From Sderot, an Open Letter to Gunter Grass
Dear Mr. Grass,
In reaction to your recent poem, Israeli Minister of the Interior Eli Yishai has declared you persona non grata in Israel. While I can empathize with the feeling Yishai expressed by his action, he might also have considered it good for your education if you would visit Israel, and specifically the little town of Sderot, where I live and write. I will be delighted to show you around Sderot for some educational sightseeing. It might do you good. You worry about what Israel might do to Iran, but I will show you what Iran has done to Israel through her ally Hamas.
Our first stop will be a pleasant square in the middle of Sderot. A musical statue presides here. Behind the square stands an unusual structure: a huge, curving piece of concrete that stretches over a local school. A thousand years hence, this outlandish architecture will baffle archeologists excavating Sderot. No one will guess what function it might have fulfilled, unless written records of our time survive to explain this mystery. The curvaceous concrete is a huge bomb-shelter whose purpose is to prevent Hamas terrorists from killing the children who study in that school with the rockets they fire from across the border in the Gaza Strip. Iran, the country whose actions you equate to Israel’s, financially and militarily helps those murderers.
Our next stop will be a hole that a kassam rocket made in a Sderot street. Sderot has many holes to choose from. The municipality customarily fills in the central hole the rocket’s nose makes, so that people will be able to drive down that street, but they leave the smaller holes the shrapnel digs in the asphalt. Rockets landing in a public park or an open field generally just disappear after a few months. A home that gets a kassam through its roof is of course repaired. If shrapnel can dig such holes in asphalt, what does it do when it hits the face of a Sderot child?
I will take you, Mr. Grass, to one of the places where Hamas gave your Iranian friends a happy day. One of their rockets killed two Jewish children, immigrants from Ethiopia, who were playing together in a street. I know their family, but I doubt they would want to meet you. Another place we might visit is a courtyard where I spent an evening cleaning up the shards of broken windows that a kassam causes when it lands among buildings. I will show you where a child ran for cover when he heard the alarm, where the rocket detonated, and the shop to which this ten-year-old boy ran to call an ambulance after shrapnel hit him in his shoulder and his chest. He was lucky: he has and will have major problems using that arm. This is in contrast to our next stop, the child-victim struck here will spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.
During my research in Sderot I have interviewed many people whose lives Muslim terrorists have interrupted. Sderot’s tormentors chose to celebrate Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza by shooting at civilians in Israeli towns near the new border. My interviews here can be unpleasant to hear, although they also inspire by showing what the human spirit can endure. The people of Sderot continue to work and to live and build good lives for themselves and their families, although the rocket-scars they pass while walking down any street remind them of the danger under which they raise their children.
Some deal with the terror better than others: a little girl once wet her pants while her mother and I were discussing the effect the rockets had caused to her family.
Iran actively helps the Hamas radical Islamists, whose only regret about terrifying that little girl is that they did not kill her, her family, and all of her friends. The Iranian friends of Hamas are now working on bigger and better rockets that can carry the nuclear bombs Iran is developing. With these big rockets, the Iranians hope to achieve what the little rockets Hamas uses on Sderot cannot: the extermination of an entire people.
To counter this threat, Israel has purchased three nuclear-capable submarines from Germany, and is about to purchase three more. That a German company sells Israel the means to defend herself bothers you. However, your poem does not mention that other German firms have made huge fortunes selling Iran some of the equipment it uses to build its nuclear capability.
Moslem countries employ a simple thing to keep people such as Gunter Grass in check they have somebody issue a fatwa or bounty on the person’s head. Maybe it is time for us to learn from our enemies.
Sometimes a hearty, ” Go F–k yourself “, and a healthy smack in the mouth are really all thats required.
Yes. It is a nice thing, and a sure marker of spiritual greatness, that the Jewish people will argue a point rather than just kick your ass, which they can easily do.
It just hasn’t worked out very well, has it? The ass-kicking is usually what it takes. Especially against primitive cultures, which equate pacifism with weakness.
Anti-semitism is a disease of the soul and the mind. One cannot ” dialogue ” with an anti-semite. Only force works.
Tragic piece. Thank you.
If we lived in a free Country your letter would be on the first page of every newspaper tomorrow morning.
Unfortunately, here in America, we have a president who wrote in his ghostwritten autobiography, that if push comes to shove he will side with the muslims. Not that there was any doubt about that. If Hussein Obama gets another 4 years and has more ‘flexibility’ on the arab-Israeli conflict, what whould we expect? I pray and fear for the future of our closest ally. when babbling leftist nitwits like G.Grass spout their nonsense, like so many other ‘progressive’ elitists, it mainly impresses the academic anti-semitic ‘educated’ elite, but may have little effect on policy. I.e. does Merkel care? However, we have a closet muslim in the whitehouse, and he does make policy. And Mr Grass, as odeous as he may be is probably tame compared to the legions of Jew haters in his cabinet and justice dept.
Things look tough for Israel right now. The Obama supported Arab spring is headed toward permanant Islamic winter, and his limp-wristed weakness would be comical if it wasn’t so serious. The Islamists feared Bush; they laugh at Obama. And if the Kenyan Klown gets another term, he will stand by and pretend to wring his hands as Iran tries to finish Hitler’s project. He loathes the Jews and will no longer hide it if reelected .
Great piece and the personal level that it takes makes it much more effective as a n explanation of the current circumstances. What a lot of folks around the world but especially here in the US don’t realize is that the president has a big influence on the opinions of many people and national leaders. Obama has been such a back stabbing “Friend” to Israel that one wonders what an enemy would look like. If any of you are Jews and even THINK of voting for Obama next time you are a member of Hamas or Hezbollah. These brave and courageous people are an example to us all and deserve our respect and assistance. Shalom!
Years ago when Grass was considered hip and the cutting edge of modern lit I read several of his books. At the time I was not impressed but I did not realize till later what a bunch of trivial excrement they were. The literature he produced was just run of the mill Euro marxists trash; he hated the USA; he hated the new West German state; he hated the socalled bourgeosie although there was no one more bourgeoise than Grass. He is a narcisstic bag of wind and the fact that he was considered a great writer of his time is proof of the decadence of the West. When his nazi past later came to light it all came together he was a crypto nazi hater. He is not worth the time of day to be cognizant of his existence.
Beautifully stated. My heart weeps for my Jewish friends. I wish we would see your piece printed all over the world, it makes such a clear point. Thank you.
Rockets from moon god worshipers murdering Jewish children hardly gets in the news. However, let some SS agents get some tail, and it is the end of the world.
I’ll bet Grass loves this world system. It is the only way to explain his insanity.
In an article concerning Gunter Grass, perhaps you should not abbreviate Secret Service.
The chickens are coming home to roost. Antisemitism is making its inevitable comeback–and it’s the Left that’s bringing it back. Whoever thought we had reached the “end of history” is in for a rude surprise. Before long it’s going to be cool to be antisemitic again, and the faux justification will be the Palestinian cause. Strange times we are living in.
“before long”? oh, it’s already here. it IS in fact fashionable to be anti-Semitic, except the game is they just don’t call it “anti-Semitism.” they talk about “disproportionate force” and “apartheid” and say they are simply want the Palestinians to be treated fairly…
but of course that’s all BS.
at least Gunter Grass is a proud and open Jew-hating Nazi. no equivocation there!
compare, for example, my daughter’s college professor. who told the class to check out IfAmericaKnew. this is the vile website that aggregates all the fictions about the Jewish State in an attempt to make American mad enough to stop supporting Israel. HE’s not an anti-Semite: no he is merely a teacher trying to educate his students. yeah right.
Why are you surprised that it is the left that is leading the anti-Semitic charge?
After all it is totally logical that the left is antisemitic given that Karl Marx, a virulent Jew hater, is the GOD of the left.
And is it not the goal of the left to destroy capitalism? Well yes it is. Which is why the left has always sought to destroy the USA (and the Marxist Leninist Obama is well on his way via bankrupting the USA), and of course the allies of the USA.
There is simply no doubt that if Israel was an ally of N.Korea or Cuba, Israel would be the most celebrated nation on earth.
Yes, many within Lenin’s inner circle were individuals of jewish heritage (I refer to them as “fallen jews” because their true religion was Marxism and because they had contempt for the jewish religion), but the communist way is that “the ends justifies the means.” Stalin took the first step in exterminating all of Lenin’s inner circle. Stalin died before he has the chance to totally and completely exterminate every single last jew living in the Soviet Union.
The left uses and discards any and all groups when their “usefulness” expires. Israel, a bastion of liberty in the ME, and friend of the USA, no longer is useful to the leftist goal of enslaving the people of the world.
Why would an old Nazi care how much damage Hamas has inflicted? He would dance in the rubble.
B’H
My answer to Gunther Grass is as follows
Answering Gunther Grass
Gunther better you are silent
Gunther stay silent, let your works collect dust
If you seek to speak lies and betray the trust
About what is obvious truth
The question remains, what has your nation really survived?
Apart a megalomaniac’s vision for a new world
Which left an unfinished thesis of human destruction
In volumes on human suffering for not one, but many nations.
Does not one have the right, when a sword hovers over one’s head
To at least kick the holder right in the balls
(perhaps, groin is more ladylike) for maximum effectiveness
Given that no one wants to come to your aid
Despite your smaller size, therefore you must play dirty
If the other side will not umpire a fair game.
And it is to the world’s shame because we all want the same
A righteous peace and no more innocent blood to stain
The soil of both foreign and birth lands.
You can speak the name Israel if you speak truly
But when you seek to speak lies
The G-D of truth blocks your eyes, stops your mouth,
Because you have stopped your ears to the cries
Of the oppressed peoples in countries ruled by the cruel
Who would twist, destroy and treat as fools
Those who write what they are told
As the ‘loudmouth’ states in bold type
What others like yourself, think
In silent lines unwritten, the thread of deceit is there
For those who care to see, carefully oh, so carefully concealed.
Yes, you do forbid yourself, because you know
That lies are too easy to see through
And do you know for certain what is proven and what is not?
You are only bound by what you want and not in truth
Go, go, go and in peace
Your last ink tells only half the tale.
Does Israel threaten destruction of any country?
Do its leaders rant and pound the lectern
Calling for an Arab Winter to descend,
Do they call for the death of all Islamic Peoples?
Or all Christians, despite what has been visited on their nation
Over several millennia
By many who would call themselves
Good Muslims or good Christians?
And it must also be said
That today it is over half a century too late to say
That the blood of six million and more cries out,
A loud echo through history books unless revised by those
Who seek to expunge the magnitude of their nation’s crimes.
Those rewriters of history who seek to take away the right of self defense
The only crime of the defenseless is to fight back
And you fail to see your own hypocrisies
You present only a part of the greater picture
As did Chamberlain so long ago and others who appeased the war machine
Disarmed those who would defend their countries.
You seek fame and notoriety
With your last ink, you stink
Muttering senile musings on that which you know naught
A dabbler in history, you urinate noisily on a tree
Failing to see the forest and landscape that surrounds you.
Perhaps your silence at this stage would be wise
Before we expose all your lies
http://leedsi-ilana.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/answering-gunther-grass.html
Its a pity that although Israel purports to be a modern democracy, they still can’t come to terms with the “free speech” thing. Mr Grass has no intention of going to Israel, but Israeli democracy is poorer for it.
et tu Brutus. And just how is Israel poorer for not having that anti-Semite go to Israel. The real pity is your false judgmental conclusion. Your “free speech” thing statement shows your pure ignorance of how Israeli democracy works. It is the most tolerant venue in the world allowing all points of view including those who would destroy it.
You may have the right to say a thing, but that does not mean that I have an obligation to approve of it, or that I may not judge you by what you choose to say. Even free speech has consequences.
Grass does not live in Israel, and therefore free speech is not the issue here.
Israel have enough enemies from within, and prefers not to have another one.
What GG wrote is NOT criticism. It’s bashing.
Yes, well isn’t funny that other “democracies” like England, make a person like Michael Savage persona non grata for criticizing Islam and I don’t see much outrage over that.
Bingo !
The lefties defend “freedom of speech” only if the speech is against True religiosity, Christianity, Judaism – and the Jewish People – and Israel, or the free economy.
Israel is “poorer” for declaring an antisemite former SS “persona non grata” ? What the lefties will say next, that Eichmann should have been accepted as a presidential candidate in Israel ?
B’h
Brutus you do make most of us laugh. Of course, if Gunther Grass wants to take issue with the human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia we would not hear a peep from him because he would be deep in the bowels of the ‘justice’ system there. Not much ‘free’ speech there and in many parts of Europe, especially when Sharia law takes effect. Free Speech – I doubt you know the meaning of the term.
I’ve been doing a bit of reading about Islam and the Quran. From what little I’ve read, everything being taught in modern Islam is totally against the writings in the Quran. After Mohammad died there were thousands of hadaths collected and are being used for daily Muslim living and teachings even though at least a half a dozen hadaths were about Mohammad saying that hadaths should not be kept. There are even more Ayas in the Quran speaking of friendship and even kinship between the people of Islam and the people of Israel as well as Christians. Most of the Ayas about war and jihad were about past events or were directed specifically at Mohammad and have no meaning in a modern society. There are also Ayas speaking of forbidding people from trying to portray themselves as “partners of Allah. In other words trying to say they are blessed by or working for the good of Allah and so they shouldn’t be questioned. I believe the word used in the Quran was shirk. It is also interesting to point out there is nothing in the Quran about Sharia law or Islamic governments. There is however, quite a bit about free will and not forcing religion by coercion. There is also an Aya about minding your own business.
Now, where in all that does anyone get the idea that dropping rockets on a Jewish town is a good idea? Next time you hear someone yelling jihad, shout back shirk!!! They may not know what you are talking about but it might confuse them long enough to get a shot off. (According to the Quran, Muslims are easily confused!)
Maybe what you say about Islam is true, but we would all like to live in a perfect world. Unfortunately, we are stuck with the imperfect one we have now. The goal of Islam is world domination. It has been that since it was formed. Moslems are people, all others are infidels. They are to either be coverted, killed, or maybe left alive to be second class citizens. All means are legal to attain this goal. THAT is Islam.
Why not play him “Tseva Adom” (Hebrew for color red, the alarm that goes off when a qassam is launched), with random time intervals, for a few month. Each time he has 15 SECONDS to run for shelter. If he’s late, well, let your imagination work.
I strongly doubt that any of those will change GG’s mind, though
I wouldn’t worry too much about Gunter Grass. Soon enough he will be dead like the rest of the Nazi era generation. I would be more concerned with the people of Sderot.
One of the things that increases stress is when people have to passively endure hardship without any way to do anything about it. My modest proposal would be to provide the people of Sderot with a way to respond to Kazam rockets from Gaza with more than a siren that warns them to get into the shelters. I suggest that artillery pieces be stationed in and around Sderot and that during and up to 12 hours after a rocket attack those artillery pieces should be manned by army reservists from Sderot acting much like the volunteer fire fighters in many towns.
If missile firing teams in Gaza can be detected before they have launched, so much the better. Send text messages to the smart phones of all the reservists telling them the locations of the rocket teams and see if they can take out the rocket teams before the air force gets there.
It is my contention that being able to respond to or prevent the rocket launches or watching their neighbors rush off to do so will be good for the mental health of the people of Sderot albeit at the cost of some peace of mind for the Gazans living near Kazam rocket launch sites.
“Former SS men in particular are spectacularly ineligible to serve on that jury.”
Well said.
In every society, there are always a few who can not find the forest for the trees. Gunter Grass is one of them. Say a prayer for him. Perhaps he’ll learn where the forest is some day –but I wouldn’t count on it.
The only problem I see with this whole scenario is a suicidally crazy Iranian elite bound and determined to get one nuke into Tel Aviv. The future looks scary to me.
Great Article Mr Farer!
I think that counter-arguing with the likes of SS Schutze-Scheisse Gunther Grass is a big mistake. Actually, arguing with any dogmatic leftist, or islamist, or anti-semite, or a pro-Fakestinian useful-idiot is a big mistake. Such people have no interest in facts, or logical arguments. The only way to handle them is to scare them to the point that they won’t dare arguing with you.
I went through such experience back in March 1990, three days after 14 Fakestinians were shot by Israeli Border Police on Temple Mount during a very violent riot. Few days afterwards I visited a German company on a business trip and got into an argument with one of their employees who (turns out) was an extreme lefty. He accused Israel (through me) of murdering “hundreds” of Palestinians during that riot. My answer to him was that he should tone down his infinite optimism, because only 14 were killed…Since that day he was afraid to even look in my direction.
Actually, whenever asked by foreign business associates where I stand on the Middle Eastern conflict, I quote John Le Care (I think it comes from “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”) that I stand “to the right of Genghis Khan”. No one dare argue with me afterwards.
I therefore reiterate – no application of logic or facts into the argument, no apologies, treat them with the contempt they deserve, disrupt them whenever they try to speak (use their weapon), don’t bother with free speech, it does not apply to them.
Thank you.
I have just come to the conclusion (a bit belatedly, I admit) that not everyone is able to maintain a coherent, intelligent, mature discussion. I also have begun to face them down, but do not bother engaging in discussions. I save those for people who are genuinely interested in learning and sharing- those discussions are the most productive, on both sides.
Silence is consent. Polite refusal to engage can be seen, therefore, as agreement. Thank you for pushing back.
Oy, David, how have you come to the extraordinary conclusion that Herr Grass wishes to learn something new?
Left-wing crackpots like Grass are a waste of skin.
You don’t try to educate the terminally stupid as it just makes you look stupid for trying.
Gunter Grass was a member of the panzer SS toward the end of the war. He was a gunner in a tank. He volunteered for military duty. The SS did conscript soldiers toward the end of the war but they only conscripted men who had volunteered for military duty. Panzer Grenadier Grass had a key position in a tank crew. The sole raison d’etre of a tank is to get into position to bear its gun on a target and destroy it. The gunner has to be reliable, loyal and committed. PanzerGrenadier Grass was a committed, loyal Nazi warrior. He hid this fact for many decades. His opinions now are of a piece with his past history. I have no point, other than to list some facts that some people might not know or might choose to ignore.