By Joshua Sampson
This briefing explores a variety of narratives that attempt to deny Jews their Jewish identity by claiming that they are “not real Jews”. Much of this happens in the context of discussions about the Jewish people’s connection to Israel, and the existence of a Jewish state. The narrative that Jews today are “not the real Jews” seeks to deny Jewish connection to the land of Israel and undermine the right of self-determination for Jews.
The examples in this briefing were all collected by the OHPI team in New Zealand, and make up a part of what people in New Zealand are seeing on social media.
As Judaism is an ethno-religion, these narratives can attack either the Religious or Ethnic elements of Jewish identity, or both. In this briefing we look at the allegations that “Zionists aren’t real Jews” (a form of denying one’s Jewishness from a religious perspective) and the claim that modern-day Jews have no connection to the Jews from the land of Israel (denying one’s Jewishness from an ethnicity perspective).
Religious Denial – Zionists aren’t real Jews
This narrative asserts that Zionists cannot be real Jews because Zionism is against Jewish values and/or Religious beliefs. Judaism contains a diverse range of interpretations of Jewish Law and Values, many of which do support Zionism and the State of Israel. It is false and harmful to claim that these interpretations of Judaism are any less “real” or “valid” than other interpretations. In fact, a large majority of Jews are Zionist. To claim that a Zionist cannot be a Jew is to deny the majority of Jews their own identity.
Example 1, Threads
In this thread a user claims that Zionists aren’t Jews because “Genocide, Apartheid and Colonisation go against Jewish values” and that Zionists “are too proud of” these things.
Not only does this Threads user deny Jews of their Jewish identity, they claim that Zionist Jews, and therefore the vast majority of Jews in the world, of being in favour of genocide, apartheid and colonialism. This demonises Jews worldwide and accuses Jews of being guilty of some of the worst crimes against humanity. There is more to unpack in their allegations of genocide, apartheid and colonialism, but that is beyond the scope of this briefing.
This claim that “Zionists aren’t Jews” features in a thread that also contains several other antisemitic themes, including a claim that Israel and Zionists are a direct continuation of the Nazis – demonstrating a particularly dark version of Holocaust inversion – as well as the denial of Jewish self-determination in referring to Israel as “Isnotreal”.
Example 2, LinkedIn
In this example a LinkedIn user claims that a “true scriptural Jew would reject it [Zionism]”.
As explained earlier in this briefing, the interpretations of Jewish scripture that support Zionism are no less valid than the ones that oppose it, and so Zionists are no less “true scriptural Jews” than anti-Zionist Jews. Furthermore, after searching through this user’s account, there is no suggestion that they are or claim to be Jewish. It is antisemitic for a non-Jew to tell Jews what is and isn’t “correct” interpretations of Judaism – as every religion and people have the right to define themselves.
The user makes other incorrect and antisemitic claims in this post. “Zionism is a secular ideology” is incorrect – while the founders of Zionism were secular, in the modern day there are many streams of Zionism that are based in religious ideology. Zionism is not “an ethnic supremacist ideology”. While there are Ethnic Supremacist Zionists, in its most basic form Zionism is the belief that the Jews have the right to self-determination in Israel, just as any other people does, which is not an inherently supremacist belief.
Ethnic Denial – Modern Jews aren’t the real descendants of the True Jews
Modern Judaism sees itself as a continuation of the people, belief and practice of the inhabitants (depending on the terminology – Hebrews/Judeans/Israelites/Jews) of the land of ancient Israel (also called Judea or Palestine), whose story is told in the bible.
The narrative of ethnic denial of Jewishness suggests that modern Jews are not the “real” descendants of these inhabitants, but rather descended from some other group/people. Often this narrative is accompanied by the idea that some other group are the “real” descendants of these people and thus the “true Jews”. For example this is a key narrative for Black Hebrew Israelites. Not all sects of Black Hebrew Israelites are antisemitic or extremist, but some are. Others claim that their ethnic group are one of the “Lost Tribes of Israel”.
There is no evidence that any other group are the “true descendants” of ancient Jews, while there is significant evidence (linguistic, genetic, archaeological, historical and more) that modern Jews descend from ancient Jews.
Example 3, Twitter
This reply is a variation of this narrative that claims that “The Original Jews” are Mexicans, Filipinos, Samoans and Native Americans who were exiled from Israel in 232BC by Alexander the Great.
Example 4, Instagram
This comment is a variation of this narrative that claims that “Zionist Jews” are not related to the “dispersed tribes of Israel” (presumably referencing the ‘Lost Tribes’). The claim that the Talmud originated in Babylon and not Jerusalem is only partially correct. There are two versions of the Talmud – one that originated in Jerusalem and one that originated in Babylon. However, the Babylon Talmud was created by the descendants of Jews who had been taken from their historic homeland to Babylon during the Babylonian invasion of Israel. The claim that “arab Jews believe in the torah, not the Talmud” is incorrect – arab Jews, like other Jews, believe in both. There is a small and separate group in the area called Samaritans who are descendants of the Israelites that only follow the Torah, but their descent from the Ancient Israelites does not invalidate the descent of Modern Jews.
This comment also includes the antisemitic claim that “Jews spit on and abuse Christians and Muslims”.
DNA claims
This particular kind of ethnic denial is based on the idea that modern Jews/Israelis are not genetically related to the ancient Jews. The “studies” backing these claims have usually been debunked while there are multiple studies showing that modern Jews and Israelis do have genetic links to Ancient Israel. This narrative is often accompanied by the false claim that DNA tests are illegal in Israel. In fact, DNA tests are legal but highly regulated due to concerns over privacy and the issue of Mamzerim (bastards) under religious law.
It is also important to note that DNA/Blood quantum do not define indigeneity or group identity, as per the UN and many other organisations. Thus claims about the comparative levels of ancient levantine DNA between modern Jewish groups and other groups (such as Palestinians) are irrelevant.
Example 5, Twitter
This user shares a widely debunked claim that a Johns Hopkins study revealed 97.5% of “Judaics” (sic) living in Israel have no ancient Hebrew DNA while 80% of Palestinians do. Even the author of this widely criticised-study says his study does not support this conclusion, and did not even test the DNA of Israelis or Palestinians.
Example 6, Reddit
This user falsely claims that most people in Israel are not “ethnic Jews” (descendants of Canaan – ie Ancient Israel), and repeats the claim that DNA testing is illegal in Israel.
Khazar Theory
The Khazar theory is a particular type of Ethnic Denial that targets Ashkenazi Jews specifically, and has dramatically risen in popularity since October 7. The theory suggests that all Ashkenazi Jews are descendants of the Khazars, a semi-nomadic turkic group from the Caucasus region that supposedly converted to Judaism around the 9th century and then migrated to Eastern Europe. It thus claims that these Jews are not the descendants of Ancient Judeans/Israelites/Hebrews and have no connection or right to the land of Israel. This fits into an anti-Israel narrative that Israelis are allegedly white European colonisers.
Example 7, Youtube
This comment claims that the inhabitants of ancient Judea weren’t Jews, but rather Hebrews who were wiped out in AD70 and (somehow) again in AD135 – thus suggesting Modern Jews have no connection to the land of Israel and its ancient inhabitants. This commenter then repeats the Khazar Theory discussed above, with the added dehumanisation of Jews with the description of their supposed “ancestors” as a “tribe of cutthroats”. Finally, the commenter asserts that “the people who have stolen Palestine are from eastern europe”, which again ignores the fact that the majority of Israeli Jews are not from or descendants of Eastern European Jews.
Example 8, Instagram
This Instagram user repeats the Khazar theory, claiming that the Jewish founders of the Zionist movement were “white europeans whose ancestors were Pagans in Kazra.”
