Günther Grass, Israel & The Atomic Bomb

I’m a child of the eighties. Unfortunately, when “The Day After” was first broadcast on public television, I apparently had one of those stupid sensitive phases. The film grabbed me so hard that I couldn’t sleep for months. And when I did, I had nightmares. The nuclear deterrent had really worked on me: I was terrified of nuclear war.

The cold war became warmer, perestroika planted flowers and my neck tension eased. For years, growing up relatively undisturbed to grunge and green energy, I thought: the world has learnt something. It was on the right track. Then Bush came along, and the new “non” imperialism made bold new demands.

I got upset about one of these new demands some time ago here on the blog: The right to determine who gets to have the nuke. Yes, perhaps, some governments really are acting more than clumsily with highly diplomatic statements such as “Israel has no right to exist”. Yes, that scares people. Yes, something should be done. But what is the Israeli government doing?

Uncle Netanyahu runs with little Ehud Barak to daddy Barak Obama, points at Iran and whines: “He said I can’t be! And that’s why I want a first strike now!” The only thing that surprised me about such a blatant statement was the practically complete silence of all German politicians. If any other nation had made this statement, the outrage would have been endless.

Yes, Iran is threatening Israel. Yes, it may have a nuclear bomb one day, despite the Stuxnet worm. But what would happen if it were to use it against Israel? First of all – to put it somewhat drastically – something very positive: nobody would be fighting over this country for the next 10,000 years. This would be immediately followed by the response of the whole world: The inevitable total annihilation of Iran. What would happen if Israel were to convert an Iranian nuclear power plant into a super-destruction? Obama will slap Netanyahu on the wrist. “Bad boy!”. Done.

For your information, you great silent politicians: nobody has the right to decide who is allowed to have a nuclear bomb and who is not. In the case of Israel, you also have the right to leave their nuclear facilities unchecked for 40 years and to keep their considerable nuclear arsenal silent. Since nobody has the right to decide, there is only one solution: nobody is allowed to have a nuclear bomb. But this statement is an absolute nogo when it comes to a new rogue state.

Germany is not lost. One of our greatest living poets and thinkers has spoken. Günther Grass expressed himself very critically in his poem “What must be said” in the Süddeutsche Zeitung. “Die Zeit” had already rejected the poem by then. It was too sensitive.

Günther Grass plays Focus: he delivers facts, nothing but facts. Instead of crying out about Uncle Netanyahu’s call for a right of first strike, Germany is now rising up against Günther Grass. The accusation? He is an anti-Semite. Yes, he was Waffen SS. But have any of the cowardly German opinion-makers by chance perhaps at least read “The Tin Drum for Dummies” – if the full work was obviously far too exhausting and complex for them?

What does Günther Grass say in“What must be said“? Israel has the atomic bomb. Israel is planning a conventional first strike against Iran’s nuclear programme. That’s what he says. For your information: Israel is not planning to quickly blow up a few people, like the USA in Iraq or Afghanistan. They want to bomb a nuclear power plant, which is presumably also used for research into the production of weapons-grade nuclear explosives. A cruise missile is not a tsunami. But when fired at a nuclear power plant, it has strikingly similar effects: As a rule, a nuclear meltdown and the associated negligible consequences such as thousands of years of radiation in large regions and the deaths of tens of thousands of people.

Ultimately, Günther Grass denounces nothing else in“What must be said“. I admire him because he knew exactly how Germany would react: with hatred and unjustified hostility of the worst kind. He spoke anyway. He was accused of being an anti-Semite. Typically German: we must always be in favour of Israel, we are eternally to blame, and must therefore wordlessly forgive them for any reprehensible actions. I can only say one thing about that:

No matter what our German history is like: even if an Israeli lets a fart go, it stinks. If something stinks, then you have to say so.

Tag Cloud: Günther Grass, nuclear bomb, Israel, “What must be said” Ehud Barak, Barak Obama, Iran, Netanyahu, nuclear bomb, Günther Grass, first strike, “What must be said”

Update 10 April: Israel bans Günther Grass from entering the country. Bravo, eternally angry child Israel! Critical faculties 6, anger 1. Who does that remind me of?