[Leo Bello]

Originally posted on 09/26/2011:

American

My people want me to go back to Tel Aviv but I like it here

Fishhead many Jews in Vegas

When I lived and worked in Vegas (1969-73), I believe there were only two synagogues. Today I think there are 5 or 8 (I forget). No, not all Jews are white, and, no, not all Jews are rich. To be Jewish is not a race. To be accepted as an Israeli citizen you must be either born of a Jewish mother or converted in the Orthodox manner. Amazingly, there are Ethiopian Jews who are black, and yes, they suffer prejudice from the "white" Jews. The first 5 or 10 Popes of the Catholic church were "Jewish." When Catholics go to church and receive communion and say something like "Christ broke the bread and gave to this disciples....." I wonder if they realize they were participating in a Jewish seder, and Christ did not break bread, but he broke matzoh and distributed it to his disciples. I don't think there are any other people on earth who have been so persecuted and set upon than the Jews, yet the great majority still choose the "high road" and are decent, practice the higher moral road, and make the human race better for their existence. Are there thieves, murderers, gangsters, greedy bastards? Sure there are. But no more than any other peoples. Are all Italians in the Mafia? God no! But regarding the Jewish people,over and over in the Bible it is stated, "I shall bless those that bless thee, and I will curse those that curse thee." Does JJ love Israel? Of course he does, and he should. But he is an American, pays his taxes, and would fight and defend the United States at all costs. Thousands of Jewish boys left their blood on the battlefields of Europe during WW II. It was a Jew who took the famous photograph of the raising of the flag on Mount Surabachi at Iwo Jima. It was a Jew who during the Revolutionay War gave so much money to George Washington and the Continental Army that it drove him into bankruptcy, from which he never recovered. And if you think Israel's plight is easy, all Americans got a taste of what it is like to be hated just because you are somebody a little different when they flew two planes into the World Trade Center and nearly 3,000 people were killed. Israel has lived this kind of tortured existence since its inception. There is good and evil in all people, with no one having a monopoly. Hey, and on a lighter note, if it were not for Lefty Rosenthal maybe we wouldn't have all the sportbooks in Vegas like we do. I'm not bullshipping you when I say I did work for him for a year and a half. He was the first to hire female blackjack dealers. I remember the first was a gorgeous redhead from Amarillo, Texas.