Günter Grass

[Heteronym]

Eric, Dresden is a famous case study because since the end of World War II it's been hotly debated whether or not there was any point in bombing it, whether or not it served any military service. Some have argued it was nothing but a show of force by the Allies to show the Russians their military power. In the end, Dresden may have been a mere pawn in a geopolitical game that was already one step ahead of the efforts to beat Hitler. Also, your argument that bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki was ok because it won the war, is quite despicable. You seem to forget humans are capable of moral judgement, and even pragmatic actions will always be tinged with nuances liable to be interpreted as to whether or not they were morally right. And that brings me back to Israel: what Israel does may be necessary, but we can always debate whether it's right or not.

[Liam]

It surprises me how hotly and eagerly some people are willing to debate the question of Israel while bypassing altogether the issue(s) of Sudan, Iran, the zombie nation of North Korea and the sempiternal detention camp otherwise known as Fidel Castro's Cuba. You want to talk about Israel, fine, but fair's fair, let's debate and criticize all of the world's atrocious regimes of all stripes and colors. Why pick primarily on Israel? More people die of starvation in Africa daily than from Israel's so-called "aggression". Many Europeans are simply glad to channel their age-old anti-Semitism in a new direction because, OMG, this is OK now, and politically correct to boot. In any event, where are Saramago's comments about modern China? Where is Grass's poem about Zimbabwe? etc.

[Heteronym]

Does anyone actually support or defend these countries, though? Sudan, Iran, North Korea? And why should their attrocities silence Israel's crimes?

Cuba and China I'll concede still get support from some people; not by Saramago, who famously criticised Cuba for its persecution of homosexuals in his blog. But regarding China, I wouldn't be too worried about a few writers defending it or not, since, to paraphrase Bertrand Russell, writers are people of no consequence. I'm more worried about so-called democracies like the USA and the euro-zone members doing business with it, thus legitimizing it.

[Daniel del Real]

Does anyone actually support or defend these countries, though? Sudan, Iran, North Korea? And why should their attrocities silence Israel's crimes?

Thank you, that is all you needed to say. Agree.