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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Where do you think Jewish people come from?

803 replies

BlessedIsTheFruit · 23/09/2026 20:07

Antisemitism is at full volume at the moment and I caveat this post with saying that I have absolutely no wish to make Jewish MNers feel uncomfortable but as an an atheist with no connection to Israel this really makes my blood boil.

I see so many SM posts about the Jews having 'colonized' Israel and Judea & Samaria, not having any claim to the land, not being indigenous and of course being 'Europeans settlers'.

They can't answer where they actually come from though so I thought anyone on here who shares their views might be able to give an answer and how they came to that conclusion.

I understand that Jews are an ethnicity with Judaism as their religion. Being Jewish is not a religion. Jews are still today spread out all over the world with the majority living in Israel and the US.

This has come into focus since the UK Government sanctions on Jewish businesses in Judea & Samaria recently with Jewish communities living there classed as 'illegal settlers'.

It's almost as if Jews and Judea have no connection at all.

So AIBU to ask where the Jews originated from if not from there?

I don't feel this belongs on the CITME board as although the war in Gaza has amplified beliefs, this not directly about that.

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NullaEffugium · Today 07:22

Cailleach1 · Yesterday 20:18

I have to say, I wouldn’t trust a Turkey with Erdogan at the helm. He has been chipping away at Ataturk’s secular state. Allegations of corruption, bribery, fraud, money laundering and cronyism not alien to him, and to his APK regime.

He carried out a purge of those judges, prosecutors, police chiefs who were involved in investigating the corruption and allegations of financial, and organised crime.

I reckon Erdogan would turn on a pin against any group of people he suspected at any time wasn’t enough pro-Erdogan.

Mind you, that probably makes everyone equally a possible target of his wrath.

I don’t trust Erdogan either. The question was about legal equality enshrined in law of a country. As a Jewish woman, I am well aware that laws don’t mean a person is actually equal socially, economically or politically in practice. This doesn’t just affect women and minority religions or ethnicities but also other marginalised people - disabled, gay/lesbian/bi, etc

NullaEffugium · Today 07:44

CrazyMidget · Yesterday 22:59

Do you have a source for that? Because all the history I've read - and I just double-checked - says that the two populations merged, in a complex process of political takeover, cultural assimilation, and gradual integration. Nothing I've ever read says that Anglo-Saxons tried to expel the Romano-British from their own land.

Several history books. It’s kind of obvious when you have dozens of battles between invaders and defenders that this isn’t merely a political takeover.

Here is a short history online, just to show how easy it is to find this information:
https://www.history.org.uk/primary/resource/3865/anglo-saxons-a-brief-history?srsltid=AU7gw4W1t5wEQXOQywrKoOYrBAMZ8wk0GjKmR90NWEGWdZ8N9ZLlU_0p

It’s in the language- The word for foreigner and enemy was Seax in southern Briton, Sassenachs in Scotland and Saesneg in Wales ( the last two still endure) the modern day name of ‘Saxon’ comes from the distinctive short sword these multiple tribes carried.

It’s written in the DNA as well that the populations with the highest % Briton DNA are in the west & north.

Don’t forget that the Anglo-Saxons had a habit of enslaving Romano-British (Briton) women and once they had children those were then anchors keeping them from fleeing west or north. So the whole ‘some stayed’ and ‘adopted the Germanic language and culture’ and the population ‘integrated’ was done by conquest not by peaceful means. There were several battles as the Anglo Saxon invasion occurred slowly over decades until the Anglo Saxons established kingdoms in what would become England (land of the Angles).

There was no genocide but enslavement. However, all the landowners- from kings down to farmers were killed, expelled or enslaved. It wasn’t until the Norman conquest of the Anglo Saxons that slavery was gradually replaced with serfdom.

Anglo-Saxons: a brief history

This period is traditionally known as the Dark Ages, mainly because written sources for the early years of Saxon invasion are scarce. It is a time of war, of the breaking up of Roman Britannia into several separate kingdoms, of religious conversion and...

https://www.history.org.uk/primary/resource/3865/anglo-saxons-a-brief-history?srsltid=AU7gw4W1t5wEQXOQywrKoOYrBAMZ8wk0GjKmR90NWEGWdZ8N9ZLlU_0p

NullaEffugium · Today 07:52

PurpleThistle7 · Today 06:54

Well it’s actually more like 7 million Arabs in the region as there are already 2 million living in Israel. And how exactly do you see this working out if a country invites millions of people who want to kill them - and their distant cousins in the diaspora - to live, work and VOTE in their country?

And out of curiosity, would this imaginary future also see millions of Jews being allowed to live freely in Iran and Afghanistan and Egypt and etc etc etc. Not that I’d guess we’d want to, but does this theory of yours go both ways or is it just Israel who needs to change?

I don’t for one second believe that ‘millions’ of ‘Arabs’ and ‘their distant cousins’ want to kill me or other Jews. I would like to think a good future would include everyone being able to live freely wherever they want to. Such a future can only come about gradually, and why shouldn’t Israel become the role model for peace and tolerance? We have the best military in the Middle East and the backing of the most powerful country in the world. The problem is there is no political will for equality and freedom from Bibi and the parties he depends on to stay in power. They are more interested in expansionism, ethnic cleansing and keeping the Israelis in Israel in a constant state of fear to justify continuous war. It’s one of the many reasons I will likely not return to Israel in my lifetime. I feel like where we are now is pre1985 in terms of any hope of peace and amity in the Middle East. And maybe it will never happen. The only times it did was when the entire region was part of a larger empire and even then various peoples would rebel or revolt, including my ancestors in 135AD against the Romans.

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