Bene Israel has genetic evidence of Jewish roots, study shows

12 May 2016
Israel

From the JTA:

A scientific study has found genetic evidence of claims that the Bene Israel, a community in western India, has Jewish roots.

The study from Tel Aviv University, which was published in late March in the PLoS One scientific journal, analyzed the genomes of 18 Bene Israel community members. It found that the Bene Israel had significant Jewish and Indian ancestry.

According to Bene Israel tradition, the community descended from a handful of Jewish shipwreck survivors on the Indian coast up to 2,000 years ago.

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