Wednesday, April 04, 2012
What Must Be Said
Günter Grass Attacks Israel in New Poem
What Must Be Said
Why I am silent, silent too long how much is clear and we made it 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 the organized jubilation, because in the area of his competence there is the construction of the atomic bomb.
And then why I avoid myself to call the other country with its name, where since years – even if secretly covered -there is an increasing nuclear power, but without control, because unreachable by every inspection?
The silence of everybody on this state of affairs which my silence is slave to, I feel it as an oppressive lie and an inhibition that presents punishment when we don’t pay attention; the verdict “anti-Semitism” is common.
Now, since by my country, from time to time touched by exclusive crime, without comparison and obliged to justify itself, again and for pure commercial aims, even if with fast tongue we call it “reparation”, another submarine should be deliveredto Israel, with the specialty of addressing annihilating warheads there where the existence of an only atomic bomb is not proved but it wants to be evidence as a scarecrow, I say what must be said.
Why I was silent until now? Because I thought 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 I said 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 to us too – as Germans and with enough faults on the back - we could 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 it is desirable that many will want to get rid of the silence ,exhorting the cause of the recognizable risk to the abdication and asking that a free and permanent control of the Israel atomic power
That is the claimed right to the formal preventive aggression which could erase the Iranian people dominated by a bouncer and moved to the organized jubilation, because in the area of his competence there is the construction of the atomic bomb.
And then why I avoid myself to call the other country with its name, where since years – even if secretly covered -there is an increasing nuclear power, but without control, because unreachable by every inspection?
The silence of everybody on this state of affairs which my silence is slave to, I feel it as an oppressive lie and an inhibition that presents punishment when we don’t pay attention; the verdict “anti-Semitism” is common.
Now, since by my country, from time to time touched by exclusive crime, without comparison and obliged to justify itself, again and for pure commercial aims, even if with fast tongue we call it “reparation”, another submarine should be deliveredto Israel, with the specialty of addressing annihilating warheads there where the existence of an only atomic bomb is not proved but it wants to be evidence as a scarecrow, I say what must be said.
Why I was silent until now? Because I thought 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 I said 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 to us too – as Germans and with enough faults on the back - we could 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 it is desirable that many will want to get rid of the silence ,exhorting the cause of the recognizable risk to the abdication and asking that a free and permanent control of the Israel atomic power
"Why did I wait until now at this advanced age and with the last bit of ink to say: The nuclear power Israel is endangering a world peace that is already fragile?" Grass writes in the poem. The 84 year old also criticizes the planned delivery of submarines "from my country" to Israel, a reference to Germany's plan to deliver Dolphin-class submarines to Israel that are capable of carrying nuclear-armed missiles. At the same time, Grass also expresses his solidarity with Israel.
In the poem, published by Germany's Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper and other European dailies on Wednesday, Grass also calls for an "unhindered and permanent monitoring of Israel's nuclear potential and Iran's nuclear facility through an international entity that the government of both countries would approve." It is widely believed that Israel possesses nuclear weapons, although it has never been proven.
In response to the publication, the Israeli Embassy in Berlin issued a statement offering its own version of "What must be said." "What must be said is that it is a European tradition to accuse the Jews before the Passover festival of ritual murder," the statements reads. "Earlier, it was Christian children whose blood the Jews allegedly used to make their unleavened bread, but today it is the Iranian people that the Jewish state allegedly wants to annihilate. What also must be said is that Israel is the only state in the world whose right to exist is openly doubted. That was true on the day of its founding and it remains true today. We want to live in peace with our neighbors in the region. And we are not prepared to assume the role that Günter Grass is trying to assign to us as part of the German people's efforts to come to terms with the past."
