[Kevin Andrew Murphy]

Dan,

Stating that some Jews are not ethnically very Semitic is hardly crackpot stuff. Between adoptions, conversion, intermarriage, and kids begat on the lefthand side of the bed, you can easily have someone whose percentage of actual ethnic Semitic ancestry is equivalent to my percentage of Irish ancestry--my father's father's father's father's father's father may have been Irish, but me? Apart from the name, not so much.

As for Zogby and Deshowitz, interestingly enough, I was watching the same segment on CNN. Only a portion, but what Zogby was saying sounded like good sense, but I thought Deshowitz sounded absolutely batshit. Ancestry-wise, judging from skin tone, facial features and baldness pattern, Deshowitz looked Eastern European Jewish, whereas Zogby looked like he comes from the Eastern Mediterranean.

As for red hair, you don't need to be a Celt to have that. There are plenty of red haired Italians (Titian red anyone?), Greeks, Jews, Egyptians and so on. Just went and looked up a picture of Amin Al Husseini. Celtic? Hardly. But judging by his facial features from the one grainy photo I found, I'd peg him as Turkish or somewhere in that neighborhood.

I have a degree in anthropology and human morphology is something of a hobby of mine.