BERLIN
(AP) — German Nobel literature laureate Guenter Grass labeled
Israel a threat to "already fragile world peace" in a poem published Wednesday that drew sharp rebukes at home and from Israel.
In the poem titled "What must be said," published in German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung and Italy's La Repubblica among
others, Grass criticized what he described as Western hypocrisy
over Israel's own suspected nuclear program amid speculation
that it might engage in military action against Iran to stop
it building a suspected atomic bomb.
The 84-year-old Grass said he had
been prompted to put pen to paper by Berlin's recent decision
to sell Israel a submarine able to "send all-destroying warheads where the existence of a single nuclear bomb is
unproven."
"The nuclear power Israel
is endangering the already fragile world peace," he wrote. His poem specifically criticized Israel's "claim to the right of a first strike" against Iran.
Grass also called for "unhindered
and permanent control of Israel's nuclear capability and
Iran's atomic facilities through an international body."
Israel views Iran as a threat to its
existence, citing among other things some Iranian calls for
its destruction and fears that Iran aims to produce nuclear
weapons.
Grass didn't mention those calls,
which have been made by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but
obliquely referred to the Iranian people being "subjugated by a loudmouth."
Israel is widely believed to have
an arsenal of nuclear weapons but has never admitted it,
pursuing instead an official policy of "ambiguity" to deter potential attackers.
Israel currently has three Dolphin
submarines from Germany — one half-funded and two entirely
funded by Berlin — two more are currently under construction,
and the contract for a sixth submarine was signed last month.
Dolphin-class submarines can carry
nuclear-tipped missiles, but there's no evidence Israel has
armed them with such weapons.
The West sees Iran's nuclear program
as designed to develop an atomic bomb, but Tehran denies
the charge, saying an expansion of its enrichment program
is meant only to provide nuclear fuel.
Grass said he long kept silent on
Israel's own nuclear program because his country committed "crimes that are without comparison," but he has come to see that silence as a "burdensome lie and a coercion" whose disregard carries a punishment — "the verdict 'anti-Semitism' is commonly used."
The left-leaning Grass established
himself as a leading literary figure with "The Tin Drum," published in 1959, and won the Nobel Prize in 1999. He urged fellow Germans
to confront their painful Nazi history in the decades after
World War II.
However, his image suffered a bruising
when he admitted in his 2006 autobiography that he was drafted
into the Waffen-SS, the combat arm of the Nazis' paramilitary
organization, in the final months of World War II.
Grass' comments swiftly drew sharp
criticism Wednesday.
"What must also be said
is that Israel is the world's only nation whose right to
exist is publicly questioned," the Israeli Embassy in Germany said in a statement. "We want to live in peace with our neighbors in the region."
"Guenter Grass is turning
the situation upside-down by defending a brutal regime that
not only disregards but openly violates international agreements
for many years," said Deidre Berger, director of the American Jewish Committee in Berlin.
"Iran is the threat for
world peace — and Israel the only democracy in the entire
region, and at the same time the world's only whose right
to exist is openly questioned," said Charlotte Knobloch, a former leader of Germany's Jewish community.
Efraim Zuroff, who leads the Nazi-hunting
Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem, called Grass' poem "outrageous," adding it appeared to be a sign of Israel "becoming the whipping boy for the frustrations of those who are sick of hearing
about the Holocaust."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is
a staunch ally of Israel, and her spokesman reacted coolly
to Grass' remarks.
"There is artistic freedom
in Germany, and there thankfully also is the freedom of the
government not to have to comment on every artistic production," Steffen Seibert said.
The head of the German Parliament's
foreign affairs committee — lawmaker Ruprecht Polenz, a member
of Merkel's Christian Democrats — told the daily Mitteldeutsche
Zeitung that Grass is a great author "but he always has difficulties when he speak about politics and mostly gets it
wrong."
"The country that worries
us is Iran," he was quoted as saying, adding that "his poem distracts attention from that."
Grass' assistant Hilke Ohsoling told
German news agency dapd Wednesday that the author won't explain
or defend his poem, nor does he plan to comment on the reactions
in the near future because of health issues. google.com
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