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- Several groups claim they descend from the ancient Israelites. The issue has been especially relevant since the establishment of the State of Israel and an individual or a group's request to immigrate to Israel under its Law of Return. In that context, claims of affiliation with the Israelites give rise to questions of "who is a Jew?" Some of these claims have been recognized, while other claims are still under review and other claims have been rejected. There were numerous events in Jewish history which forced the Jews to leave the Land of Israel and compelled them to disperse throughout the world. The most significant of these events are recorded in the Hebrew Bible and they propelled entire Jewish and pre-Judaic Israelite communities out of the Land of Israel. These events include the fall of the northern Kingdom of Israel in about the 720s BCE to the Neo-Assyrian Empire and the southern Kingdom of Judah in 586 BCE to the Neo-Babylonian Empire, but there have been other events and periods when Israelites left the Land, either as individuals or in groups. These diaspora communities came into existence (sometimes voluntarily) as a result of Jews and Israelites fleeing the land before the onslaught of invading forces, because of forced deportations, or because of enslavement. Some families or even some whole communities were forced to move from one country to another because of persecutions, and other families or communities ceased to exist. Although some form of contact had been maintained between most of the mainstream Jewish communities in the diaspora over the millennia, contact had been lost with some Jewish communities, and as a result, they came to be regarded as lost by the mainstream Jewish communities. As a result of the isolation of some Jewish communities, their practices and observances have diverged in some respects. Several groups of people from diverse parts of the world have claimed to be affiliated with or descended from the ancient Israelites. Some claim this affiliation on the basis of affinity with the Jewish people, while other groups claim this affiliation independent of this affinity. It is accepted that the Jews and the Samaritans are descendants of the ancient Israelites. (en)
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