By Salama A Salama Because of a poem condemning Israel's stockpiling of nuclear weapons, Israel has banned Nobel Laureate Gunter Grass from visiting it, declaring him persona non grata. The row brought to the fore the moral controversy of whether Germans, who failed to stop the Nazi Holocaust, have the right to criticise Israeli policies. Demonstrators, some supporting Grass and others supporting Israel, marched in Berlin's streets after the travel ban. A moral watershed has been reached, one in which the prominent writer had to take sides. With his recent poem, Gunter Grass broke the implicit taboo -- so carefully internalised by German thinkers and decision- makers -- on criticising Israel. It is a taboo that has silenced German writers and politicians for years. Israel, which occupies Palestinian lands, stockpiles nuclear weapons, and is now threatening to bombard Iran for allegedly seeking to manufacture nuclear warheads, is not in the habit of having its policies slammed in Germany. This is why the poem, "What Must be Said," by Grass came as a shock. The German writer pointed the finger at Israel's belligerent policies, while accusing Germany of being an accomplice. Germany, as you may know, has given Israel nuclear-powered submarines capable of delivering nuclear warheads. This, and other forms of support, makes Germany an accomplice in Israel's belligerent policies. Israel's atomic power endangers an already fragile world peace, Grass said in his poem, adding that the West will have to get both Iran and Israel to accept inspections. "Granted: I've broken my silence because I'm sick of the West's hypocrisy and I hope too that many may be freed from their silence, may demand that those responsible for the open danger we face renounce the use of force that the governments of both Iran and Israel allow free and open inspection of the nuclear potential and capability of both."
