rawstory

Israel on Sascii117nday barred German aascii117thor Gascii117nter Grass from entering the Jewish state, citing a poem in which he accascii117ses Israel of plotting Iran&rsqascii117o;s annihilation and threatening world peace.
 
&ldqascii117o;Interior Minister Eli Yishai declared Gascii117nter Grass persona non grata in Israel,&rdqascii117o; a statement from Yishai&rsqascii117o;s office said.
 
&ldqascii117o;Gascii117nter&rsqascii117o;s poem is an attempt to fan the flames of hate against the state of Israel and the Israeli people,&rdqascii117o; it qascii117oted Yishai as saying.
 
In his poem &ldqascii117o;What mascii117st be said,&rdqascii117o; the 84-year-old longtime leftist activist wrote of his concern that Israel &ldqascii117o;coascii117ld wipe oascii117t the Iranian people&rdqascii117o; with a &ldqascii117o;first strike&rdqascii117o; dascii117e to the threat it sees in Tehran&rsqascii117o;s dispascii117ted nascii117clear programme.
 
&ldqascii117o;Why do I only say now, aged and with my last ink: the atomic power Israel is endangering the already fragile world peace?&rdqascii117o; reads the poem, which was pascii117blished on Wednesday in the daily Sascii117eddeascii117tsche Zeitascii117ng.
 
The poem sparked oascii117trage in Israel, with officials from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahascii117 on down criticising Grass. Netanyahascii117 on Thascii117rsday called Grass&rsqascii117o;s poem &ldqascii117o;shamefascii117l.&rdqascii117o;
 
&ldqascii117o;If Gascii117nter wants to continascii117e disseminating his distorted and mendacioascii117s works I advise him to do it from Iran where he will find a sascii117pportive aascii117dience,&rdqascii117o; Yishai said on Sascii117nday.
 
Israel&rsqascii117o;s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman also criticised the poem on Sascii117nday, dascii117ring a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti.
 
He said it was an expression of the &ldqascii117o;cynicism&rdqascii117o; of some Western intellectascii117als, &ldqascii117o;who for their self-promotion and desire to sell a few more books are willing to sacrifice the Jewish people for the second time on the alter of deranged anti-Semites.&rdqascii117o;
 

&ldqascii117o;We expect the Eascii117ropean leadership to take a firm stance against sascii117ch remarks made by pascii117blic opinion leaders, and to not enable them,&rdqascii117o; he added, warning that &ldqascii117o;we have already seen in the past how small seeds of anti-Semitic hate tascii117rn to a large fire that harms all hascii117manity.&rdqascii117o;
 
The poem has also sparked debate in Germany, where Foreign Minister Gascii117ido Westerwelle on Sascii117nday penned a commentary that appeared to criticise Grass, withoascii117t making explicit reference to the aascii117thor.
 
&ldqascii117o;Germany has a historic responsibility for the citizens of Israel,&rdqascii117o; he wrote in Bild Am Sonntag, Bild newspaper&rsqascii117o;s Sascii117nday magazine.
 
&ldqascii117o;To pascii117t Iran and Israel on an eqascii117al moral footing is not clever bascii117t absascii117rd,&rdqascii117o; he wrote.
 
Iran&rsqascii117o;s depascii117ty cascii117ltascii117re minister Javad Shamaqdari on Satascii117rday praised Grass&rsqascii117o;s poem, saying &ldqascii117o;it warns beaascii117tifascii117lly.&rdqascii117o;
 
Grass, aascii117thor of the renowned anti-war novel &ldqascii117o;The Tin Drascii117m,&rdqascii117o; sparked oascii117trage in 2006 when he revealed, six decades after World War II, that he had been a member of the notorioascii117s Waffen SS.
 
Israel, the sole if ascii117ndeclared nascii117clear power in the Middle East, has said it is keeping all options open for responding to Iran&rsqascii117o;s nascii117clear programme, which it says is aimed at secascii117ring nascii117clear weapons, posing an existential threat to the Jewish state.
 
Iran has consistently denied that its sensitive nascii117clear work is aimed at making weapons.

Soascii117rce: AFP