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Notes -
Painting the Jews as historical winners is definitely a take.
I wouldn't go that far, but I stand by my position that those who decide to try to persecute Jews don't tend to have great things to show for it.
(Although post WWII, you could argue they have been historical winners, which is arguably more relevant for deciding whether going to war against them is a great idea).
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They're still around, in recognizable form even, and there are few from Western or Middle-Eastern antiquity who can say that. (East Asia has had a lot more continuity though.)
How many Latins have you seen around lately? Even though they were the founders of Rome and nobody tried to genocide them (well, not anymore than anyone else back in the day), by the time of Augustus they were already gone and forgotten as a people and a culture, and nothing of theirs survived. The only thing that has endured in some form is their language. Rome still exists, but its people have been entirely genetically replaced several times over, just by people moving in and out.
Meanwhile the Jews have maintained their distinct culture and even genetics, even though they were in exile for give or take 2000 years.
Ashkenazi Jews are descendants of a founder population that was apparently half-Italian, half-Jewish, so it’s not like there hasn’t been assimilation there too.
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