Speaking to Italian newspaper La Repubblica over the weekend, prize-winning Israeli author David Grossman expressed his support for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s position on the Iranian nuclear program.
As quoted in the Israeli daily Israel Hayom, Grossman – an outspoken critic of Netanyahu and his policies – said, “Iran threatens the entire world; this time Netanyahu is right.”
Grossman had harsh words for the American position led by President Barack Obama, terming the American approach toward Iran’s nuclear program “criminal naiveté.” He emphasized that he does not want Netanyahu to win the elections on March 17, but said that world leaders should listen to Netanyahu on this matter just the same.
The author, whose son was killed during the Second Lebanon War in 2006, said that Netanyahu’s speech last week in the US Congress might end up being a “tragic mistake,” but its content was correct.
Iran’s nuclear plans are “an expanding danger in the region which could soon pose a threat not just to Israel but to the entire free world. We need to listen to Netanyahu,” the writer said.
One of Grossman’s three children, Uri, was an IDF Armored Corps fighter when he fell in the course of duty. It happened only two days after the author and two other outspoken writers – Amos Oz and A. B. Yehoshua – held a press conference in which they demanded that Israel’s government accept a ceasefire in Lebanon.
Two months later, Grossman delivered the keynote speech at the memorial rally for former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, in which he sharply and famously criticized the Likud leadership.
The renowned author told the Italian newspaper, “what Netanyahu says about Iran and the destructive part it is playing in the Middle East cannot and should not be ignored. He is right when he says that according to the emerging deal there is nothing to prevent the Iranians from developing a nuclear bomb once the deal expires in another 10 years, and on this matter there is no difference in Israel between Left and Right.”
