Reply to PSA: Jews are a racial group

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]There are a lot of Muslims with roots in the MidEast and North Africa that have Sephardic and Ashkenazi DNA. Can they also claim to be Jewish? Not to get political (but it's slightly inevitable)... do they have a right to return? What percentage of DNA 'counts' for Muslims who have 'Jewish' DNA? [/quote]

The right of return criteria is a grandparent who is Jewish, so yes they could have that right.

A Muslim with Ashkenazi or Sephardic roots would be ethnicity Jewish (as one of probably multiple ethnicities they have) and religiously Muslim (assuming they consider themselves religiously Muslim).[/quote]

The point is that no known ancestor may be Jewish, yet they are still at least 12.5% Ashkenazi or Sephardic, because some Muslims are also descended from the same groups.[/quote]

The right of return law is based on identified grandparents, not on DNA testing.  It is loosely based on two standards - 1 are you jewish in jewish in jewish law - you are if your mother was jewish, or if you have converted to Judaism (the question of conversion standards and the state is complex and controversial)  2. Would you have been killed by the Nazis?   The actual law of return only says you need one Jewish grandparent, of any sex (or you can be a convert). It therefore includes many who would not qualify under Jewish law. The reasoning at the time was that anyone subject to persecution as a Jew during WW2 should qualify, and the Nazis did persecute anyone with one Jewish grandparent.

It has always been a question of religious and national identity not genetics.  It has become more complex in recent years, as there are more people with some Jewish ancestry and NO connection to Jewish peoplehood who are interested in migrating to what is now a prosperous country.  In the first decade of Israel's existence life there was not attractive enough to draw many people who were not religiously or culturally Jewish, or actively being persecuted.  I could see modifying the law of return so that someone with Jewish ancestry, but no cultural connection to the Jewish people, and under no threat of persecution as a Jew, did not get automatic citizenship any more.  But I doubt that change would satisfy those people who do not approve at all of the Law of Return.

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