Gunter Grass: Poem critical of Netanyahu's Iran policy, not Israel

Gunter Grass: Poem critical of Netanyahu's Iran policy, not Israel
Apr 28, 2012 19:09
MARRIE Points: Join Date: Jan 7, 2008 Status: offline	Remarks during interview with German newspaper come as Iran official says Nobel laureate beautifully carried out his human and historical responsibility. By Ofer Aderet and The Associated Press Nobel literature laureate Gunter Grass, who is under fire for a poem that criticizes Israel, has told German media that he was singling the Israeli government, not the country as a whole. In the poem published in European dailies earlier this week, the 84-year-old German author criticized what he described as Western hypocrisy over Israel's nuclear program and labeled the country a threat to "already fragile world peace" over its stance on Iran. He's since been accused of anti-Semitism, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rebuked his views as "ignorant and objectionable." In an interview published Saturday by the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Grass says he sought foremost to single out the policies of "Netanyahu's current government." In an interview published Saturday by the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Grass says he sought foremost to single out the policies of "Netanyahu's current government." "It's that which I criticize, a policy that keeps building settlements despite a UN resolution. I'm criticizing a policy which is creating more and more enemies for Israel and is increasingly isolating it," Grass said. The German writer added that Netanyahu was the person who did Israel the most harm, saying he "should have added that to the poem."

Apr 28, 2012 19:09

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Remarks during interview with German newspaper come as Iran official says Nobel laureate beautifully carried out his human and historical responsibility.

By Ofer Aderet and The Associated Press

Nobel literature laureate Gunter Grass, who is under fire for a poem that criticizes Israel, has told German media that he was singling the Israeli government, not the country as a whole.

In the poem published in European dailies earlier this week, the 84-year-old German author criticized what he described as Western hypocrisy over Israel's nuclear program and labeled the country a threat to "already fragile world peace" over its stance on Iran.

He's since been accused of anti-Semitism, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rebuked his views as "ignorant and objectionable."

In an interview published Saturday by the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Grass says he sought foremost to single out the policies of "Netanyahu's current government."

In an interview published Saturday by the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Grass says he sought foremost to single out the policies of "Netanyahu's current government."

"It's that which I criticize, a policy that keeps building settlements despite a UN resolution. I'm criticizing a policy which is creating more and more enemies for Israel and is increasingly isolating it," Grass said.

The German writer added that Netanyahu was the person who did Israel the most harm, saying he "should have added that to the poem."

Apr 28, 2012 19:11

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The Nobel laureate's comments came after on Thursday Gras said he his poem was misunderstood, saying in an interview with a German public broadcaster that the"overall tenor is to not engage in the content of the poem, but instead to wage a campaign against me and to claim that my reputation is damaged forever."

Also on Saturday, a senior Iranian official praised Grass for his controversial poem, saying he has beautifully carried out his human and historical responsibility.

In a letter published by the semiofficial Fars news agency, Iranian Deputy Culture Minister Javad Shamaqdari said the 84-year-old poet's revelation of "truth may awaken the silent conscience" of the West.

However, the Iranian officials wasn't the only one supporting Grass' critical words on Saturday, as officials in the far-right German faction NPD wrote on the party's website that "Grass broke the taboo when he criticized the Jewish state's aggressive policy."

The Nobel laureate also received backing from Wolfgang Gehrcke, a German parliament member on behalf of the left-wing party Die Linke, who said: "He's right."

Apr 28, 2012 19:15	#2
MARRIE Points: Join Date: Jan 7, 2008 Status: Offline	Support Gunter Grass! No matter what German sensitivities and its history are, he is fighting injustice.

Apr 30, 2012 17:56	#3
WANHU Points: Join Date: Feb 20, 2007 Status: Offline	There are laws in the West passed, antisemitism. Wan

May 12, 2012 13:08	#4
MARRIE Points: Join Date: Jan 7, 2008 Status: Offline	It's the balance that brings us the cure. Here is the poem of Gunter Grass in English version. What must be said Why did I remain silent, silent so long, about something so clear we used in war games, where, as survivors, we are just the footnotes? That is the claimed right to the formal preventive aggression which could erase the Iranian people dominated by a bouncer and moved to an organized jubilation, because in the area of his competence there is the construction of the atomic bomb. And then why do I avoid myself to call the other country with its name, where since years – even if secretly covered - there is an increasing nuclear power, without control, because unreachable by every inspection? I feel the everybody silence on this state of affairs, which my silence is slave to, as an oppressive lie and an inhibition that presents punishment we don’t pay attention to; the verdict “anti-Semitism” is common.
MARRIE Points: Join Date: Jan 7, 2008 Status: Offline	Last edited by MARRIE: May 12, 2012 13:13

May 12, 2012 13:10

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Now, since my country,
from time to time touched by unique and exclusive crimes,
obliged to justify itself,
again for pure business aims - even if
with fast tongue we call it “reparation” -
should deliver another submarine to Israel,
with the specialty of addressing
annihilating warheads where the
existence of one atomic bomb is not proved
but it wants evidence as a scarecrow,
I say what must be said.

Why did I stay silent until now?
Because the thought about my origin,
burdened by an unclearing stain,
had avoiding to wait this fact
like a truth declared by the State of Israel
that I want to be connected to.

Why did I say it only now,
old and with the last ink:
the nuclear power of Israel
threat the world peace?
Because it must be said
what tomorrow will be too late;
Because - as Germans and with
enough faults on the back -
we might also become deliverers of a predictable
crime, and no excuse would erase our complicity.

And I admit: I won’t be silent
because I had enough of the Western hypocrisy;
Because I wish that many will want
to get rid of the silence,
exhorting the cause of a recognizable
risk to the abdication, asking that a free and permanent control
of the Israel atomic power
and the Iran nuclear bases
will be made by both the governments
with an international supervision.

May 12, 2012 13:11	#6
MARRIE Points: Join Date: Jan 7, 2008 Status: Offline	Only in this way, Israelis, Palestinians, and everybody, all people living hostile face to face in that country occupied by the craziness, will have a way out, so us too. Translation by Alessandro Ghebreigziabiher The News (Haaretz): German Nobel laureate Gunter Grass' new poem: Nuclear Israel is a threat to world peace.

May 17, 2012 00:33	#7
WANHU Points: Join Date: Feb 20, 2007 Status: Offline	Something for us to ponder. Wan

May 17, 2012 08:18

GUEST13063

Marrie,
You make me laugh. If your point is to denounce ISRAEL, why don't you just say it.
Look, unless you live the life of an Israeli, under pressure from hundreds of millions muslims, you can't really judge their moves.
The leaders of Iran publically plan to wipe Israel off the map, and you're reading Gunter Grass's poems and talking about peace?
Israel will do whatever it sees necessary to defend against neighbors' aggression, regardless what Gunter Grass or you think.

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