What haplogroup Do Pashtuns Be?

Nadene Goldfoot                                                 

Pashtuns have the oral history of being Beni Israel, sons of Israel.  Pashtuns are the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan, accounting for about 42 percent of the population,

I see that the company, FAMILY TREE DNA has 219 members of Afghan Pakistani DNA, now.  This is good.  They say, "Please visit our blogsite at www.dna-afghan-pak.blogspot.com and our Facebook Page, where members share their research and opinions on issues."

Male Y haplogroups of Pashtuns

C3-M217, Afghanistan's ethnic group, found in East Asia 2.04% in Pashtuns, In ***** 3 people carried this in the sample, 1 found in FTDNA's testing, Originated in southern Asia, found with highest diversity in India. 

E,  In *****1 person carried this in the sample.  Originated in Africa some 50,000 years ago, common ancestry with D.  Found in Middle East. 

F, In ***** 1 person carried this in the sample first in Africa some 45,000 years ago, 2nd wave of expansion out of Africa, ancestor of the Y chromosome haplogroups, oldest one. 

*G2b-M377, part of G2 is found in some Pashtuns who are Iranic and on a much lower scale among all major Jewish groups, Palestinians, Lebanese and Syrians.  Up to the time of WW2, it was most common in Eastern Europe.  Distribution of G2b is sparse, unique.  The extreme rarity of G2b in northern Pakistan might mean it originated outside the country, brought there a historic period from further wet.  Pakistan was part of the Achaemenid Persian Empire conquered by Alexander the Great, then part of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom.  These 2 Pakistani G2b haplotypes are divergent from the Ashkenazi Jewish clade, do not indicate a recent common origin.  Turkish G2b is closer but not the same.  With Jews in Israel from many places, G2b was 3.7% of population in one study.  Afghanistan study of 5 Pashtuns in Wrdak region, 60% of sample, maybe due to local founder effect. Possible it started about 1,000 CE in NE West Asia from G2 (P287), highest frequency in Pashtuns, Sephardic Jews, Ashkenazi Jews, Mizrahi Jews, Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians, SW Syria.  In ***** 12 people carried this in the sample.    4 found in FTDNA's testing  May have originated along the eastern edge of the Middle East or in India or Pakistan 30000 years ago .  G2 branch of this lineage containing the P15 mutation is found most often in the Caucasus, Balkans, Italy and Middle East.  7% of Ashkenazi Jews have this. 

H-M69, found in India' Pashtuns 20.41%, In ***** 4 people carried this in the sample. 6 found in FTDNA's testing, arose 20,000 to 30,000 years ago and almost entirely restricted to India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan where it probably originated. 

J1,  In ***** 3 people carried this in the sample.  3 found in FTDNA's study, 10,000 to 15,000 years ago in Fertile Crescent includes Jews, Arab, Armenians, Kurds, highest in Iran and Iraq, carried by traders to central Asia, India and Pakistan.  While the majority of J is not Jewish, the majority of Jewish men are J's.  The Cohen Modal Haplotype is found in haplogroup J1. 

J2-M172, Afghanistan's ethnic group, In ***** 7 people carried this in the sample.  Found in Central Asia, Mediterranean and south into India.   11 found in FTDNA's testing. connected to the spread of agriculture during Neolithic Period from Anatolia, found in central Asia, Mediterranean, south into India. Many Jews carry this, also.  

*L-M20, Afghanistan's ethnic group, also in India at 20.41%, In ***** 8 people carried Lin the sample.  6 found in FTDNA's testing
  L1a, 2 found in FTDNA's testing
  L1b, 1 found in FTDNA's testing
  L1c,  Known Pashtuns, 6 found in FTDNA's testing; L is common in India, likely originated here 30,000 years ago. 

P,   In ***** 1 person carried this in the sample, originated in Eurasia 35,000 to 45,000 years ago, in Europe, all indigenous people of the Americas.

Q, 1.3% finding 2 people.   In ***** 1 person carried this in the sample.in southern Afghanistan.   
       Q is found in 5% of the male Jewish Ashkenazi population.  13 found in FTDNA's testing. , originated 15,000 to 20,000 years ago migrated through northern Eurasia into Americas, lately found in Ur, Iraq where Abraham lived. My Jewish father's line is Q, and at 111 allele testing is QBZ67

*R1a1a-M17, Afghanistan's ethnic group, found in Eurasia, 51.02% in Pashtuns, in *****97 people carried this in the sample.  ( Overall, only haplogroups R1a1a*-M198 (62.1%), L3*-M357 (7.4%) and G2c-M377 (5.3%) display frequencies >5% and collectively comprise nearly three-fourths of the Afghanistan paternal gene pool in one study ). 18 found in FTDNA's study, 8 from India, Bangladesh, 9 known Pashtuns, Believed to have originated in NW Asia between 30,000 to 35,000 years ago. This is the line that so many Jewish Levites carry as their Y haplogroup that I've been writing about (12/22/2021).  
R-M512 , 9 Pashtuns of Afghanistan, Pakistan

R1b1b2, In *****, 1 person was found in the sample.  3 from Pakistan in FTDNA's study

R2a-M124, found in India's Pashtuns 20.41%, In ***** 5 people carried this in the sample, 5 from FTDNA's testing , Much rarer than R1, found only in Indian, Iranian and central Asian populations.

Undecided 31 people as yet not classified in a group on FTDNA's testing

Genotyping revealed 32 haplogroups present in Afghanistan's ethnic groups among our samples. Haplogroups R1a1a-M17, C3-M217, J2-M172, and L-M20 were the most frequent when Afghan ethnic groups were pooled, together comprising >66% of the chromosomes. 

Resource: https://www.familytreedna.com/public/dna_afghan_pak/default.aspx?section=yresults

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplogroup_G-M377

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0034288

http://dienekes.blogspot.com/2012/03/rare-look-at-y-chromosomes-of.html

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267787589_The_origin_of_the_Pashtuns_Pathans *****

https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/dna-afghan-pak/about/background

Book:  Abraham's Children, race, identity, and the DNA of the Chosen People, by Jon Entine

Iran Hit with 7.8 Earthquake; 2nd In A Week

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                 

Many of us are most concerned about Iran having nuclear facilities.  The people of Iran should be also, since Iran is a vast earthquake zone. Hold on!  "Iran  is one of the most seismically active countries in the world, being crossed by several major fault lines that cover at least 90% of the country."

 They were just hit with their 2nd earthquake since their first on April 9th which was a 6.3 near the Bushehr nuclear power station. In that one, 37 people were killed and 850 were injured.  That makes 2 big earthquakes in one week!  Since June 22, 2002 they have had 13 earthquakes counting this past week's two.  All but 2 have been 6.0 or more.  Those 2 were a 5.3 and a 5.9, nothing to sneeze at in such an unstable area.

 This time, they were hit with a 7.8. at 10:44 GMT and  went down 51 miles in depth.   They say their nuclear sites, built by Russia, can with stand an 8.0 or better.

7.8 is a powerful earthquake.  The epicenter was the border area of SE Iran between them and Pakistan.  13 people were killed and 20 injured in Pakistan on Tuesday. A few hundred homes collapsed in Mashkeel, Pakistan.  Homes  are made of mud  in Panjgur, Pakistan.  Hundreds of homes and building in New Delhi, India and the Gulf Arab states were destroyed from it.  People got out of their building in Qatar and Dubai.   This was far from Iran's nuclear facilities, but had to have been felt and affected if the range is this far.   The distance between New Delhi, India to Iran is 758 miles or 1,219.62 kilometers.

Luckily the area is not like New York.  The land is a sparsely populated desert and mountain region.  They have not had any communications, so haven't heard about any deaths yet.  Iran has a population of 76,923,300.

Iran's nuclear facilities are centered in central Iran or the west side.  This includes Bushehr, the nuclear power plant on the Gulf coast.  They say they have good safety standards.  We have our doubts.  The IAEA say that they have been informed that there was no damage to any of the facilities.    It just happens that they sit on a fault line.  They had a 6.6 quake in 2003 that flattened Bam, a city in the SE and 25,000 were killed in that one.

I seem to remember Iran stating that they did not want Israel to ever come to their aid in such an earthquake catastrophe.  The distance to Jerusalem from Iran is about 970 miles or 1,555.92 km.  This is the first time that Iran has suffered from 2 earthquakes in one week.  Their history since  2002 is that they have had one or two per year; 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, two in 2010, 2011, 2012, and the two this week.

Resource: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/16/us-iran-quake-idUSBRE93F0E120130416
Gerard Robins: Iran Quake kills 37- near Bushehr Plant
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_earthquakes_in_Iran#cite_note-BuffaloUniversity-2

Lost Tribe of Israel Living in India Move to Israel

Nadene Goldfoot                                                          

  December 19, 2020:  "The group of 250 which made aliyah earlier this week was the first to arrive in two-and-a-half years.  The arrival of the Bnei Menashe  was a Chanukah miracle.  Early that past Tuesday, a group of 250 Bnei Menashe from northeastern India touched down at Ben-Gurion Airport on a special charter flight arranged by Shavei Israel, the organization I founded and chair, in conjunction with the Aliyah and Absorption Ministry. After undergoing formal conversion by Israel’s Chief Rabbinate, the immigrants will move to Nof HaGalil, formerly known as Upper Nazareth." The Bnei Menashe are descendants of the tribe of Manasseh, one of the Ten Lost Tribes exiled from the Land of Israel more than 2,700 years ago by the Assyrian Empire.

Some of the Bnei Menashe (Sons of Menasseh-one of the sons of Joseph, who was the son of Rachel and Jacob)who say they are from the Lost Tribes of ancient Israel that were taken by the Assyrians in the 8h century BCE are returning to Israel.  As they tell it,  they were banished from Israel then, but in actuality they were kidnapped and taken as slaves when Assyria attacked Israel.  Dozens are now moving  to Israel after 5 years of trying to enter   The Israeli Chief Rabbi recognized them in 2005, and about 1,700  moved there over the next 2 years before the government had to stop giving them visas.  Now Israel is agreeing to let the remaining 7,2000 immigrate.

On Monday the 24th, 53 arrived on a flight.  Michael Freund, activist on their behalf, said nearly 300 others will arrive in the next few weeks.  One of the immigrants was Lhing Lenchonz, 26, who arrived with her husband and 8 month old daughter.  "We are now in our land,"  she said.

Some Israelis think they are simply people fleeing poverty in India. Their claim's origins comes from a dream in 1951 of a Christian Pentacostalist who learned their religion was Judaism and their homeland was Israel.   Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar has insisted that they undergo conversion to be recognized as Jews.  A rabbinical team had gone to India and converted 218 Bnei Menashe, and only stopped because the Indian authorities stepped in and stopped it.  DNA tests have been done and the feminine side (MTdna)  suggests a genetic profile with Middle Eastern people that may have arisen through inter-marriage". So far tests that have been done do not show a male connection to the Middle East, though it is possible that after thousands of years it is difficult to identify the traces of the common genetic origin. However, a positive answer can give a significant indication.  There are many new tests recently developed that may show more about their dna heritage.  It will be an exciting study.

"November 2006: In a Jerusalem Post article about an Indian historian's claims of finding a genetic link between his Northern Indian Pathan clan (Pashtuns  living in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan) and the Lost Tribe of Ephraim, Hillel Halkin says that "there's no such thing as Jewish DNA. There is a [genetic] pattern which is very common in the Middle East; 40% of Jews worldwide have it and 60% do not have it. But many non-Jews and people in the Middle East have it also."

They come from the states of Mizoram and Manipur near India's border with Myanmar (Burma) , where they say their ancestors landed after the Assyrians banished them.  They had become headhunters and animists, and in the 19th century many had been converted to Christianity.  However, they had continued to practice ancient Jewish rituals, such as animal sacrifices, which Jews in Israel stopped with the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE.  The breakaway Judaic group was named Bnei Menashe by Eliyahu Avichail  because they believe that the legendary Kuki-Mizo ancestor Manmasi was Menasseh, son of Joseph.  They sing a traditional song which tells a tale similar to the Exodus.  According to the Bnai Menashe, they had been believing in one G-d and were familiar with many biblical stories when the Christian Missionaries first came upon them.  One thing, though their connection is shaky, they are people who want to be Israelis.  That is remarkable.

Israel has already taken in about 120,000 Falashas from Ethiopia (Beta Israel- House of Israel)  Many were arriving when I was living in Safed (Tzfat).  They claim to be from the lost tribe of Dan, though I've also heard stories of stemming from the Queen of Sheba when she visited King Solomon.

Resource:  http://news.yahoo.com/indian-jews-lost-tribe-move-israel-121503473.html
 Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/24/bnei-menashe-move-to-israel-indian-jews-from-lost-tribe-arrive-in-holy-land-photos_n_2359086.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bnei_Menashe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_Jews_in_Israel
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2012/11/india-burmas-lost-menashe-tribe-of.html

India-Burma's Lost Menashe Tribe of Israel Enter Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
Israel recognizes Bnei Menashe Tribesmen as one of the lost 10 Tribes.  More are due to arrive in a few weeks.  There were 12 tribes of Israel, with origins being  the sons of Jacob, his two wives and two concubines.  It was Jacob's family of 70 who descended to Egypt.  The Assyrians attacked Israel  in the 8th-7th Century BCE and took away many  of 10 of the tribes.  Most people thought they had been killed, or had assimilated amongst the other nations.  Jacob's first wife, Leah, was the mother to Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah,Issachar and Zebulun.  Rachel, his 2nd wife and sister to Leah was mother to Joseph and Benjamin.  Zilpah, handmaiden to Leah was mother to Gad and Asher.  Bilhah, handmaiden to Rachel was mother to Dan and Naphtali.   

"I Chronicles 5:26 And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, even the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and brought them unto Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan, unto this day."


The United Kingdom making up all 12 tribes of Israel was in existence starting with King Saul  from 1051 to 930 BCE.  The territory of the northern Kingdom of Israel comprised the territories of the tribes of Zebulun,  Issachar, Asher, Naphtali,  Dan,  Manasseh, Ephraim,  Reuben and Gad.

Its capital was Samaria.."  In 931 King Solomon died, leaving Rehoboam hereditary king which all the tribes refused to accept as king  except for Judah and Benjamin.  Rehoboam was a heavy tax person like his father had been.  Jeroboam, living in Egypt was sent for and  became king instead.  He's responsible for the division turning United Israel into Israel and Judah and was King of Israel, the northern kingdom, for 22 years..

In 721 BCE the Assyrians attacked Israel and the capital of Samaria, taking away captives.  They did it again in 701 BCE, this time attacking the other state of Judah.

Bnei Menashe Arrival

It seems that even with assimilation, some have managed to maintain their roots through oral history passed on down through the generations of about 2,700 years or 27 centuries since 721 BCE.  The tribe of Bnei Menashe, who have been living in north-eastern India and in Burma claims descent from the lost tribe of Menashe.They  believe that the legendary Kuki-Mizo ancestor Manmasi^[ was Menasseh, son of Joseph.  We know that Joseph was the father to Manasseh and Ephraim.  They found their roots and have been practicing Judaism for only the past 27 years.

By 2005 Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar ruled that the tribe had Jewish roots but must go through conversion to be eligible to immigrate under the Law of Return.  Our Jewish recognition is through the mother, not the father, so this was important as the tribal roots were of the father's line.  Though they had this connection, the mothers of today were not Jewish.

In 2006 some of the tribe entered Israel.  Five years went by and now the government of Israel has approved of continued immigration for them.  274 new immigrants will arrive in a few weeks.  Israel already has about 1,700 Bnei Menashe members living mostly in Judea-Samaria towns and in Kiryat Arba.  There are still about 7,000 to 9,000 tribesmen in India and Burma.

In 2007 the government policy changed by requiring mass immigration and conversions to be approved by cabinet decision, not just the Interior Ministry.  MK Meir Sheetrit of the Kadima Party and Interior Minister in 2007 was against renewed immigration for fear that it will endanger the Jewish identity of the state.  The thought is allowing people to come who will vote a certain way in elections.  (Isn't that a thought also in the USA?)

Another Kadima Party member, MK Otniel Schneller said that this is mainly about family reunification for people already here.  Shavei Israel, an NGO liaison between Israel and Bnei Menashe funds and manages renewed immigration.

Flights of the last remnants of the Jewish community of Falash Mura immigrants from Ethiopia has been renewed last week.  They will soon be arriving.  This is indeed a time of the Jewish people's ingathering again in Israel that has been prophesied.  They are not one of the lost 10 tribes but claim descent from King Solomon through the Queen of Sheba.

Resource: http://www.timesofisrael.com/bnei-menashe-immigration-to-resume-after-five-years/
http://www.bneimenashe.com/
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2011/06/manassah-one-of-10-lost-tribes-found.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1EeoXYdihs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Israel_(Samaria)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyrian_Siege_of_Jerusalem
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Lost_Tribes

Back Where Muslims and Jews Got Along: In India, Or Where "Kum Bi Ya" Really Takes Place

Nadene Goldfoot
Jews have lived in India, a country with 4,500 years of cultural history,  without any instances of antisemitism from the local majority populace.  That means that the custom of treating Jews as Dhminnis, or 2nd or 3rd class citizens  did not exist.  Jews arriving to this land were a religious minority of India, being Judaism was one of the first foreign religions to arrive there in recorded history.  The older Jewish communities assimilated a large number of local traditions through cultural diffusion.  Some had arrived during the time of the Kingdom of Judah in 933 BCE.

 Others assimilated completely by converting to Islam.  They are seen by some as the descendants of Israel's Ten Lost Tribes, termed as mythical by some writers, but taken quite seriously by many Jews and a large tribe, the Pashtuns, who claim to be these very lost ones.  Pashtuns have converted to Islam. 

The Lost 10 tribes were exiled by the Assyrian Empire 2,700 years ago. People believing in this theory cite names of various clans which resemble the names of Israelite tribes that were exiled by the Assyrians.  This information is in the Rig Veda, an ancient text, which was composed before 1200 BCE and Herodotus in his Histories composed around 450 BCE which mentions the Pashtuns as the "Paktyakai," and as the Aparytai or Afridis in what is now Afghanistan and Pakistan.  However, no sources were cited before the conversion of the Pashtuns to Islam which would have happened after 600CE by naming any Israelite or Jewish connections.  Researchers have failed to take into account the Eastern Iranian language of the Pashtuns when looking at the claims of Hebrew ancestry.  I have reports from Pashtun Tribal members that their fathers never said anything disparaging about Jews; in fact they praised them.

I would think this is an important fact of proof in that an exile took Jews to Persia in the time of Queen Esther, the Jewish girl married to the Persian King Ahasuerus.    The Persian period of exile would have happened way before 330 BCE when texts telling about Queen Esther were written with Jews made up of the Babylonian exile later in 586 BCE when large number of Jews were deported from Jerusalem again.  .  .

The 10 tribes were lost to the Kingdom of Israel first in about 701-720 BCE when Sennacherib, King of the Assyrians attacked Judah and sacked Jerusalem.  The Jews were captured and exiled.  Jewish Kings of Judah then were Ahaz (735-720) and Hezekiah (720-692).  Josiah (637-608) was also important in checking the Assyrian expansion at the walls of Jerusalem  in 701 BCE which had overwhelmed the northern Kingdom.

In India, half of the Jews congregated in Manipur and Mizoram and a quarter lived in the city of Mumbai (Bombay).  The one problem they had encountered was when they were persecuted by the Portuguese during their control of Goa.  In 1492 the Spanish Inquisition occurred where Jews had 2 choices; leave or convert. Many had fled to Portugal who gave Jews the same ultimatum a few years later.  

Cochin Jews arrived in India 2,500 years ago and lived in Kerala as traders from Judea.  They arrived in 562 BCE.  After the destruction of the 2nd Temple in 70 CE more came as exiles from Israel.   Bene Israel arrived 2,100 years ago and lived in the state of Maharashtra. Their ship wrecked and stranded 7 Jewish families from Judea at Navagaon near Alibag, south of Mumbai and they were nicknamed the Shanivar Teli or Saturday oil-pressers by the local population as they didn't work on Saturdays, which is Judaism's day of rest or "Shabbat."  In the 1950's and 60's many families emigrated to the new state of Israel.   The Bnei Menashe are Mizo and Kuki tribesmen in Manipur and Mizoram who claimed descent from the tribe of Manasseh.  About 9,000 people in NE Indian states started practicing halachic Judaism in the 1970's.  7,200 were given permission for immigration to Israel from Manaipur.

More recent arrivals to India were the Baghdadi Jews who came from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan  about 250 years ago and settled in Mumbai.  The Bene Ephraim or Telugu Jews are a small group who speak Telugu.  Their Judaism dates to only 1981.  They were from Andhra Pradesh and followed the customs of Orthodox Jews like hair customs of having unshaven long side locks,and  wearing head covering all the time.

The Jews in North India had assimilated with the Muslims completely as they had been brought there by the Ghauri Sultans from Afghanistan in 1200 CE.  The sultans kept their promise in naming a muhalla (district) in each conquered city as "Beni Israel."  This remains true even to this day.  One such place was in Aligarh where there was a Beni-Israel muhalla.  This is the home of a large university

Sultan Shahab-ud-Din Muhammad Ghori or Muhammad of Ghor (1150-March 15, 1206) was one of the rulers of the Ghurid dynasty who reigned over a territory spanning present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan and northern India.  He took the city of Ghazni in 1173 and used it as as the start for expansion into N. India.  His brother, Ghiyasuddin fought the Khwarezmid Empire for lordship of Kharasan and the Sultan Shababuddin captured Multan and Uch and annexed the Ghaznavid of Lahore.  After his brother died in 1202, he became successosr of the Ghurid Empire and ruled until assassinated in 1206 near Jhelum in today's Pakistan.  The Ghurid Empire was short-lived but these conquests strengthened the foundations of Muslim rule in India.

It is interesting that so many Khans pepper the history of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.  At this time in 1258 the grandson of Genghis Khan, Hulegu, sacked Baghdad and massacred the population and killed the last Abbasid caliph.  Two years later the Mongol army, after occupying first Aleppo and then Damascus, was defeated at the battle of Ayn Jalut in Palestine.  Baybars were at the head of the Mamluk Sultanate from Egypt.  By 1268, Baybars  took Antioch, which had been allied with the Mongols.  Here we see these same cities in today's struggle in Syria.

 Sayyid Ahmad Khan b: 1817  and  in 1867 CE moved to Aligarh and died in 1898, was mourned by thousands. He had started the university there in Aligarh in 1875.   He was born into a distinguished family, most likely of the Pashtun Tribe's royal family  as they also have the genealogy of descending from Mohammad in the same manner, the eldest of 5 prominent Muslim modernists who influenced Islamic thought and was concerned with the state of Muslims in a world dominated by European colonizing powers.  The family claims direct blood relationship with the Prophet of Islam through his daughter Fatimah and son-in-law cAli.  They had migrated to Iran, then to Herat in Afghanistan.  Being the Royal family has this lineage from Mohammad, I am theorizing that the Pashtuns were in Saudi Arabia and were of the Jewish tribes who were converted there in Mohammed's early rising.  We do know of many Jewish tribes there.

At least 75,000 Indian Jews now live in Israel which is over 1% of Israel's total population of about 7.5 million.  There are only at the most, 0.7% of Jews making up India's religious population as of 2001 census in this vast country of over 1.21 billion people which makes up one sixth of the world population.  Jews have been such a small number where Hindus number 800 million or 80.5% of the population, Muslims 13.4%, Christians 2.3%, Sikhs 1.9%, Buddahists 0.8%, and Jainism 0.4%.  Jews were listed with Zoroastrianism and the Bahai Faith with no % listed on one source.

Jews are not in competition here for land.  There was no earthly reason to discriminate against Jews in this multi-religious and vast country made up mostly of passifistic Hindus.  The Muslims moved out after battling with the Hindu population and formed Pakistan about at the same time Israel was re-born,  from what used to be a part of India, so they now have their own state. Most likely a lot were of the Pashtun Tribe.

India had really become a "Kum bi Ya, my Lord, Kum bi Ya" place to live.  The Jews living there were not pressed into changing their religion.  Pashtun conversion to Islam must have happened in Saudi Arabia already before they entered Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.  They were not held back in their emigration to Israel.  India and Israel have good relations right now.

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahabuddin_Muhammad_Ghauri
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Lost_Tribes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_Pashtun_descent_from_Israelites
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/2944-beni-israel
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2012/01/can-pashtun-tribe-of-afghanistan-have.html
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2012/06/israel-that-little-devil-and-pakistan.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_India
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aligarh_Muslim_University
Dr. Ahmed.
http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/baybars.htm
added 8/22/12: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDrL7-nILYE Pashtu and Koran
Note: Kumbaya was a song from Africa sung in the 1960's by many groups.  It was a time of peaceful feelings towards each other, the hippy movement, etc.  

Iran: Israel's Nemesis and Their Nuclear Advancement

Nadene Goldfoot
Wednesday brought news about Iran's advancements in technology in producing nuclear energy.  They said they'd talk about their nuclear program with officicals but would continue their drive toward nuclear self sufficiency.  In the past Iran has just angered the West by appearing to buy time with opening talks and weighing proposals while all the time they were hurrying along with their nuclear program.

The big news was that they just inserted their first homemade fuel rods into their research reactor in northern Tehran.  A new generation of centrifuges were installed and are in operation at Natanz, which is in central Iran.  They are producing nuclear fuel on their own.  On February 10th, they advanced their methods and produced almost 20% enriched uranium up from the 5% they were at,  showing they are getting around sanctions. 

Israel is most concerned because of the threats made to them.  Back on October 26, 2005, Iran's Broadcasting told of Ahmadinejad's speech to a conference in Asia: Ahmadinejad: Israel must be wiped off the map.  The speech was to the "World Without Zionism" conference.   He announced that the Ayatollah Khomeini said Israel must be wiped off the map and this was wise.  They are backing Arabs wanting to create a Palestine without coming to terms with Israel.  To do so would be a defeat in their eyes and it would mean a defeat of the Islamic world. 

Ahmadinejad continued saying that the issue with Palestine would be over "the day that all refugees return to their homes and they come into power".  Therefore, they are against normal relations with Israel and condemn all Muslim leaders who accept the existence of Israel.  To them this is a surrender and defeat of the Islamic world. 

Israel withdrew from Gaza on August 15, 2005 with its completion by September, and Ahmadinejad thought this was a trick to gain recognition or acknowledgment from Islamic states.  Two days later he held a rally and said that he spoke for his people and what the West thought didn't matter. 

Hamas, who took over Gaza and kicked out Fatah's Abbas, reflects the Iranian philosophy, but Abbas seemed to want to make peace.  However, he's now in cahoots with Hamas, perhaps with the theory that if you can't beat them you join them. 

It's no wonder that Israel has said that if sanctions and all other forms of stopping Iran's wiping Israel off the map with nuclear power doesn't work, they will feel they will have to try to stop their attempts, even alone if necessary.  Computer viruses managed to attack Iran's computers that were working on the nuclear program, but must have been cleared out.  It helped to stall their progress for awhile, and naturally the first people Iran blamed was Israel. Mostafa Ahmadi Rashun, 32, nuclear scientist was killed and Israel, CIA and the opposition faction in Iran, the People's Mujahedeen of Iran (MEK) have been blamed. 

In 1981 Israel hit the Osiraq nuclear reactor in Iraq to squelch their nuclear goals of making a bomb to use on them.  It's thought that they also attacked a similar site in Syria in 2007.  Both had reactors above ground, and it was much easier than any attack on Iran's facilities, which are now spread across Iran and are underground.  Israel is very creative, but this may be an impossible task if they wait past the window of opportunity.  At any rate, they will need a miracle to accomplish this, and they have the USA telling them to keep holding off.     

On Monday Iranians planted bombs to harm Israelis, injuring an Israeli diplomat's wife in India who was in their minivan.  Another attempt was foiled in Georgia on the same day, and one in Thailand on Tuesday.  Israel is not retaliating over this.

Resource: http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120215/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_nuclear
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Ahmadinejad_and_Israel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel's_unilateral_disengagement_plan
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2106855,00.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012-02-13/israel-iran-attack/53083160/1http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=257168
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/caught-in-his-own-blast-an-iranian-targeting-israel-6917547.html

Have Jews Lived in Pakistan?

Nadene Goldfoot
In the days of Alexander the Great, the Greeks camped out in Sindh, near today's city of Karachi, and prepared their fleet for Babylonia. 

Pakistan was created from the fighting between Muslims and Hindus in India.  A lot of Muslims finally moved out into their own state called Pakistan.

Pakistan had been created out of the East and West portions of British India and was established 14 August 1947.  By 1956 they declared it an Islamic Republic and was ruled from 1972-1977 by Zulfikar Bhutto.  In 2008 Asif ali Zardari became President.  He was the husband of Benazir Bhutto, who had been Prime Minister two times previously  Zardari took over from  Pervez Musharraf.  Pervez Musharraf, born 1943 was chief of the army and took power ousting PM Nawaz Sharif and took over.  He promised democracy, law and order.  Ten years later he had to resign. Now he lives in London,  but had allied Pakistan with the USA and was against the Taliban after our 9/11 attack in New York.

He has been planning to establish ties with Israel, and has even wanted to be the mediator between the Palestinians and Israelis. The problem is that the Pakistanis are on the side of the Palestinians, being both are Muslims. However, he says he now realizes that Israel is a fait accompli and he is a realist. He sees a benefit for Pakistan from a good relationship. 

Pakistan has the 2nd highest Muslim population in the world with 172,800,000 of which 97% are Muslims that are Sunni/Shi'a.  It is an Islamic state.  Even so, in 1947 there were about 1,500 Jews living there that were tradesmen, artisans, poets, philosophers and civil servants.  Many moved to Israel after May 1948 as there has always been anti-semitism in the land, but then it became anti-Israel quickly.

In 1881 there were 153 Jews living in the Sindh province, and by the early 1900's there were 1,000 living in Karachi.  In 1919 there were 650.  Peshanoar was home to a smaller group.  Most were Baghdadi Jews.  Bukhareans and Mizrahi Jews were from Central Asia, Iran and Afghanistan.  Bene Israel Jews were from India and lived in Karachi.  I had met some of these Bene Israel Jews in Israel, and the gal I had met was absolutely beautiful. 

Karachi was the capital from 1947 to about 1958, but then with the influx of Indian Muslims, Islamabad was chosen. 

The reasoning to get closer to Israel for one is the connection Israel has with India.  They are friendly.  He feels that Israel influences many against Pakistan.  In the meantime, Taliban terrorists executed 15 security soldiers by shooting that had been kidnapped and dumped on a hilltop in NW Pakistan on Thursday.  This was a retaliation killing of a militant commander by government forces.  They did that after promising not to attack the Pakistani military. 

One can remember that Osama bin Laden was captured in Abbottabad, Pakistan on May 1, 2011.  The president hadn't seemed to be very cooperative with the USA to capture him when he was living only a few blocks away from an army base. 

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Pakistan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Pakistan
http://www.haaretz.com/misc/article-print-page/relations-with-israel-could-help-pakistan-sa
Oregonian newspaper page A7, Taliban execute captive soldiers-from Islamabad
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Who_is_the_President_of_Pakistan_in_2011
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks

Manassah, One of 10 Lost Tribes Found

Nadene Goldfoot
Who would have guessed that the tribe of Manassah would wind up on the border of Burma and Bangladesh in the Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur, but they had been found in 2007.  1,700 of them have already made aliyah to Israel and are integrated into the society with 50 serving in the army.  Considering that they are new immigrants into a very different society, it is wonderful that 96% are employed.    7,232 are waiting to join them and soon will do so.  The reason the rest hadn't followed suit was because Ehud Olmert's goverment had frozen their making aliyah then. 

The Bnei Menashe were exiled by the Asssyrian Empire 27 centuries ago  in 723 BCE and were "lost."  That's almost 3,000 years agom but they hadn't forgotten who they were.  They've prayed 3 times a day for all these years to be returned to Zion.    Because they had been cut off from their mainstream Jewish life, those already in Israel have gone through a conversion and the others coming will do so, also. 

They have been  practicing Judaism and were known as the Kuki-Chin-Mizo Jews or Bnei Menashe  in NE India. Both Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Absorption Minister Sofa Landver are behind the  immigration of the remainder's move to Israel next month, but there could be problems in the way.  Not only is this a precarious time but money is tight and absorption of over 7,000 will be costly to the government.  However, this is what Israel was created for, so it should take place and will be a great day for Israel. 

Comment  and picture from Egypt 6/27/11 from Cousin Denise re: Menassah, One of the 10 Lost Tribes Found
"You do know that Menassah and Ephraim were the sons of Joseph, Vizier of Egypt, and they were blessed by Jacob and
pronounced as a tribe of Israel. It is interesting to note that this "lost tribe" of Israel has been found in NE India in a state
called MIZORAM - EGYPT IS KNOWN AS "MISR" / "MIZR" and in Hebrew it is pronounced MITZRAIM which I believe ties

up with MIZORAM and indicates that the lost tribe of Menassah is descended from Joseph's son who came out of EGYPT."

http://unitedwithisrael.org/here-comes-another-lost-tribe/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribe_of_Manasseh
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/guwahati/Promised-Land-awaits-7500-Mizo-Jews/articleshow/9004084.cms