German Peace Movement Backs Nobel Winner's Criticism Of Israel

Berlin, April 10, IRNA -- Germany's peace movement voiced strong solidarity for 1999 Nobel Literature Prize laureate Guenter Grass for his outspoken criticism of Israel, the Hamburg-based weekly news magazine Der Spiegel reported Tuesday. The spokesman for the German peace movement, Peter Strutynski stressed it was not Grass who should be criticized for his anti-Israel comments but those politicians who are escalating tensions in the Near and Middle East by tightening economic sanctions against Iran. He added Grass had merely told the truth on Israel's secret nuclear program as the Zionist regime possesses more than 250 atomic warheads, refuses to join the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and does not open its nuclear program for international inspections. Strutynski lambasted also the Zionist regime for its ongoing military threats against Iran. Thousands of people took to the streets in 80 German cities over the past four days as part of the country's traditional Easter peace marches to express support for Grass who has faced the wrath of the Zionist regime and its German lobby for his unprecedented criticism of Israel. The 84-year-old Grass made international headlines for saying Israel and its military nuclear program were the biggest danger to global peace. As Germany's most prominent contemporary writer, Grass is not only widely regarded as a literary icon in the country but also a moral authority./end