German Poet Says Israel a Danger to World Peace

[Rev.Cambeul]

A View on Grass: Why We Need an Open Debate on Israel

Jakob Augstein - Der Spiegel (Germany)

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,826180,00.html

... The brief lines that Günter Grass has published under the title "What Must Be Said" will one day be seen as some of his most influential words. They mark a rupture. It is this one sentence that we will not be able to ignore in the future: "The nuclear power Israel is endangering a world peace that is already fragile." It is a sentence that has triggered an outcry. Because it is true. Because it is a German, an author, a Nobel laureate who said it ... Now, backed by a US in which presidents must secure the support of Jewish lobby groups in the run-up to elections as well as by a Germany in which historical penance has assumed a military component, the Netanyahu administration has the entire world holding its breath [more ...]

[StephenMasten]

Excerpt translated from German:

'Yet why do I hesitate to name
that other land in which
for years—although kept secret—
a growing nuclear power has existed
beyond supervision or verification,
subject to no inspection of any kind?'

Isn't it obvious why Günter Grass is so hesitant to name the ultimate bogey man of this world today? He is scared witless of Jewish power and influence of course. Because, as the author puts it, it could lead:

'toward a likely punishment
the moment it's flouted:
the verdict (*horrors!*) "Anti-semitism" falls easily.'

And why has the author kept quiet about his concerns until this point?

'Because I thought my own (German) origins,
Tarnished by a stain that can never be removed...'

Germans - and White people in general - really do need to shake off this ridiculous, suicidal guilt complex and get these parasitic 'chosen' bastards off our back.

It's also interesting to note that this Günter Grass fellow was in fact a member of the Waffen-SS.

The poem, 'What Must Be Said', translated to English in full:

What Must be Said

Why have I kept silent, held back so long,

on something openly practiced in

war games, at the end of which those of us

who survive will at best be footnotes?

It's the alleged right to a first strike

that could destroy an Iranian people

subjugated by a loudmouth

and gathered in organized rallies,

because an atom bomb may be being

developed within his arc of power.

Yet why do I hesitate to name

that other land in which

for years—although kept secret—

a growing nuclear power has existed

beyond supervision or verification,

subject to no inspection of any kind?

This general silence on the facts,

before which my own silence has bowed,

seems to me a troubling lie, and compels

me toward a likely punishment

the moment it's flouted:

the verdict "Anti-semitism" falls easily.

But now that my own country,

brought in time after time

for questioning about its own crimes,

profound and beyond compare,

is said to be the departure point,

(on what is merely business,

though easily declared an act of reparation)

for yet another submarine equipped

to transport nuclear warheads

to Israel, where not a single atom bomb

has yet been proved to exist, with fear alone

the only evidence, I'll say what must be said.

But why have I kept silent till now?

Because I thought my own origins,

Tarnished by a stain that can never be removed,

meant I could not expect Israel, a land

to which I am, and always will be, attached,

to accept this open declaration of the truth.

Why only now, grown old,

and with what ink remains, do I say:

Israel's atomic power endangers

an already fragile world peace?

Because what must be said

may be too late tomorrow;

and because—burdend enough as Germans—

we may be providing material for a crime

that is foreseeable, so that our complicity

wil not be expunged by any

of the usual excuses.

And 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,

may insist that the governments of

both Iran and Israel allow an international authority

free and open inspection of

the nuclear potential and capability of both.

No other course offers help

to Israelis and Palestinians alike,

to all those living side by side in emnity

in this region occupied by illusions,

and ultimately, to all of us.

Translated by Breon Mitchell