Are the Ashkenazi Jews genetically white or Middle Eastern?

**cherryredlips** · 08-25-2019, 06:32 PM

There has been much debate wether the Ashkenazi or "European" Jews are actually white or people of color whose DNA comes from the Middle East

Are they white? Semitic? Levantine? Are they Khazars?

What's their ethnicity? What's their race?

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**~~Dawnbringer~~** · 08-25-2019, 06:59 PM

The best way to describe them genetically is peripherally European.

They are more Northern shifted than Cypriots, some tend closer Eastern Sicilians and others to Cretans.

So you could place them collectively in the Ionian Sea.

Morphologically, they are more Levantine then Sicily or Crete, possibly similar to Cyprus in the degree of combination between European and Levantine elements. At the same time Ashkenazi Jews are as light-skinned as the far Northeast of Italy like Trento, as light eyed as the general North Italian region (say Emilia), and as light-haired as Bulgarians and Central Italians. The frequency of rufosity is even further from what you would expect based where they cluster, as Dutch Jewish schoolchildren (mostly Ashkenazi) in 1907 were found to be as red-haired as native Dutch schoolchildren.

**hecate** · 08-25-2019, 07:01 PM

West eurasians

**Zeus** · 08-25-2019, 07:04 PM

their original ancestors were presumably levantine semites, but at this point they're probably so intermixed with Euro DNA that it's hard to tell anymore what they should be considered

**cherryredlips** · 08-25-2019, 07:21 PM

What about the ones who look Arab?

**~~Dawnbringer~~** · 08-25-2019, 07:27 PM

Originally Posted by cherryredlips

What about the ones who look Arab?

There are more of those than among Southern Europeans. However it is still a minority that look fully Levantine.

However, there is no difference in autosomal genetics between these more exotic Ashkenazi Jews and other Ashkenazi Jews.

Rgvgjhvv · 08-25-2019, 07:36 PM

Many plot in and around me, yet their ancestors are without a doubt Middle Eastern. They could be considered 50% Levantine and 50% Central European (Northern Italian included) I believe. Recently Sarah Silverman was under fire for having a photo of herself in blackface. I'm sure nobody in America cares where ancestors are from, or what religion she is. They just see her as a white woman being racist.

**~~Voyt~~** · 08-26-2019, 01:25 AM

Depends on your categorical inclinations. But also I would say it depends on the Ashkenazi in question, because they range widely in appearance. Some look as white as any Germanic.