Half of Germans say Israel serious threat to world peace

The majority of respondents to a survey conducted by a German research institute believe that Israel poses the biggest threat to world peace and international security.

European Phoenix -- In an opinion poll conducted by the Berlin-based Infratest/Dimap institute on April 17 and 18, nearly 48 percent of the 1,000 participants said they regard Israel as a serious threat to world peace and global security.

According to the poll results, which were released on May 24, some 22 percent of the respondents maintained that Iran and Israel are equal threats to world peace.

Eighteen percent of the people surveyed said Iran poses a more serious threat to world peace than Israel.

And 12 percent of the respondents said they had no opinion on the issue.

The United States, Israel, and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear program.

Washington and Tel Aviv have at times threatened Tehran with a military strike against its nuclear facilities.

Iran says that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to develop and acquire nuclear technology meant for peaceful purposes.

On April 4, German Nobel literature laureate Gunter Grass published a poem calling Israel a threat to world peace and criticizing Western hypocrisy over Israel’s nuclear arsenal.

In the poem, entitled "What Must Be Said," which was published in Germany's Suddeutsche Zeitung, Grass expressed concern over the consequences of Israel’s plan to attack Iran.