they (middle easterners, including jews) came to Europe long before Christians (crusaders) and then muslims invaded Palestine (around 1100 ad I think).

with the roman army, apparently. all middle easterners (occupied by the romans).

they found the candle holder (menorahs) and other religious stuff at archeological sites in Germany (and Europe) from this time.

So In Conclusion, a "Jew" is a race as well as a religion.

Who fucking cares?

tbh, I'm a bit sick of the constant focus on Judaism intruding in our lives. There rae other people in teh world who have also been through horrific things; this is Cambodia.

Do we have the same discussion about Buddhism/Khmers?

NO.

And there is no reasoning in the idea that only Israelis are 'real' Jews. The Jews originally came from what is now Iraq, perhaps teh 'real' Jews are the Iraqi ones.

In either case, I don't care.

I'd personally prefer it if every religious group kept it's yap shut so that I could watch a movie/live my life without some dodgy attempt at propaganda.

OrangeDragon wrote:I did read it... I wasn't saying it was a true thing, only showing you where to find more information on it. none of it has been "proven", only suggested.

and wikipedia can totally be used as fact so long as you verify that the citations for the infor are valid and factual as well. .

Indeed. wikipedia articles are often edited by peers/experts, same as medical and scientific journals.

It's still maligned a lot, I suspect either by ignorant people or academic snobs who perceive it as a threat.

This is a subject that is used to stir up hate and to divide people.
Most people are just people, not whatever race or religion they might belong to.
There are many hate-forums out there if you are into that.

I prefer to watch the rice grow.

That's my opinion.

Yeah I agree, I think many people of caucasian or middle eastern or even central Asian decent would be able to put on a skullcap and blend in with the Israeli population just fine. Look at Bar Refaeli she could be out of Sweden and I wouldn't notice if I wasn't told beforehand.

There are certain looks we've gotten used to consider Jewish of decent, but digging deeper, history often has so many twists and turns, it is impossible to decipher precisely who is 100% jew or not these days.

How many people know their family's roots going back to the Roman times? No one really, I guess the Islandic community is a good case for not being related due to their isolated location, but even there you've had visitors settle, as you've had right here in Cambodia with the Dutch East India Company going back several hundred years.

History seems to repeat itself and religious fanatics are often keen to spark conflict for their own financial reward.

Can't believe that anyone has hasn't mentioned Sikhism.... and yes Jews are considered by some a race , and they have never ready married outside their faith....of course there are exception....