He commented that there are other communities where there is a lot of interesting evidence that suggest they might have Jewish ancestry. One is the Pathans (Pashtuns) of Afghanistan.
Michael indicated that in the Middle Ages there were certain Islamic travelers to that region that wrote about how the Pathans had a deeply rooted tradition that they were the Bene Israel, the sons of Israel.
They practiced many Jewish customs even after they had been converted to Islam. He said that many of their tribal family names are reminiscent of Israel tribal names – Raboni for Reuben, Shimoni for Simeon, etc.
Another example he shared are the Lemba tribe in Southern Zimbabwe.
This is a tribe that for years claimed Israelite ancestry. He said that no one really took it all that seriously.
He then heard years ago that geneticists identified what they called the Kohen gene which is a unique genetic mutation which is predominately found in Jewish priests.
The idea arose to then test the priestly family of the Lemba to see if they had the same genetic mutation, and indeed they shared the same genetic mutation as the Jewish Kohenim.