akin to dictatorship

[Nakosis]

German literary giant Gunter Grass said Israel’s decision to bar him entry following publication of his controversial poem resembles the behavior of a dictatorship.

Writing in the German Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Grass said the decision puts Israel in the company of Communist-ruled East Germany and junta-ruled Myanmar—the only two regimes that ever have barred him entry.

Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai declared the Nobel Prize-winning writer persona non grata this week after Grass published a short poem that suggested that Israel’s saber-rattling on Iran was a greater threat to world peace than the prospect of a nuclear-armed Islamic Republic.

“It’s the alleged right to a first strike that could destroy an Iranian people,” Grass wrote in his poem. “Why only now, grown old, and with what ink remains, do I say: Israel’s atomic power endangers an already fragile world peace?”

After the poem caused a firestorm of criticism in Israel and Germany, Grass said he should have phrased the poem differently to make it clear that the current Israeli government was his target, not Israel as a whole.
Gunter Grass: Israel's response to poem akin to dictatorship

Does Israel have a right to bar Is Israel justified in barring entry to someone because of a poem?

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

They can do whatever they want, but that doesn't make it right. This certainly isn't the right thing to do.

 

[Revoltingest]

Does Israel have a right to bar entry to someone because of a poem?

Sure.
Although it speaks poorly of them.

 

[Nakosis]

They can do whatever they want, but that doesn't make it right. This certainly isn't the right thing to do.

Perhaps I should have said justified...

 

[Twilight Hue]

German literary giant Gunter Grass said Israel’s decision to bar him entry following publication of his controversial poem resembles the behavior of a dictatorship.

Writing in the German Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Grass said the decision puts Israel in the company of Communist-ruled East Germany and junta-ruled Myanmar—the only two regimes that ever have barred him entry.

Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai declared the Nobel Prize-winning writer persona non grata this week after Grass published a short poem that suggested that Israel’s saber-rattling on Iran was a greater threat to world peace than the prospect of a nuclear-armed Islamic Republic.

“It’s the alleged right to a first strike that could destroy an Iranian people,” Grass wrote in his poem. “Why only now, grown old, and with what ink remains, do I say: Israel’s atomic power endangers an already fragile world peace?”

After the poem caused a firestorm of criticism in Israel and Germany, Grass said he should have phrased the poem differently to make it clear that the current Israeli government was his target, not Israel as a whole.
Gunter Grass: Israel's response to poem akin to dictatorship

Does Israel have a right to bar entry to someone because of a poem?

Thats weird.

 

[Polymath257]

German literary giant Gunter Grass said Israel’s decision to bar him entry following publication of his controversial poem resembles the behavior of a dictatorship.

Writing in the German Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Grass said the decision puts Israel in the company of Communist-ruled East Germany and junta-ruled Myanmar—the only two regimes that ever have barred him entry.

Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai declared the Nobel Prize-winning writer persona non grata this week after Grass published a short poem that suggested that Israel’s saber-rattling on Iran was a greater threat to world peace than the prospect of a nuclear-armed Islamic Republic.

“It’s the alleged right to a first strike that could destroy an Iranian people,” Grass wrote in his poem. “Why only now, grown old, and with what ink remains, do I say: Israel’s atomic power endangers an already fragile world peace?”

After the poem caused a firestorm of criticism in Israel and Germany, Grass said he should have phrased the poem differently to make it clear that the current Israeli government was his target, not Israel as a whole.
Gunter Grass: Israel's response to poem akin to dictatorship

Does Israel have a right to bar Is Israel justified in barring entry to someone because of a poem?

Clearly not justified.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

Perhaps I should have said justified...

I think so. I certainly don't think it's justified.

 

[Nakosis]

Thats weird.

It does, to me, seem an odd thing to do.

 

[Nakosis]

Sorry, old news. The dude died.

The banner at the top said today but the article was from 2012.

 

[sun rise]

Banning someone because of what he's written is all too common in the world today given the number of autocratic and semi-democratic states. Israel would have had my respect if they had let him in and had a public debate about the Middle East.

All I can do is shake my head and feel a bit sad about the death of the idealism that was part of the early years of Israel.