SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — Germans have become markedly more critical of Israel over the past three years, with 59 percent describing it as aggressive, a new survey says.
A similar survey in 2009 found 49 percent of Germans considered Israel aggressive.
The German Forsa institute conducted the 2012 poll by telephone from May 15 to 18 among a sample of 1,000 adults.
The survey found that 70 percent of Germans also agree with the statement that Israel pursues its interests without consideration for other nations. Three years ago, 59 percent agreed.
On April 4, German Nobel laureate in literature Gunter Grass published a poem calling Israel a threat to world peace and criticizing Western hypocrisy over Israel’s nuclear arsenal.
In the poem, entitled "What Must Be Said," which was published in Germany's Suddeutsche Zeitung, Grass expressed concern over the consequences of Israel’s threats to attack Iran.
Israel is the sole possessor of the nuclear weapons in the Middle East and it has never allowed inspections of its nuclear facilities nor has it joined the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) based on its policy of nuclear ambiguity.
According to a survey conducted in 2011 by the Berlin-based Friedrich Ebert Foundation, more than 50 percent of Europeans believe Israel is the most serious threat to global security. —www.shafaqna.com
