Critic or resentment?

(Initially Posted in 2012 by Richard Preschel)

Anti-Zionists attack Israel, justifying their attitude by invoking their right to criticism.

No  one should be above criticism.

Why would Israel deserve a state of immunity or impunity from criticism?

The whole problem is to know if what the anti-Zionists do is really criticism or something other than criticism.

Henryk Broder, columnist for the German weekly "Der Spiegel" distinguishes between criticism (Kritik) and resentment (Ressentiment).

Criticism is particular and conditional. Resentment is global and existential.

The criticism is you should do (or don't do) this or that (= something in particular) then the consequences will be (or not be) favorable (or unfavorable) to you (= the condition). Resentment is, for example, you're evil (= global) and you should be fired, expelled, expelled, imprisoned… (= existential).

If the anti-Zionists were critical, they would demand that Netanyahu be replaced by Lapid, Ganz or Lieberman. They would ask that Israel improve the conditions of passage through its borders to make life less difficult for the Palestinians. They would ask that the distribution of water resources be less unfavorable to the Palestinians. Let such a racist Israeli minister be sacked. That this or that discriminatory article of law be repealed, etc.

But the anti-Zionists are not asking for any of this because they are not critical but resentful. They demand that Israel be wiped off the map, that the Jews return to the places from which they came. Let all the land be returned to the Palestinians. For the anti-Zionist, Israel is a malignant tumor that must be eradicated. Anti-Zionism is not criticism, anti-Zionism is resentment. Anti-Zionism is the politically correct version of anti-Semitism. Anti-Zionism is a form of racism.

Henryk Broder Kritik der Reinen Toleranz, wjs, Berlin, 2008

Henryk Broder Vergesst Auschwitz!, Knaus, Munich, 2012

Henryk Broder - "The Last Days of Europe"