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TIL Gunter Grass was banned from Israel in 2012 for a poem

submitted by PostWallHelena to Jews 1.6 yearsNov 15, 2022 16:10:22 ago (+5/-0)     (en.m.wikipedia.org)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Must_Be_Said

...A poem that critisized the wisdom of Germany arming Israel with 6 Dolphin-class submarines capable of carrying nuclear warheads in an attack on Iran:

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.

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.

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.


2 comments block


[ - ] Crackinjokes 2 points 1.6 yearsNov 15, 2022 16:25:57 ago (+2/-0)

"The poem discusses an alleged threat of annihilation of the Iranian people and the writer's fears that Germany's delivery to Israel of a sixth Dolphin-class submarine capable of carrying[2] nuclear warheads."

While many people presume that Israel has some nuclear weapons it's amazing how many people still think they're sort of stuck in the 1970s or '80s mindset where Israel has a couple of nukes hidden underground somewhere in Israel that they could toss over the border as retaliation. Almost no one mentions the fact that they've got nuclear submarines rather submarines capable of delivering nuclear weapons that were provided to them by the germans. Therefore Israel is probably one of only four or five countries in the world that has a nuclear fleet a nuclear submarine fleet that is probably mostly undetectable and can threaten any Nation on Earth including the United states.

I'm a self was very surprised to learn that Germany had provided them a bunch of submarines. I had no idea Israel had a submarine Force capable of delivering nuclear weapons until I read about that a few years ago. No one talks about it. People are still stuck on the decades-old argument about whether or not Israel has a few nuclear bombs or not which Jimmy Carter figured out back in the 1970s.

[ - ] PostWallHelena [op] 0 points 1.6 yearsNov 15, 2022 17:21:58 ago (+0/-0)

And for expressing concern, they smeared him and someone defaced his monument with the words “shut your mouth” and painted a swastika on it. Lol.