Mizrahi Jews are not Arabs. Let’s break this down: “Arab” can refer to both an ethnicity and a national identity (pan-Arabism/Arab nationalism). As an ethnicity, the term “Arab” refers to a person whose lineage traces back to the Arabian peninsula. During the 7th century, Arabs from the Arabian peninsular conquered much of what is known today as “the Arab world,” and Islamized and Arabized those countries. The persons of those countries were not ethnically Arab people. After converting their languages, customs, and cultures to the Arab culture, they took on the Arab “identity,” but not the Arab ethnicity. Indeed, many persons from these countries today may find some percentage of Arab ethnicity in their DNA due to centuries of admixture with the Arab tribes, and the percentage of admixture can significantly vary by country, but unless they can trace their heritage back to the Arabian peninsular entirely, they aren’t entirely Arab by ethnicity—perhaps partially. Can Mizrahi Jews have Arab admixture? Possibly, and I’ve seen some DNA results that reveal minimal admixture between 1-3%, but because Jews were relegated to dhimmi status in those countries, ostracized, and persecuted, they tended to keep to themselves and it’s unlikely that too much interbreeding took place. More importantly, as we mentioned, outside of ethnicity, Arab can also be an identity, and Mizrahi Jews do not self-identity as Arab. Therefore, since they aren’t ethnically Arabs and since they do not identify as Arabs, this is a false claim. https://bird.makeup/@mouinrabbani/1831748715474006479
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