Just been reading a bit about the Samaritans.
No, not the professionals that answer phone calls of depressed people ... the ethno-religious people of Israel and The West Bank (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samaritans).
They claim to be descended from the Israelite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. This would make them Israelites but not Jews (strictly speaking, Jews are people who are from the Kingdom of Judah).
For many years some Jewish people dismissed the claims of Samaritans, instead suggesting that Samaritans were descended from unrelated people whom the Babylonian empire transplanted to Palestine/The Levant.
From what the Wiki article says, it seems scientific studies support the Samaritans' claims of heritage, at least along the male lineages.
Those Samaritans living in Israel speak modern Hebrew and those living in The West Bank speak Palestinian Arabic; they number about 800 in total.
Israel recently recognised them as a distinct ethnic group.
I find it fascinating that a group of people today are seemingly the descendants of a people spoken about in the gospels (i.e. the parable of the good Samaritan).
I hadn't really given these people any thought before.