I truly thought that I was done with writing about the statements issued by Guenter Grass, the German Author and Nobel Price winner. I honestly thought that the whole thing was too stupid for further discussion, and that, in the Blog below, I said everything that needs to be said.
However two further issues have come up which I feel need to be addressed:
A German Newspaper, during an interview with GG asked if, in light of the uproar his comments caused, he would change anything in his poem?
"Yes", GG replied: "I would avoid the general term "Israel". I should have made it clear that I was speaking about the Politics of the current government of Israel, lead by Mr. Netanyahu. Politics which, despite UN resolutions to the contrary, continues to build settlements in disputed areas, thereby creating more enemies for the state of Israel the world over and causing its isolation.
It is Mr. Netanjahu who damages Israel the most and this I should have brought out in my poem."
Isn't it just priceless? All of a sudden GG turns into the great friend who regrets the "isolation" of Israel from the rest of the world. It seems that now his only enemy is Mr. Netanjahu.
No more talk of Israel being the "Great Atomic Danger to World Peace", no more mention of the atomic submarine sold to Israel by Germany, no more pathetic utterances like "Why do I only now speak, aged and with my last ink?
Now it becomes the building of settlements on lands claimed by the Palestinians..... a far far far cry from the potential eradication of the people of Iran and a still further cry from the destruction of world peace.
Anyway I look at it I wonder: How can an experienced Man of the Pen be so slovenly that he writes about atomic power when he actually means house building? Or did he mean both? Then how can he equate one with the other? I think the world can handle some illegal developments, while it probably cannot handle the destruction of world peace and the ensuing WW 3.
I think that GG has truly lost it... If not his marbles than surely the respect of his many former admirers.
Now we hear from his defenders: Iran has no atomic weapons, but Israel does;
Ahmadinejad never spoke of the destruction of Israel. People making this claim should check up what Ahmed.said on 8th, 13th December 2005, on 26th October 2005 he spoke of the need that "Israel must be wiped off the map"... On November 13th 2006: "Israel is destined for destruction and will soon disappear"
A little research and you'll find more and more of the same litany.
Let it be said: Anyone who downplays the danger emanating from Iran is in a state of Reality Refusal.
So there... put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Bertstravels.
1 comment:
So Herr Grass speaks out of the same two mouths out of which he accuses the West of speaking? Nothing new there.
His essay/poem was archetypal for its use of a very common method of argument, to wit, answering certain objections before they're expressed in rebuttal. He derides any association with antisemitism when no such association would have been made based on a straightforward reading of his essay. That is the sign of someone who is, at least, uncomfortable with his feelings.
Israel is guilty of a lot of things. A succession of politicians and military leaders built a wall of isolation both literally and figuratively. It is criticized roundly for attacks on its neighbours. On the other hand, few observers care, much less write or report, about daily rocket attacks into Israeli settlements which have been going on for years and years.
When Egypt, Iran, Syria and Lebanon attacked Israel so many years ago, many rushed to Israel's support, but few criticised or chastised the Egyptians, Lebanese, Iranians and Syrians. After the attackers lost the fight, after Israeli forces pushed them back past some of their original borders, somehow the passage of time turned the captured areas into "disputed lands". So what the attackers wanted was a free hand to attack and destroy Israel, but at the same time didn't want to suffer any consequences for their abortive attacks? This is arrogance and hatred at its most vile and base. It continues to this day. Herr Grass has made himself into a fool.
Let Herr Grass spend a few months in the area - to walk a mile in Israeli shoes so to speak - before he opens his mouth again and before he puts pen to paper on the subject again.
Despite the foregoing apparent support for Israel, I have no love for the state of Israel - not as a Jew and not as a lover of individual freedom and human rights. As far as I'm concerned, antisemitism will be with us for a very long time to come, and the state of Israel merely paints a large bullseye on an area densely populated by Jewish people. The Jewish people have survived millennia of persecution and it has not stopped - the persecution or the survival.
The Diaspora has a lot to recommend it. After all, you should never put too many of your eggs in one basket.
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