Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Netanyahu Slams Gunter Grass for Poem

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday harshly condemned the poem published by German Nobel laureate Guenter Grass in which he said that Israel’s nuclear program, not Iran’s, is a threat to world peace.

“His declarations are ignorant and shameful and every honest person in this world must condemn them,” Netanyahu said.

In his poem, which was published in several European newspapers on Wednesday, the 85-year-old author claims that Israel’s nuclear reactor – and not Iran’s – presents a threat to world peace. Grass’ poem calls for Germany to cease supplying Israel with submarines, and warns against an Israeli strike on Iran.

Netanyahu said he is sure that Grass’ motives are anti-Semitic. “For six decades he hid his past as a member in the Waffen SS,” Netanyahu said. “So it is no surprise that he defines the only Jewish state as the greatest threat to world peace and opposes it equipping itself with means of self defense.”

Netanyahu said that Grass’ comparison between Iran and Israel was shameful.

For more, go to Haaretz.com

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.