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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;DonnaML, post: 4596226, member: 110350&quot;]1. I was neither the first nor the second person in this thread to raise the importance of the Khazar descent issue to contemporary anti-Semitism. The argument that &quot;the Jews&quot; are not in fact &quot;the real Jews&quot; -- and, therefore, have no actual historical connection to Israel or to the Jews of the Hebrew and Christian Bibles -- is one of the major arguments continually repeated by anti-Semites, as well as by anti-Zionists who think it will further their cause.&nbsp; (In fact, it&#039;s a worthless distraction from the actual issues surrounding the I/P conflict.) And yes, as a Jewish person myself, I do consider issues significantly bearing on the analysis of contemporary anti-Semitism to be &quot;more important&quot; than considerations concerning &quot;matters of medieval global macro-economics,&quot; as fascinating as you may find them.&nbsp; Especially given that nothing you&#039;ve said is remotely novel; the significant role of Jewish merchants -- whether Radhanites or other Jews -- as economic intermediaries between the Christian and Muslim worlds in the early Middle Ages has been studied intensively for a long time.&nbsp; You should read the books of S.D. Goitein, among others, if you haven&#039;t already.&nbsp; As I&#039;m sure you&#039;re aware, that role pretty much came to an end with the beginning of the Crusades, a development that had a significant causal effect on the growth of the role of &quot;Jew as moneylender&quot; in medieval Europe.&nbsp; Which obviously played its own part in contributing to anti-Semitism.&nbsp; In any event, we obviously disagree on the relative importance of certain issues.</p><p><br /></p><p>2.&nbsp; Not a single word I wrote on the genetic issues is either &quot;hyperbolic&quot; or &quot;misleading.&quot;&nbsp; I explained why I didn&#039;t include the many citations supporting my arguments -- they would have increased my already-lengthy post (which was intended as a general summary) to absurd proportions. In any event, I doubt that you&#039;re remotely qualified to discuss these issues, or, frankly, even to hold an opinion on them.&nbsp; I also doubt that this is an appropriate place for such a discussion.&nbsp; Not that I have any real interest in having a discussion with you about any subject, in any venue.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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