Apr 24, 2012 -- 4:32AM, NahumS wrote:

I don't think any Israeli's are enthusiastic about an attack on Iran. If we were, it would have happened already. If it is carried out, it will only be done when the feeling is that there is no choice.

The Iranian threat is clear. They have been very open about their desire to wipe us off the map - and now they are gaining the capability to do so. That must be prevented, one way or another.

The question remains as to the repercussions for Israel and the region.

Naturally Iranian Jews feel empathy for their former neighbors. Many left Iran when Israel had good relations with the Shah's gov't, before fanatical Islamic forces took over.

On the other hand, seen in historical perspective, Jewish life in Iran over the centuries was hardly idyllic. Pogroms and forced conversion (in Meshad,  for example) were not unknown - and not so very different from eastern Europe. Like in many places, persecution of Jews had its ebbs and flows, sometimes better and sometimes worse.

While the Holocaust took place in Europe, Muslims were involved as well. The Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al Husseini,  was an ardent supporter of Hitler and the "Final Solution" and recruited Bosnian Serbs to aid the Nazis murder Jews. Most of the Arab regimes were pro-German. A recent book "Among the Righteous" details how some Muslims risked their lives to save Jews in North Africa when the Nazis occupied those countries. Fairly parallell to Europe.

Ultimately, that is the story of the Jewish people in the Diaspora. Vulnerability, bouts of persecution interspersed with beneficence, flare-ups of violence.

As to G.G. - Israel's response was heavy-handed and stupid. His Nazi past should have been pointed out and his fashionable anti-Israel sentiments ridiculed. Banning him from the country was counter-productive and inappropriate. I doubt if anyone here would have invited him to speak here in a university or literary setting, and that would have been enough. His own idiocy would marginalize him.

>>>>>>> Again I feel Herr Grass criticised Israel for it's policies of land grab.

Even couple of days ago the STATE OF ISRAEL added more lands in Palestinian territory to it's own. Who needs terror groups when you have army to do the dirty job?

Whenever Palestinians says they want to sit down to solve disputes between them, Israel adds to "Mother of all disputes" right around that time.

Such timing was seen once again. Which begs the question of if Israel was ever sincere about peace!

One can say whatever they want to say about Herr Grass but he is making a point to those who "Aid Israel to keep up with such immoral policies" (And expect friendship in returns??)....

Herr Grass is facing huge criticism in US for his "Poetry" which criticized Germany and Israel. Here is an article on this issue

Günter Grass, Israel and the crime of poetry