The Indian writer Pankaj Mishra
Image: Matthias Lüdecke
Indian writer Pankaj Mishra accuses Germany of using the war in the Middle East to blame its anti-Semitism on Muslims. He has little interest in real anti-Semitism.
DThe fact that there was something wrong with the German culture of remembrance was already heard long before October 7th. Critics talk about memorial theater. What is meant is the alleged celebration of German guilt while looking for relief in sideways. It is said that Germany has repeatedly demonstrated skill in this balancing act. But not so much that it wasn't noticed. The accusation is: strategic philosemitism. Jews in this country are showered with oppressive affection for selfish motives. There is no lack of historical evidence of an underlying double standard.
After October 7th the situation changed. Holocaust remembrance now presents itself as a bastion against fashionable relativization from the postcolonial camp. Whatever may be meant by the reason of state: at the institutional level it is clear that certain things such as Israel's right to exist cannot be shaken. A number of intellectuals interpret this as provincialism in Germany, even accusing dissenting voices of being silenced. In the “London Review of Books,” the Indian writer Pankaj Mishra now paints a picture of an Adenauer Germany that is only too aware that the only way to morally rehabilitate the country is through Israel, and that has made an ostentatious confession of guilt about it to this day . He then spins this into the kitchen psychology finding that Germany has transferred its nationalism to Israeli nationalism. In the Middle East people are now living their lives at the expense of the Palestinians.
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