For centuries, official history has narrated a continuous line between the ancient Hebrews of Palestine and the modern Jews of the Western world. However, various investigations, historical testimonies, and even recent genetic studies have reopened an old question: where do most of those who today present themselves as heirs of ancient Israel really come from?
The case of the Khazars, a Turkic people settled between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea around the 7th to 10th centuries, is key to understanding this debate. Arab, Byzantine, and Jewish sources agree that the Khazar kingdom officially adopted Judaism, not by lineage but by political and cultural conversion. That kingdom, known as Khazaria, prospered for more than two centuries as a commercial and military power, until it disappeared in the face of Russian and Mongol expansion. What remained of it, according to some historians, dispersed to Eastern Europe, founding communities that would eventually become the basis of the so-called “Ashkenazi Jews.”
Authors such as Benjamin Freedman and several independent historians argue that the majority of modern Jews are not descended from the ancient Israelites, but from converted Khazars. If this is true, the Zionist narrative claiming a biblical right to Palestinian land would collapse, because that right is based precisely on historical and ethnic continuity with the ancient Hebrews.
Although many scholars question this theory and point out that genetic studies show a mixture of lineages from both the Middle East and Europe, the fact that a large portion of today’s Jews have an origin other than Palestine remains an issue that bothers the Zionist establishment. This is why this discussion is so feared: because it reveals that the Israeli colonial project is not founded on historical continuity, but on a modern political construct.
This is not about denying Jewish history or conversions to Judaism, but about demanding that a mythical narrative not be used to justify the dispossession, exile, and genocide of another people. Historical truth, however uncomfortable, must give way to justice.
The history of the Khazars is not just a medieval curiosity: it is a key to dismantling one of the greatest ideological manipulations of the 20th century.
Palestinian Union of Latin America – UPAL
UPAL Editorial – October 18, 2025
