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German Nobel author Gunter Grass, 84...has been declared a 'persona non grata'...and barred from entering Israel...after criticizing Israel's nuclear policy...as a threat to world peace...in a poem published Wednesday...called..."What Must Be Said."
Grass also condemned Germany's recent sale of nuke capable subs to Tel Aviv.
Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned Grass...and its ForMin Lieberman labelled Grass an anti-Semite.
German ForMin Guido Westervelle said "putting Israel and Iran on the same moral level is...absurd"...and Germany is abuzz with the controversy.
Grass now admits that his poem was inexact...and he meant to primarily criticize Netanyanu's government.
"I have often supported Israel, I have often been in the country and want the country to exist and at last find peace with its neighbors," Grass stated.
Israel has a policy of barring critics...that some find disturbing.
"The need to delegitimize criticism is a very dangerous, autocratic tendency which has increased in recent years. It's very demagogic. Netanyahu and Leiberman are experts in doing that. Every word of criticism will immediately be presented as a sign of anti-Semitism," said historian Tom Segev.
"If we are really distributing entry permits to Israel according to people's political views, then we really are putting ourselves in the company of countries like Iran, and Syria," Segev added.
NEW!!! ANALYSIS: Why all the furor in Germany over the Grass Poem?
His status as the 'conscience of Germany'...is the reason.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17657993
NEW!!! ANALYSIS: Why all the furor in Germany over the Grass Poem?
His status as the 'conscience of Germany'...is the reason.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17657993
