Can you differentiate between Arabs and Jews?

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Kevin S

It is easy to differentiate. Israelis look more Greek. What you are trying to differentiate is Jews and Lebanese. Jews look a lot like the Lebanese and syrians but the lebanese and syrians aren't really arabs. Many palestinian arabs or israeli arabs look like lebanese or syrians. They also have similar dialects in arabic. Saudi Arabians are true arabs. Most israelis do speak english or at least some. What you are saying is not true. They do not speak arabic though. Many don't want to learn the language. Most israelis have grandparents who speak arabic. Even european jews look arabic as well. As an example is Jeff Goldblum.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i305/lokicat7/JeffGoldblum.jpg

He is from the same place as Ben gurion and Golda Meir. Well his parents.

Here are Russian Jews

http://www.russianjewry.com/news/images/437_okunovmatzah2S.jpg

They look a lot like syrian arabs or Druze.

"The Arab eyes are warm and big and the Jew eyes are small and beady."

That is a racist comment and untrue. Hitler used to say that Jews have beady eyes.

Here are more Russian Jews

http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/vilna/vilna_pix/old_scenes/092805_58_b.gif

Syrians and Lebanese look a like.

Beautiful Sunset

They maybe look the same but I can always tell an Arab from a jew.
It's the "eyes".
The Arab eyes are warm and big and the Jew eyes are small and beady.
A friend of mine also told me that the Jews give the girls "the dirty look" when they meet them.
I don't know what a dirty look is and I don't want to find out.
I am not going to visit Irsrael anytime soon.
bye bye

Pretty (smart) lady

The only physical difference between anyone is the one that exists in our minds.

You never visited Israel, most Israelis speak English and most speak some Arabic, and yes many have dark skin but many have light hair and light colored eyes.

One T

Most Israeli Jews are middle eastern so it is sometimes hard to know who is what but most of the time you can tell by the accent.
Sometimes you'll even see soldiers assuming they're Jewish until they open their mouths and start speaking fluent Arabic(yes, there are Arab Israelis in the IDF).

Some Jews however are not middle eastern but European and some are African.

Most Israelis know English, some know Arabic if their parents came from Arab countries and taught them or if they chose to learn it in school.

dandyl

Arab is a nationality, while jewish is a religion.Jewish people all look different, some are darker then others, all depends on their background.
More then 90% of Israelis all know/understand English, English is compulsory as a second language at all schools, While Arabic is not compulsory, you have a choice between Arabic and French as a third language.

Purrry kitten

Jews are a group of people who follow Judaism and Arab is a Nationality.

Tyreeisme!

yes your are correct i know many Jews whose ancestors lived in Arab countries in the past

Hammi

Is this an admission that there are Jews in Israel that originated in the Middle East? After reading some of your questions and answers, I got the impression you thought they were all invaders.

Arieh

They are cousins. Arabs are from Ishmael and the Jews from Isaac. In fact, I have one Palestinian friend named Marwan (Christian), who used to lay carpet for a living. He lives in the U.S. and when he went to Jewish homes he told them his name was Marvin and the people thought he was Jewish. He is as white as rice.

Arabic is one of the official languages of Israel, so it makes sense that they would teach it in schools.

As for those North African and Iraqi Jews that are dark, eating the same food and living in the same climate for countless generations is bound to build similarities in their loooks.

Nathan

a lot of them look the same but some jews look white

AlphaFactor

While it may be true that it is possible to determine who is who from who using certain subtle criteria, I think that your original observation, 'I had difficulty differentiating the Arabs and Jews?' contains a much more important truth than what certain people's physical characteristics are.

That truth is:

they are all humans and despite their best efforts to distinguish themselves from each other, they are more alike than they are different.

Did you know that 98% of your genetic makeup is identical to that of every other human on Earth? That's right. For all the variations that might stem from this 2%, humans are, from the genetic standpoint, extremely similar. (I've sourced this information to Wikipedia below. According to the sources, humans are actually 99.8% genetically identical, but using the number 98% is sufficient for asserting the point that I'm making.)

Given that the humans are so similar, it is completely possible for them to get along and exist side-by-side peaceably.

The only thing that impedes them is their willingness to do so.

The peoples of the Israel-Palestine region ought be ashamed that they have not achieved this yet. It is their common responsibility to embrace peaceful coexistence by embracing their similarities; if it is true that differentiating them physically is difficult, then that just further proves that the 'differences' they keep highlighting about one another are meaningless and they ought behave like responsible adults and embrace solidarity.

Kimimela-PRO ISRAEL AND PROUD

Ok - for starters most israelis DO speak english. And many of them also have a good knowledge of Arabic so ive no idea where you get that one from.

Personally i can tell the differance between an arab and israeli 9 x out of ten. Those that have family roots in Jordan and mid eastern countries are harder to tell apart though. Yemeni jews most of all especially since they often have an arabic accent to thier hebrew.

Many people forget though that jews and arabs are semitic peoples in the same way that Norweigens and Germans have the same genetic ancestory so its natural they would look the same..

saying that , there is a definate palastinian look though. and i would say in general they seem to be darker skinned than most jews.

Macho Man

There are different looking Jews according to their background,some came from former soviet union ,some from Europe ,others from Africa and India,and their are some from middle east.They claim that they are 1 nation because they are descendants of Israel but they are hardly similar to each other,Middle eastern Jews look similar to Arabs,Europeans look similar to other Europeans and so on,Because at some point they mixed with the local populations.
If they had not mixed with the locals where they lived then according to the theory that they are 1 nation and never mixed they should be similar,and their characteristics would be more like Arabs,important to mention here that Arabs are their cousins.

Maybe they thought you judgmental and didn't want to speak to you.

Abdullah A

Middle eastern jews and isreali arabs are: Arabs that is why they look similare. But immigrants european isralies look differrent they look like Germans , British ,,, or let say they look like europeans

×”×ž×–×¨×—×™â€Ž

Although I was frequently mistaken for being Arab, I can see a clear difference between the two.

Lupines supports GEERT WILDERS

No no no. One cannot tell who is Jewish and who is Arab by looks alone.

They are both semitic peoples one cannot tell the difference. People have misunderstanding that Jewish people are all European Jewish immigrants because of all of the antisemitic propaganda that says Jewish people stole land. We have always had a community in Israel even when the majority of Jewish nation was in the diaspora. It is just that when the modern state was formed we opened our borders for anyone previously displaced from Israel to come back home.

When that happened the Jewish Europeans returned but that doesn't mean they are the only face of Israel. Jewish people returned from all over the globe. Israel is very diverse.

Jewish population shows European, Arab and Spanish (Ashkenaz, Mizrah, and Sephard)

So when one asks "can you differentiate between Arabs and Jews?" one can only do it if comparing one class (Euro) with Arab. But when one compares Arab to Arab or Spanish Jews, no one cannot as physical features are very similar.

Local Machine

OK, I am not an expert on that, but I think the Jews are darker than the Arabs with heavy facial hair and baldness for the males.
And most of them are shorsighted, wearing thich glasses and all.
The girls are quiet nice tho, both Arabian and Jew.
The Machine

Meilien

It's easy to tell the difference between an Arab Israeli and a non Arab Israeli. Arabs are an ethnic people, their skin color is different. It's like the difference between being black and white. Most non Arab Israeli's are Western or Eastern European and Arabs are, well, Arabic. In Israel you will find a wide mix as there has people intermarry a lot more, but out in the colonies in Palestine/Jordan you will find mostly white settlers and almost no Arabs at all.

However, it is more difficult to tell the difference between a Jew and a non Jew as you can have Jewish Arabic Israelis and secular European Israelis. If they are wearing traditional dress it is much easier. Regular (for want of a better word) Jews often wear skull caps, while Authadox Jews usually wear black and have distinctive hats and beards. Other Jewish sects also have highly distinct dress.

Most Israelis are either immigrants or descendants form recent immigrants. You will find a wide mix of languages. Russian and Eastern European languages are very common as many Jews (or people with sufficient Jewish ancestry) fled to Israel during the Soviet era. Several Jewish groups such as the ultra authodox speak a language known as Yiddish for common speech, and Hebrew is also commonly spoken as it is a traditional language amongst Jews that ties them to their faith.

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