Which MENA nation has the closest connection with Europe ?

[Nassbean]

Persians are the closest to Europeans.

explain why pls

[Samnium]

They cluster with sicilians/cypriots as far as i remember. If you consider them euro, than ok whatever lol

No they don't, they are more northern than cypriots but more southern than a lot of sicilians regions.

There are sicilians that plot with Ashkenazim but we don't know if all Sicily is like that, and actually there are Sicilians very northward shifted.

Others even plot south of Ashkenazim towards NA.

You see it's not that simple.

[PaleoEuropean]

If you looked at wikipedia for these statistics you have to know that they consider the sephardic community of NA to be mizrahi ....which is false because their ancestors were expelled from Iberia ( that's why they look iberian btw)

Sephardim doesnt = Spanish. They are Oriental Sephardim meaning religiously they subscribe to Rabbis like the Rambam who fled to the middle east, don't let the name fool you. Spanish and Portuguese Jews call themselves such, they rarely use the word Sephardim as it has come to mean Oriental Sephardim who are of Mizrahi heritage.

[Smeagol]

They cluster with sicilians/cypriots as far as i remember. If you consider them euro, than ok whatever lol

Genetically speaking they're a mix, but culturally, all Israelis are Middle Eastern I guess.

[Nassbean]

Sephardim doesnt = Spanish. They are Oriental Sephardim meaning religiously they subscribe to Rabbis like the Rambam who fled to the middle east, don't let the name fool you. Spanish and Portuguese Jews call themselves such, they rarely use the word Sephardim as it has come to mean Oriental Sephardim who are of Mizrahi heritage.

No sephardic jews from the middle east came from Iberia ( they were expelled and a good part of them fled to the ottoman empire/ME ) Mizrahi jews are another group sometimes put under the sephardic label but if we have to strictly focus on native ME jews then they are a minority for sure compared to Ashkenazim and sephardim.

[Smeagol]

No they don't, they are more northern than cypriots but more southern than a lot of sicilians regions.

There are sicilians that plot with Ashkenazim but we don't know if all Sicily is like that, and actually there are Sicilians very northward shifted.

Others even plot south of Ashkenazim towards NA.

You see it's not that simple.

Ashkenazis tend to plot closest with western Sicilians.

[PaleoEuropean]

No sephardic jews from the middle east came from Iberia ( they were expelled and a good part of them fled to the ottoman empire/ME ) Mizrahi jews are another group sometimes put under the sephardic label.

Ask any Jew here and they can confirm what I am saying. The only large Iberian Jewish population was and is in Turkey and even then they mixed with the Iraqi and Syrian Jewish populations.

[MinervaItalica]

Always thinking that MENA nations are "close" to Europe because they controlled parts of it but never asked if they are "closer" because Europeans controlled parts of them?

[Nassbean]

Ask any Jew here and they can confirm what I am saying. The only large Iberian Jewish population was and is in Turkey and even then they mixed with the Iraqi and Syrian Jewish populations.

Yes but as I said if we have to focus strictly on native ME jews then they are without a doubt a minority ( sephardim from NA don't count because megorachim there were more numerous than the tochavim and they mixed with them that's why it's easy to spot a moroccan jew in a moroccan crowd).

[Nassbean]

Always thinking that MENA nations are "close" to Europe because they controlled parts of it but never asked if they are "closer" because Europeans controlled parts of them?

I talked about romans and byzantines ....