In the past year or so there has been a large change in the way many Americans view Israel.
For decades a “sacred cow” (with any criticism of it labeled “anti-Semitic”), especially with Evangelical Christians, many including some Evangelicals and young Catholics have altered their views, mainly in the wake of the mass killings in Gaza (which of course followed an attack on Israel).
The political MAGA movement, once solidly pro-Israel, is now profoundly divided.
Certain podcasters have gone so far as to connect modern Israel with the “Synagogue of Satan” referred to in two passages of Revelation (2:9 and 3:9) where Jesus criticizes a group that “say they are Jews and are not.”
Historically, this phrase has been used to justify antisemitism, though scholars note the author of Revelation was likely Jewish. Was he referring to non-believing Jews?
Some of the antagonism—which is present around the world—has come from the exclusionary nature of many Jewish groups, isolating themselves in certain ways (including economic ones) from the mainstream, which is frequently seen as arrogance.
Three years ago, 54 percent of Americans sympathized more with the Israelis, compared to 31 percent for the Palestinians. Now, their support is about evenly balanced, with 41 percent saying their sympathies lie more with the Palestinians, and only 36 percent saying the same about the Israelis.
Some in the now-infinite universe of podcasts have even questioned whether Jews who claim a right to Israel are actually genetic Jews (Hebrews) to begin with. The first president of the modern state of Israel, Golda Meyer, was born in Kiev, Ukraine, and emigrated with her family to the United States before going in 1948 to the newly created Israel.
It’s not an “anti-Semitic” question—the issue of genetics—and it dates back largely to in fact a Jewish writer named Arthur Koestler, who, in The Thirteenth Tribe, argued convincingly that most modern “Jews” are actually descended from Turkish and East European Christians who converted in the Middle Ages (around the eighth century) to avoid slaughter when Islamic invaders were conquering the Middle East and southern and Easter Europe and killing Christians.
You read that correctly: when it came to Muslims (“Moors”), it once was more dangerous to be Christian than Jewish.
But is it true? Are modern Jews—many of whom look decidedly different than darker-skinned Palestinians and other Arabs—actually descendants from ancient Israelites? Or are they mainly East European (specifically Czechoslovakian and even German) and “Jewish” only by culture and religion?
Is it their European features that make them fit like oil and water among Arabs?
What did Jesus actually look like? [scroll for more:]
Koestler may have been wrong. The latest studies indicate that many Jewish populations and Palestinians share substantial ancestry that traces back to the Levant and that genome-wide studies often place many Jewish groups (Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Mizrahi) relatively close—genetically—to other Levantine peoples (including Palestinians, Druze, Lebanese), with differences reflecting later regional mixing and community history.
Ashkenazi Jews, on average, show a meaningful European ancestry component, with multiple studies pointing to strong Southern European sources and additional Eastern-Western European contribution.
The physical appearance of Jews and Palestinians is one of those subjects where genetics, history, and geography collide—and where quick assumptions often fall apart. Both striking similarities and noticeable differences, depending on the community, the family line, and the long trail of migrations that shaped the region.
At the core is the Levant itself: Study after study in population genetics has found that many Jewish groups and Palestinians share deep genetic roots in the ancient populations of the Eastern Mediterranean.
Ashkenazi Jews are often lighter-skinned on average than many other Levantine groups (e.g., Palestinians, Jordanians, Syrians, Lebanese) because Ashkenazi communities historically lived in Europe and generally have more European admixture and centuries of adaptation within European environments. But “often” doesn’t mean “always,” and plenty of Ashkenazim are olive/darker as well.
Most likely Jesus had medium (olive/honey) to olive-brown—the kind of skin tone common among first-century Jews in Galilee/Judea and their Near Eastern neighbors.
This skin tone brings to mind the Virgin of Guadalupe.
History did what history does: it scattered people, mixed populations, and left fingerprints in DNA. Over many centuries of diaspora life—across Southern Europe, Eastern Europe, North Africa, and parts of the Middle East—Jewish communities often remained culturally distinct, yet still absorbed some local ancestry at different times and places. That’s why Ashkenazi Jews, on average, show a notable European component (with strong signals often tied to Southern Europe, especially southern Italy, alongside other European sources), while other Jewish communities can retain genetic profiles that are more heavily Middle Eastern/Levantine.
Meanwhile, Palestinians also reflect a land that has been a historic crossroads.
Genetic studies of the Levant repeatedly show deep continuity with ancient Levantine ancestry, plus additional inputs that vary by region and time period—as empires rose and fell and populations moved through or settled.
Ancient-DNA work in the Southern Levant has underscored that today’s populations there carry substantial ancestry tied to people who lived there in Bronze and Iron Age eras, though not as a single “pure” line—rather as a long, shifting stream of related ancestries.
The most accurate takeaway isn’t “they look the same” or “they look different,” but that many Jews and Palestinians share deep Levantine roots, while centuries of migration, mixing, and community history can shift average traits in different directions—yet individuals can look like almost anything within the broad Middle Eastern-to-Mediterranean spectrum.