(MintPress)—A poem written by German writer and Nobel prize winner Gunter Grass labeling Israel more of a threat to peace than Iran has led the Israeli government to ban the poet from the state. Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai announced Monday that the writer, who had no immediate plans to travel to Israel, would not be allowed entry.
The release of the poem comes on the heels of claims made by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he would consider using force against Iran’s nuclear sites. Grass’ poem, which had a strong pacifist tone, indicates the first strike by the nation could lead to the “annihilation of the Iranian people.”
In response to public outcry by Germans and Israelis opposed to the poem, Grass claimed the poem was a shot at Netanyahu’s policies, not the state itself. It’s an argument that will have little influence over the decision made by Israel’s government, which has stepped up efforts in the past 10 years to spotlight and ban those who oppose its policies, including academics and writers.
Banning those who oppose Israeli policy
Despite the wave of shock Grass’ banning has encountered, Israel’s handling of the situation is nothing new. His “persona non grata” status is shared among many peace and human rights activists throughout the world who have condemned Israel’s occupation and violence in the Gaza Strip.
The longstanding conflict between Israelis and Palestinians over the Gaza Strip is a daily battle, one that was reinfused in 2006 when Palestinian elections led to Hamas’ control in Parliament, ousting Fattah as its majority power. Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by the US, has long opposed Israel and its occupation of the Gaza Strip. In 2007, fighting in the Gaza Strip intensified, creating a city trapped by violence. Israeli barricades around the small region essentially create an open air prison and do not allow for entry of essential services, such as water and goods.
Israeli air raids, intended to disrupt militants, are regularly fired into the Gaza Strip, claiming the lives of civilians and destroying essential services, such as hospitals and electricity generation plants. Rockets from Hamas are fired into Israel from the Strip on a regular basis in retaliation for the blockade.
When public figures denounce this Israeli occupation, they run the risk of being banned from Israel.
The most famous example of public banishment occurred in 2010, when renowned American activist and professor Noam Chomsky was told by Israeli immigration officials that he would not be allowed to cross the border from Jordan to the West Bank. Chomsky had publicly spoken out against the occupation of the West Bank. He was on his way to lecture at Palestinian Bir Zeit University in the West Bank when he was banned from entering.
Even the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) recognized the move to ban Chomsky as a sign of a “totalitarian regime”. ACRI Attorney ODed Feller criticized the move of denying Chomsky to enter by stating:
“The decision to prevent an individual from expressing his or her views by denying entry is characteristic of a totalitarian regime. A democratic state, which considers freedom of expression a guiding principle, does not close itself off to criticism or uncomfortable notions, and does not refuse entry to visitors whose views it does not accept, but rather deals with them through public discourse.”
The decision not to allow Chomsky travel gained widespread international attention that was reversed by the interior ministry, but not in time for Chomsky to deliver his lecture. Instead, he spoke to the University crowd by television in the neighboring state of Jordan.
Former American President Jimmy Carter, who is vocally opposed to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip was barred in 2008 from traveling there to discuss the conflict solutions with Hamas. Instead, the meeting was moved to Egypt. The move to ban Carter was one taken that same year by Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe, a dictatorship known for extreme human rights violations against its own population.
Popular musician Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, was also deported and banned in 2008 for his criticism of Israeli occupation of Gaza. Stevens, known for his hit, “Peace Train,” was not allowed entry after flying to Israel, and was sent back to Germany, as he was intended to speak in Israel in support of the Palestinian cause. Stevens was banned from the US one year later on the grounds that he donated money to a charity that funneled funds to terrorist organizations.
Jewish American and academic Norman Finkelstein was not only banned for 10 years, but deported in 2008 for his claims that Israeli leaders used the excuse of the Nazi genocide to inflict similar harm on Palestinians.
American lawyer and academic Richard Falk was detained and denied entry in 2008 while traveling to Tel Aviv for a UN investigation into human rights abuses in the Gaza Strip. Falk wrote an opinion piece in The Guardian following his detention and deportation, condemning the Israeli government.
Falk’s vocal storytelling of his experience did not change Israel’s stance against the UN’s entry into the state for research purposes. In March of this year, Netanyahu banned the entire UN Human Rights Council entry to the Israel.
The UN team was set to conduct a fact finding mission regarding Israeli settlement construction on occupied land in the West Bank. Netanyahu denounced the mission, saying Israel will no longer comply with the UN Council. He said the UN unfairly targeted Israel, while ignoring other potential human rights abusers, including Iran. However, days before Netanyahu’s statement, the UN Council strongly criticized Iran and voted to continue to investigate human rights violations — including torture and persecution of religious minorities — in the country.
In 2011, the Israeli government made a statement that any journalist who took part in the 2011 Gaza flotillas would be banned for 10 years. Netanyahu later reversed the statement, saying journalists would be held to different standards, but that journalists would also be welcome to cover the event from the deck of Israeli ships.
Actions not in line with democracy
Israel claims to be the only true example of a democratic state in a Middle East rife with Arab dictatorships. However, its refusal to allow public discourse critical of its policies mirrors the totalitarian actions of the very neighbors Israel condemns.
Paul Scham, professor of Israel studies at Maryland University, said in an interview with Mint Press that Israel is banning those who oppose its policies at greater rates than in the past, a reflection of the government’s recent intolerance of criticism. Scham also noted that those recently barred are “in no way a security threat,” but are primarily academics and writers.
Many of the same people who expressed disapproval with Grass’ poem denounce Israel for not allowing dissidence.
Tom Segev, Israel Holocaust historian, said the decision to ban Grass based on his opinions was a troubling move in a democratic state.
Gil Troy, an American professor at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, regularly takes a pro-Israel stance in his writing. In a recent blog entry on The Jerusalem Post, Troy made the argument that Yishai was wrong to deny Grass access, claiming Israel missed the opportunity to showcase itself as a vibrant democracy.
“Grass should be mocked, refuted, confronted. But Israel’s Interior Minister is wrong,” he wrote. “Rather than banning the author, Israel should welcome him — showing Grass a real democracy in action rather than the bogeyman he targeted.”
American political commentator Alan Dershowitz slammed the content of the poem, but also took issue with the government’s all out ban on its critics. In a commentary, Dershowitz wrote that “a great nation, committed to freedom of expression and dissent, should not bar a critic, even a critic as bigoted as Grass, from its territory.”
Israel’s refusal to accept negative judgement in the public arena casts a shadow of doubt on the country’s stand for democracy and leaves little hope of its willingness to commit to tolerance and peace.