Peace activists in Germany Monday voiced support for author Gunter Grass who has been barred from entering Israel over a poem accusing the Jewish state of plotting Iran's annihilation and endangering world peace.
"It is unacceptable," said Willi van Ooyen, a spokesman for a group that organises the traditional peace marches held each year on Easter weekend in Germany since 1960.
"Threats and preparations for war poison the political climate," said Ooyen, referring to concerns that Israel might launch a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities to stop a suspected weapons programme.
The 84-year-old Grass sparked outrage at home and abroad last week with the publication of a poem titled "What must be said" in which he said he feared a nuclear-armed Israel "could wipe out the Iranian people" with a "first strike".
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the poem as "shameful".
Grass, a Nobel literature prize winner, has said he found the personal accusations against him "hurtful", but he had no plans to back down.
For more: AFP: German peace activists back Grass in Israel row
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