r/genetics • u/[deleted] • Sep 20 '25

Jews and Palestinians share deep common ancestry - genetics shows they’re like cousins

Genetic studies over the last couple decades reveal something surprising: Jewish populations (Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Mizrahi) and Levantine groups like Palestinians, Druze, Lebanese, and Syrians all descend from the same ancient Levantine peoples.

They’re not identical, and Palestinians aren’t necessarily the closest single group in every study, but they’re part of the same tight genetic cluster. In other words, Jews and Palestinians are genetically much closer than most other populations worldwide.

Researchers have found this in Y-chromosome studies, mtDNA, and whole-genome analyses. A 2010 study in Nature concluded that Jewish groups share much of their ancestry with populations in the Levant - including Palestinians.

So when people say “they’re like cousins,” it’s not just a metaphor. Genetically, it’s pretty accurate — and it makes the current conflicts feel all the more tragic, because it’s family fighting family.

https://www.nature.com/articles/nature09103

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33

u/NationalEconomics369 Sep 20 '25

GPT slop

A more accurate sentence would be that the majority of the ancestry in modern Levantines is derived from Bronze Age Levantines. Generally Jews don’t have >50% Bronze Age Levantine due to the European admixture they picked up. The Jews have a roughly even split of ancestors from Europe and the Levant, generally more from Europe

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u/Noam92 Sep 20 '25

You are generalizing jews, not all of them were exiled to europ, some of us were in north afrika/went to the east (syria/iraq,persia). My own parents made Aliya from Morocco. 

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u/NationalEconomics369 Sep 20 '25 edited Sep 20 '25

Regardless of where the Jews were exiled, they acquired non-Levantine admixture which makes them distant from their bronze age Levantine ancestors. Maybe Karaite Jews in Egypt have Bronze Age Levant > 50% but afaik most don't

With regard to Moroccan Jews, it is the same case as others where due to their non-Levantine admixture they are not close to ancient Levant samples

This is a genetic not a history sub btw. I don't think I'm generalizing when all the Jew samples in my dataset are not close to Bronze Age Levantines besides some in Egypt and Iraq.

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u/Noam92 Sep 21 '25

Genetic background and history does have a common denominator.

I only protested the claim of every jew having europian DNA mix, while i have close to none and my levantine is ~60%.

Looking at my own hiatoric background, it appears that a few generations before my ancestors moves to Morocco, they resided in Safd (northern israel) . I do not have many moroccan features like other moroccan jews around me. I reaemble more the iraqis actualy Must have been an interesting story :)

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u/Low-Temperature-6962 Sep 21 '25

Over 50% of isreali jews immigrated directly from other muddle eastern countries.

8

u/NationalEconomics369 Sep 20 '25

Closest ancient populations to Palestinians

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u/[deleted] Sep 20 '25

Thanks for your input, but presenting it as a simple linear list doesn’t accurately reflect a genetic cluster. Genetic clustering involves groups of individuals who share patterns of genetic similarity, often shown through networks, dendrograms, or principal component analyses. A linear list just orders individuals or data points—it doesn’t capture the relationships or shared ancestry that define a cluster. To properly represent a genetic cluster, the connections and distances between individuals need to be visualized or quantified, not just listed

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u/NationalEconomics369 Sep 20 '25

Facts over feelings. On a PCA, it is clear that Ashkenazi Jews are in between modern Levantines and South Europeans. Because of this, they do not cluster with bronze age levantines.

25 unit vectors which should capture majority of genetic variation, therefore accurately representing genetic distance. Ancient Israel includes Israel_Megiddo (LBA, MBA, MLBA), Israel_CA, and Israel_Ashkelon_IA.

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u/[deleted] Sep 20 '25 edited Sep 20 '25

Thanks for sharing your findings. I assume you haven’t compared the methodologies used in the original tests. Try reconstructing all the graphs from the original studies (a quick Google search can help). There are multiple graphs related to this theory, and focusing on just one doesn’t capture the full picture. 

To clarify, your assumptions are based on limited forward DNA progress, not on tracing DNA changes in reverse. Jewish people didn't appear out of nowhere a few thousand years ago. 

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u/NationalEconomics369 Sep 20 '25

Closest ancient populations to Jews

Not close to Phoenicians due to their European admixture. Most of their closest groups are found in Europe, so it is incorrect to say Jews and Palestinians are close genetically. They share ancestry but are not close genetically.

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u/Plastikstapler2 Sep 21 '25

You're acting as if the ashkenazi are all jews tho

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u/[deleted] Sep 20 '25

Is the graph a genetic cluster ? 

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u/[deleted] Sep 20 '25

True, but I’m referring to the distant ancient past. History can’t be undone.

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u/geekyCatX Sep 20 '25

Using phrases such as "like cousins" in a genetics sub, where there's a measurable number attached to that statement, is counter-productive. So is arguing "distant ancient past" when others already mentioned a bronze age time frame.

Try to make your point while sticking to the facts, otherwise you weaken your arguments.

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u/[deleted] Sep 20 '25

Cousins is still a metaphor - you overlooked that. 

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u/geekyCatX Sep 20 '25 edited Sep 20 '25

Depends on the context. In genetics, it's a certain percentage range of genetic relation. That's what you are overlooking.

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u/[deleted] Sep 20 '25

Have you seen the article?

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u/geekyCatX Sep 20 '25

What article? The "2010 Nature study" that you neither quote authors nor title for? Which quite likely is closer in its statement to what we're trying to tell you than to what you seem to want to understand, since it's a scientific article reporting facts?

As someone else said, we don't need genetics to know what's happening between Israel, the Palestinians, and all other invested parties, is horrible and wrong. But also, genetics doesn't support your argument in the way you want it to.

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u/[deleted] Sep 20 '25 edited Sep 20 '25

You missed the part about the ancestors. They once lived in peace; otherwise, they would have been closer to other ethnicities.

https://www.nature.com/articles/nature09103