biblical Hebrews.

Follow up article from Henry Makow: israeli-biblical-hebrew-claim

Snippet: In 2001, Dr. Areilla Oppenheim of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, conducted the first comprehensive DNA study of Israelis and Palestinians. She concluded that Ashkenazi Jews were of Mongolian 40% and Turkish 40% genome.

Ashekenazis are an ethnically mixed group, some are dark, some are very white. The study referenced above must have been done on those who are darker, finding that they were mostly Turk/Mongol. Most Ashkenazis that one might encounter in America, or even in Israel, are very white. Either way, they are not Hebrews.

A genetic study of Ashkenazi Jews shows a “whiter” heritage drawn more from prehistoric Europe than from the Levant, home to the modern state of Israel. Genes of Most Askhenazi Jews Trace Back to Indigenous Europe, Not Middle East.

Pictured below is a typical Ashkenazi of white eastern European/Turk mix. (Subject's father was a Pole and mother was from Ottoman controlled Palestine. Obviously not a Mediterranean Hebrew.):

Pictured are Lebanese people who are ethnically close to Biblical Hebrews. (Lebanese are descended from the Phoenicians who, like the Hebrews, were a Canaanite people.)

These people are closer in appearance to Jesus, the Apostles, Mary and Joseph than the east European/Turk mixed Ashekanazis.

Here is a question; are the Jews a tribe or a religion? The answer is neither. A tribe is ethnically based. This tribe is not. There are white Jews, brown Jews and black Jews. A religion is based on shared dogma. This group does not have a shared dogma. A Jew can reject Judaism (as long as he does not convert to Christianity) and still be considered a Jew. There are many Jews who are atheists, Buddhists, and new agers. But they are still Jews.

The best that I can come up with is that they are an artificial tribe.

The true ethnic Hebrews (mostly Judeans) were kicked out of Palestine by the Romans. This was their divinely decreed punishment for rejecting Jesus. They survived for a few centuries, primarily in Babylon, where they produced their main religious work, the Talmud. As they traveled about the lands bordering the Black Sea, they converted other groups to their religion and these other groups became numerically dominant. This expanded group traveled even further afield conducting trade and converted even more. Over the centuries, the converted groups included Iranians, Turks, and white eastern/central Europeans.

The original ethnic Hebrews, completely overwhelmed by the newcomers, were intermarried/interbred out of existence. This new group would even develop its own language, Yiddish. Yiddish uses Slavic grammar, German vocabulary, and the Hebrew alphabet. It is an artificial language for an artificial people.

So now you have white eastern Europeans and Turks claiming to be descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which they obviously are not.

Are there any actual Hebrews left? There are probably some highly diluted descendants living among the Palestinians, Lebanese and Jordanians. A few would be Christians. Even more would be moslems.

Uncovering ancient Ashkenaz - the birthplace of Yiddish speakers
These crazy hat guys are obviously not Mediterranean Hebrews - they are imposters.