Israel Broadens Bombing in Gaza to Civilian Sites

[Raksha]

112. I want to modify my previous response to your post.

Your quotation made me curious and I had never heard of the author, so I did a little googling and tracked down a PDF of the book you quoted from, You Gentiles by Maurice Samuels. The first pages intrigued me so much that without intending to, I read the whole book from beginning to end almost in one sitting.

His thesis is that there is a fundamental difference between Jews and gentiles that is NOT "cultural" but inherent, based on a combination of history, world-view and genetics. He doesn't try to get into the issue of causation, but bases his assertions on observation and insight.

I was blown away by his chutzpah in taking on the stereotypes head-on, but sympathetically and from a Jewish POV. I can't recall reading anything like it before, and when you consider that he was writing in 1924, and was acutely aware of the resurgence of anti-Semitism in Germany, his directness and courage (not to mention his insight) seem almost supernatural. Speaking as an assimilated but self-affirming Jew, as the author was also, I can say there were only a few places where he got it wrong, but they are insignificant compared with his accuracy in other areas.

The passage you quoted sounds more anti-Semitic or "self-hating" than it really is because of where you cut it off. It's the closing paragraph of the chapter called "We, the Destroyers" which focuses on the Jews in their role as revolutionaries and iconoclasts (those dirty commies!), in other words, specifically as destroyers of the Establishment.

We Jews, we, the destroyers, will remain the destroyers for ever. Nothing that you will do will meet our needs and demands. We will for ever destroy because we need a world of our own, a God-world, which it is not in your nature to build. Beyond all temporary alliances with this or that faction lies the ultimate split in nature and destiny, the enmity between the Game and God. But those of us who fail to understand that truth will always be found in alliance with your rebellious factions, until disillusionment comes. The wretched fate which scattered us through your midst has thrust this unwelcome role upon us.

Here's the link if anyone else wants to read it:
http://ia700403.us.archive.org/34/items/YouGentiles_414/YouGentiles_text.pdf