Re: authentic & fake #Jews: the tragic #Gaza war has predictably led to bad #history going viral:. European Jews are descendants of medieval #Turkic converts--#Khazars-- thus have no #historical & #genetic connection to the land of #Israel
A myth, promoted by a combination of the cynical or stupid, sadly embraced by the naive & uninformed
Sadly relevant, as I will give a virtual talk about this at Indiana Uni this week.
The #Arab League basically abandoned use of the #Khazar myth after 1948--tho cranks such as Saudi UN envoy & histrionic windbag Jamil Baroody periodically trotted it out.
Its recurrence is therefore cause for deep concern: 1) a sign of dangerous regression to zero-sum game: denying opponent's identity does not induce him to compromise 2) technique is same: historical distortion disingenuously citing scholarship from the opponent's community. Cheap trick.
TIL that the term "Mizrahi" is a reclaimed term, originally a racist term and slurrish, it's since been reclaimed by those Jews as a way to self-identify, especially for those Jews who live in Israel.
I've only heard it in the context of its reclaimed use, but knowing the history is important.