Jews are an ethnically diverse religious group

One counter-argument comes from genetic research. Scientific evidence suggests that Jews are a distinct biological race. The research of Harry Ostrer, a medical geneticist and professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, suggests that Jews exhibit a distinctive genetic signature.^[3] This distinction is enough to define Jews by their racial identity. Another point argues that while Jews may not be a bio-genetic race, they are a socio-historical race. Steven Kaplan, a professor of comparative religion at Hebrew University, asserts that the racial identity of Jews is a cultural reality. It forms a major part of their social identity and self-image. Jewish identity is frequently defined in terms of appearance, descent, and, most recently, genetic heritage. We cannot dismiss these categorizations as only popular misunderstandings because they make up the core social-historical constructions of the Jewish identity.^[4]