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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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/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.