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==Genetic studies==

==Genetic studies==

Many argue that [[genetic]] studies on Jewish populations have refuted any claims of significant Khazar lineage, and have shown that most ethnic Jews draw their roots from the Middle East.<ref>[http://www.jpost.com/Sci-Tech/Article.aspx?id=282584 Jews: A religious group, people or race?] Judy Siegel-Itzkovich</ref> A genetic study led by Dr. Gil Atzmon found that European Jews were most closely related to Middle-Eastern Jews, [[Palestinians]], [[Druze]], and non-Jewish Southern Europeans — evidence inconsistent with Khazar/Slavic [[hypotheses]].<ref>Atzmon, Gil, Li Hao, Itsik Pe'er, Christopher Velez, Alexander Pearlman, Pier Francesco Palamara, Bernice Morrow, Eitan Friedman, Carole Oddoux, Edward Burns, and Harry Ostrer. 2010. "Abraham's Children in the Genome Era: Major Jewish Diaspora Populations Comprise Distinct Genetic Clusters with Shared Middle Eastern Ancestry". ''The American Journal of Human Genetics'', 86: 850–859.</ref> Another genetic study led by Doron Behar found that, despite admixture from local populations, autosomal genetic samples from the Ashkenazi Jews, Caucasian Jews, Middle Eastern Jews, North African Jews, and Sephardi Jews form a relatively tight genetic cluster which overlaps with Samaritans and Israeli Druze which is strongly indicative of common Levantine ancestry.<ref>Behar, Doron M, Bayazit Yunusbayev, Mait Metspalu, Ene Metspalu, Saharon Rosset, Jüri Parik, Siiri Rootsi, Gyaneshwer Chaubey, Ildus Kutuev, Guennady Yudkovsky, Elza K. Khusnutdinova, Oleg Balanovsky, Ornella Semino, Luisa Pereira, David Comas, David Gurwitz, Batsheva Bonne-Tamir, Tudor Parfitt, Michael F. Hammer, Karl Skorecki1, and Richard Villems. 2010. "The genome-wide structure of the Jewish people". ''Nature'', 466: 238–242.</ref>

Many argue that [[genetic]] studies on Jewish populations have refuted any claims of significant Khazar lineage, and have shown that most ethnic Jews draw their roots from the Middle East.<ref>[http://www.jpost.com/Sci-Tech/Article.aspx?id=282584 Jews: A religious group, people or race?] Judy Siegel-Itzkovich</ref> A genetic study led by Dr. Gil Atzmon found that European Jews were most closely related to Middle-Eastern Jews, Palestinians, [[Druze]], and non-Jewish Southern Europeans — evidence inconsistent with Khazar/Slavic [[hypotheses]].<ref>Atzmon, Gil, Li Hao, Itsik Pe'er, Christopher Velez, Alexander Pearlman, Pier Francesco Palamara, Bernice Morrow, Eitan Friedman, Carole Oddoux, Edward Burns, and Harry Ostrer. 2010. "Abraham's Children in the Genome Era: Major Jewish Diaspora Populations Comprise Distinct Genetic Clusters with Shared Middle Eastern Ancestry". ''The American Journal of Human Genetics'', 86: 850–859.</ref> Another genetic study led by Doron Behar found that, despite admixture from local populations, autosomal genetic samples from the Ashkenazi Jews, Caucasian Jews, Middle Eastern Jews, North African Jews, and Sephardi Jews form a relatively tight genetic cluster which overlaps with Samaritans and Israeli Druze which is strongly indicative of common Levantine ancestry.<ref>Behar, Doron M, Bayazit Yunusbayev, Mait Metspalu, Ene Metspalu, Saharon Rosset, Jüri Parik, Siiri Rootsi, Gyaneshwer Chaubey, Ildus Kutuev, Guennady Yudkovsky, Elza K. Khusnutdinova, Oleg Balanovsky, Ornella Semino, Luisa Pereira, David Comas, David Gurwitz, Batsheva Bonne-Tamir, Tudor Parfitt, Michael F. Hammer, Karl Skorecki1, and Richard Villems. 2010. "The genome-wide structure of the Jewish people". ''Nature'', 466: 238–242.</ref>

This argument has been challenged by one recent genetic study by Johns Hopkins University geneticist Dr. Eran Elhaik.<ref>Eran Elhaik (December 14, 2012) [http://gbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/12/14/gbe.evs119.short?rss=1 "The Missing Link of Jewish European Ancestry: Contrasting the Rhineland and the Khazarian Hypotheses"]</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20130321235013/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iJN90t2gN6hxGiFQuBv-gYQE060w?docId=CNG.52483183e4e0f60d963361c17572c848.81 Gene study settles debate over origin of European Jews] (Jan 16, 2013) ''AFP'' (archived from March 21, 2013).</ref> However, Elhaik's study does not fully address the findings of previous studies, particularly the overlap between Ashkenazi Jewish populations and native endogamous Levantine populations such as the Samaritans and Druze. Elhaik's use of Palestinian Arabs as representative of ancestral Israelite genetics is questionable in light of previous genetic studies which have uncovered evidence of significant African gene flow present in Arab, but not non-Arab Middle-Eastern populations.<ref>Moorjani P, Patterson N, Hirschhorn JN, Keinan A, Hao L, et al. (2011) "The History of African Gene Flow into Southern Europeans, Levantines, and Jews". http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/...l.pgen.1001373</ref><ref> Martin Richards, Chiara Rengo, Fulvio Cruciani, Fiona Gratrix, et al. (2003) "Extensive Female-Mediated Gene Flow from Sub-Saharan Africa into Near Eastern Arab Populations" http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1180338/</ref> White supremacist blogger<ref>[https://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2015/03/new-york-times-drops-razib-khan-204287 New York Times drops Razib Khan] Byers, Dylan ''Politico'' 19 march 2015</ref> [[Razib Khan]] argues that Elhaik's conclusions rely on poorly reasoned assumptions and that "the Caucasian component that is being detected in this paper may simply be a[n] indigenous Middle Eastern ancestral element which has now been somewhat displaced northward in its modal frequency due to the expansion of the Arabs."<ref>[http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2012/08/ashkenazi-jews-are-probably-not-descended-from-the-khazars/ Ashkenazi Jews are probably not descended from the Khazars] by Razib Khan (August 8, 2012 11:27 pm) ''Discover''.</ref>

This argument has been challenged by one recent genetic study by Johns Hopkins University geneticist Dr. Eran Elhaik.<ref>Eran Elhaik (December 14, 2012) [http://gbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/12/14/gbe.evs119.short?rss=1 "The Missing Link of Jewish European Ancestry: Contrasting the Rhineland and the Khazarian Hypotheses"]</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20130321235013/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iJN90t2gN6hxGiFQuBv-gYQE060w?docId=CNG.52483183e4e0f60d963361c17572c848.81 Gene study settles debate over origin of European Jews] (Jan 16, 2013) ''AFP'' (archived from March 21, 2013).</ref> However, Elhaik's study does not fully address the findings of previous studies, particularly the overlap between Ashkenazi Jewish populations and native endogamous Levantine populations such as the Samaritans and Druze. Elhaik's use of Palestinian Arabs as representative of ancestral Israelite genetics is questionable in light of previous genetic studies which have uncovered evidence of significant African gene flow present in Arab, but not non-Arab Middle-Eastern populations.<ref>Moorjani P, Patterson N, Hirschhorn JN, Keinan A, Hao L, et al. (2011) "The History of African Gene Flow into Southern Europeans, Levantines, and Jews". http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/...l.pgen.1001373</ref><ref> Martin Richards, Chiara Rengo, Fulvio Cruciani, Fiona Gratrix, et al. (2003) "Extensive Female-Mediated Gene Flow from Sub-Saharan Africa into Near Eastern Arab Populations" http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1180338/</ref> White supremacist blogger<ref>[https://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2015/03/new-york-times-drops-razib-khan-204287 New York Times drops Razib Khan] Byers, Dylan ''Politico'' 19 march 2015</ref> [[Razib Khan]] argues that Elhaik's conclusions rely on poorly reasoned assumptions and that "the Caucasian component that is being detected in this paper may simply be a[n] indigenous Middle Eastern ancestral element which has now been somewhat displaced northward in its modal frequency due to the expansion of the Arabs."<ref>[http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2012/08/ashkenazi-jews-are-probably-not-descended-from-the-khazars/ Ashkenazi Jews are probably not descended from the Khazars] by Razib Khan (August 8, 2012 11:27 pm) ''Discover''.</ref>