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Home Front: Culture Wars
German Nobel laureate Guenter GraSS' new poem: Israel is a threat to world peace
2012-04-04
German Nobel literature laureate Guenter Grass published a poem Wednesday in which he accused Israel of being a threat to world peace.

In his poem, the 85-year-old author claims that Israel's nuclear reactor -- and not Iran's -- presents a threat to world peace. Grass' poem calls for Germany to cease supplying Israel with submarines, and warns against an Israeli strike on Iran.

The poem, entitled "What must be said," will be published on Wednesday in the New York Times, the Deutsche Zeitung, and La Republica. In the poem, Grass writes that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has a "big mouth," and that the intentions of the Iranian nuclear program are not proven.

"If a day comes when the world of Islam is duly equipped with the arms Israel has in possession, the strategy of colonialism would face a stalemate because application of an atomic bomb would not leave any thing in Israel but the same thing would just produce damages in the Muslim world"

-- Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani December 2001


Read Grass' poem in German.

Grass also claims that "Israel's nuclear potential has been stealthily growing for years," without being under any kind of international supervision. Grass believes that Israel is planning to arm submarines recently purchased from Germany with nuclear warheads.

"Germany could be responsible for a crime that can be foreseen," Grass said.
That crime would be Israel's survival.
Grass achieved fame with his first novel "The Tin Drum." Many of his stories have been translated into Hebrew and English. In 2006, Grass admitted for the first time to serving in the SS during the Second World War. Today, Grass is an active member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany.
Posted by:Sputh Glinegum5011

#7  Don't give them any ideas...
Posted by: European Conservative   2012-04-04 21:00  

#6  I'm a little surprised the EU *doesn't* have standards for poems. They seem to have their EUcratic fingers in pretty much every other pie.
Posted by: SteveS   2012-04-04 19:47  

#5  Unfortunately there are no minimum standards as to what qualifies as a poem... or literature... or common sense
Posted by: European Conservative   2012-04-04 17:50  

#4  The Tin Drum trilogy are some of favourite novels of all time, but Grass always was a socialist. Firstly a National Socialist, then the post war kind.

The Left's real problem with Israel is that Israel shows how their their Tranzi vision could turn into an apocalyptic hell.
Posted by: phil_b   2012-04-04 15:46  

#3  GraSS.... GrASS

fixed....
Posted by: Pliny Chuck8245   2012-04-04 14:08  

#2  Funny how Israel has all these nuclear weapons but doesn't actually blow people up or threaten to use them on a daily basis. Some folks project a lot.

Discussions on war and peace from a German are humorous. The lesson the World learned from WW2 is dictatorships are bad. The lesson the Germans learned is War is bad. As if war suddenly just happened to the 3rd Reik out of the blue.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2012-04-04 10:25  

#1  The New York Times will be publishing an anti-semitic poem by a Nazi? Well color me surprised...strange bedfellows indeed.
Posted by: gromky   2012-04-04 10:22  

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