Tucker Carlson, the American commentator who enjoys popularity in far-right circles, proposed in an interview with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee that DNA tests be administered to all residents of the Land of Israel to determine who among them is truly a descendant of Abraham. "It's very simple," Carlson said. "We've cracked the human genome; we can do this." Huckabee responded: "I have no idea what that would prove."
Carlson is an antisemite. He promotes conspiracy theories targeting Jews and has called Israel "the most violent country in the world." His proposal to subject Israelis to genetic testing is not surprising: antisemites have always been fascinated by Jewish genetics. The desire to classify Jews by blood and race is not new and evokes dark chapters in history that need no elaboration.
But Carlson, in all likelihood, does not know that he has unlikely allies in his request.
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Tucker Carlson promotes conspiracy theories targeting Jews
(Photo: Ross D. Franklin/AP)
In recent years, Israel's Chief Rabbinate has introduced new requirements for verifying the Jewishness of immigrants and their children who seek to register for marriage, including DNA testing. This policy gained momentum in 2017, when halakhic texts were published laying the groundwork for the use of mitochondrial DNA tests to prove Jewish status. Since then, rabbinical courts have been offering - and at times implying a need for - DNA tests for individuals who cannot "prove" their Jewish status on the basis of documents.
For those unfamiliar with Israel's system: the Rabbinate holds a monopoly over marriage for Jews. If it questions your personal status as a Jew, you simply cannot marry in Israel. Hundreds of thousands of citizens – mostly immigrants from the former Soviet Union and their Israeli-born children – come up against this reality. Being asked to prove your Jewishness on the basis of a genetic test is not just a bureaucratic annoyance; it is a deeply humiliating experience that strikes at the core of personal identity and flies in the face of a sense of belonging.
Their focus is different, but the message is the same: show me your DNA, and I'll decide whether you belong
As part of my doctoral research, I conducted an extensive study on the Rabbinate's procedures to verify Jewishness. I met with senior officials in the rabbinical courts and in a clear and loud voice alerted them to the fact that DNA testing to verify Jewish identity is something our enemies want to do to us – not something we should be doing to ourselves. As Professor Efrat Levy-Lahad, head of the Medical Genetics Institute at Shaare Zedek Medical Center, has noted: "Historically, only the most bitter enemies of the Jewish people have attempted to genetically classify Jews."
Furthermore, the Rabbinate’s demand for verification constitutes a departure from Jewish halakhic tradition. The bond between Jewish communities has always been built on a sense of belonging shared culture, and tradition – not only on blood. Throughout the generations, Jewish communities assimilated and many non-Jews converted to Judaism. There are non-Jews with “Jewish” DNA. and Jews with little or no common DNA with other Jews.
Biological proof has never been a religious requirement. The foundational halakhic principle of "chezkat Yahudut" (the presumption of Jewishness) holds that an individual who identifies as Jewish is accepted as such unless proven otherwise. The Shulchan Aruch (the authoritative code of Jewish law) states: "whoever disqualifies another – is himself suspect." These are not opinions on the fringe. This is the Jewish tradition spanning generations.
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Chief Rabbis of Israel, Rabbi Kalman Bar and Rabbi David Yosef
(Photos: Alex Kolomoisky, Motti Kimchi)
But beyond its flaw in terms of halakha (Jewish law), this policy is blatantly dangerous. It aligns - unintentionally - with the antisemitic position of people like Carlson. The Rabbinate casts doubt on Jews' status in order to deny them the right to marry; Carlson casts doubt on Jews' status in order to undermine the very legitimacy of Jewish presence in the Land of Israel. Their focus is different, but the message is the same: show me your DNA, and I'll decide whether you belong.
When Jews cast doubt on one another and use pseudo-scientific methods to challenge the identity and belonging of their own people, we lose the moral standing to complain when antisemites do the same. If we ourselves demand that Jews "prove" their Jewishness by means of tissue samples, what message are we sending the world?
Dr. Elad CaplanPhoto: Bar-Ilan UniversityCarlson almost certainly did not check what the Rabbinate has been doing before making his proposal. But when Israel's own religious establishment and an antisemitic Israel-hater seek to operate by the same method, it is clear that somewhere along the way someone has gone astray.
Dr. Elad Caplan is CEO of Kolenu and lecturer at the Faculty of Law, Bar-Ilan University