In Respone- Yes, Jews are a Middle Eastern people.

I saw on a previous post about “Questions I get asked as a Jew” that one of the comments that seemed to annoy the OP was if Jews were Middle Eastern or not. I don’t understand why that’s the case when it is actually one of the things those who are ignorant about the Jewish people and/or Judaism actually happen to get right.

Now I know we have those Jews who are Jewish by choice, who are to be considered nothing less than full-fledged members of the tribe, precisely because they are. However, they count as a very small minority of the Jewish population. When speaking about the vast majority of the Jewish population, we are descended from exiles from Roman-occupied Judea. Various genetic tests have shown that Jews from all over the world are very genetically homogenous and share ancestry. Jews have remained majority Middle Eastern (yes, even Ashkenazi Jews, with the European influence being from Southern Europe). We cluster closely with Levantine Arabs, Druze, and Samaritans. Judaism itself is a religion steeped in Middle Eastern identity and culture.

Now, maybe the OP was just saying that they get bothered by the question itself and not necessarily denying the premise that we are a Middle Eastern people, I will be dan l’chaf zechut, in that regard. But it does bring up a broader conversation as to why this assertion, in particular, is so controversial.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this!