Israel bars Gunter Grass over his Poem

Gunter Grass, the 1999 Nobel Prize Laureate for Literature, has been barred by Israel for openly claiming that Israel is a 'threat to the world peace' in one of his poems 'What Must Be Said'. In the ripe old age of 84, Gunter Grass, an author, playwright and sculptor, has courted a huge controversy and the issue of claiming that "nuclear-armed Israel is endangering already fragile world peace" has generated a lot of heat. The poem 'What Must Be Said' has been published in the German newspaper, 'Süddeutsche Zeitung'. A lot of hue and cry has been raised in Israel as well as in Germany, as both Left and Right-wing politicians support Israel because of various historical reasons. Iran has very happily welcomed Grass' poem. The poet has a few other supporters too. Klaus Staeck, the president of the Berlin academy of art, defended Grass saying, “It's got to be possible to speak openly without being denounced as an enemy of Israel”. He stated that Mr. Grass was just giving vent to his feelings and worries about the developments in Middle East. Now what we have here is a nice amalgam of literature, politics and the question artistic freedom! Let's see how things turn out to be. To keep an eye on the turn of events, maintain track of Literary JewelsMore discussions will follow. There are many questions raised, but they can only be answered after a bit of pondering over the matter. Keep your thoughts and reactions flowing in...