H/t reader squodgy:
“It’s nice that he’s honest I guess.”
Gene Simmons says gentiles are for manual labor
22.05.2011
Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz in Haifa, Israel) expresses the Jewish opinion of Gentiles (non-Jews).
– Kiss’ Gene Simmons visits Israel after 51 years away (Examiner, March 24, 2011):
A famous sabra returnes home to Israel after leaving at the age of nine-year-old over half a century ago. The son of an impovrished Auschwitz death camp survivor, Chaim Witz returned to his birth country this week as mega-millionaire rock star and TV personality Gene Simmons.
“It’s amazing to be back here,” the 61- year-old co-founder of rock legend Kiss told The Jerusalem Post in Jerusalem’s David Citadel Hotel on Tuesday.
Simmons is visiting Israel with his long-time companion, Shannon Tweed, and their son, Nick, to film episodes of their reality show, Gene Simmons Family Jewels.
“One thing that’s striking is that I never remember seeing so many yarmulkes here. It’s all of a sudden teeming with hassidim – hassidim, but I don’t believe ’em,’ said Simmons, like a rapper. “I’m used to Israel as a secular place where people just are Israelis.
I much prefer it as a modern, not-so-archaic-looking place.”
Simmons is still adept at the Hebrew he learned as a child and responded in a broad American accent to a question of whether he still spoke the language, “Ken, aval shahachti hatzi hasafa (Yes, but I’ve forgotten half the language).”
YOu can read about Simmons’ rags-to-riches story and his family’s Holocaust history in The Jerusalem Post.
Although Kiss has never done a show in Israel, Simmons dismissed other entertainers who have chosen to boycott the country as “idiots.”
“As an American, there’s no choice but to be supportive of Israel,” he told The Jerusalem Post.
According to Simmons, Israel has been a source of pride for him ever since he left. “There ain’t no place like it on planet Earth. It’s astonishing that it’s still here – stronger and prouder than ever,” he said, adding that the recent upheavals in the Muslim world have filled him with hope for the future of Israeli-Arab ties.
“We went from being slaves in Egypt to actually having a peace treaty with the same people who enslaved us. And now, seeing those people rise up and want the same kinds of things that other democracies in the world have is astonishing,” he said.