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"It's that which I criticize," he said, "a policy that keeps building settlements despite a UN resolution. I'm criticizing a policy which is creating more and more enemies for Israel and is increasingly isolating it."He especially blames Netanyahu. He said he "should have added that to the poem....I have always been accustomed to my works, large and small, meeting with strong criticism." Nevertheless, he was disappointed about "the offensive and sweeping accusations of anti-Semitism" that followed.
He's also appalled about accusations over his Nazi past. At age 17 near war's end, he was "pulled" into the Waffen SS. He didn't volunteer. Asked whether he's a friend of Israel, he said he wished it finally would make peace with its neighbors. He likely included Palestine among them.
On April 9, a Haaretz editoria l headlined "Israel has reacted with hysteria over Gunter Grass," saying:
Public reaction unjustly "focused on the man, not on his positions. Naysayers recalled" his Nazi past, not his credentials as Germany's most celebrated author and 1999 Literature Nobel Prize recipient.
Denying Grass permission to enter Israel for his views "is characteristic of dark regimes....Yishai's use of his government authority is not legitimate. Any protest should be expressed within the democratic-liberal framework, which allows every person to express his views - provocative though they may be."Grass wrote a poem. Israel reacted "with hysteria. It seems that at issue is less an undesirable person than an undesirable" view.
In 2001, former Chicago Symphony conductor Daniel Barenboim broke a decade's long taboo by performing Wagner during an Israeli concert. At the time, many wanted him declared persona non grata. Cooler heads prevailed.
In 2000, Austria's Jorg Haider was barred from Israel for his right-wing views. In 2004, Interior Minister Avraham Poraz prevented UK journalist Peter Hounam from entering for exchanging letters with Mordechai Vanunu and wanting to interview him. More on Vanunu below.
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