[Alouette]

The historical evidence suggests that many of them (some scholars claim most Eastern European Jews)) are descended from the Khazars

There is no genetic evidence or any serious historical research to support this hypothesis, DNA tests on the contrary show a strong genetic affinity between Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews. The historical fact is, about 1200 years ago, the King of the Khazars and a few of his nobility converted to Judaism, but this in no way affected the gene pool of the overwhelming majority of European Jewry.

The "Khazar" theory is a favorite of holocaust-deniers and other assorted Jew haters in order to deny the right of Jews to live in the Holy Land.

[GovernmentShrinker]

I'm not an expert on this esoteric area of history, but there is quite a lot of scholarship on it that has nothing to do with "Holocaust deniers". Of course Holocaust deniers will latch onto any scrap of real or fabricated information to support their bizarre story. To a rational person, the Khazar issue doesn't have a lot of bearing on the need for a Jewish homeland -- the Nazis didn't show any interest in who was or wasn't descended from the Khazars when they herded everyone they regarded as a Jew into the death camps (nor have any other purveyors of blatant anti-Semitism made any distinction -- they can't have it both ways: hating people because they're Jews, while simultaneously claiming they actually aren't Jews). The history of persecution and slaughter of Jews is the main bond that the Khazar-descended Jews (however many there really are) have with the Jewish people, and it is not an insignificant bond.

[sneakypete]

The "Khazar" theory is a favorite of holocaust-deniers and other assorted Jew haters in order to deny the right of Jews to live in the Holy Land.

How could this be? It doesn't matter what their ethnic background is,they would still be Jews.Just because the originals "converts" were less than sincere,it doesn't mean their descendants didn't take the Jewish religion seriously. You can also be sure that many married/interbred with ethnic Jews over the centuries,so that is just another link.