Zionist ressentiment, the Left, and the Palestinian Question (with Zahi Zalloua)

Hotel Bar Sessions

What can Frantz Fanon and Friedrich Nietzsche teach us about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict?

This week, we're joined by Zahi Zalloua (Whitman College) to discuss the final chapter of his most recent book The Politics of the Wretched: Race, Reason, and Ressentiment (Bloomsbury, 2024)-- entitled "Zionist ressentiment, the Left, and the Palestinian Question"-- which offers a fresh lens through which to understand the complex affects and power dynamics that continue to fuel this ongoing struggle by focusing on what 19th C. German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche called ressentiment—a deep-seated feeling of injustice and grievance.

Zalloua unpacks how a collective sense of moral outrage on the part of Zionists has been deployed to shield Israel from criticism by accusing pro-Palestinian advocates, and the Left more generally, of a “new anti-Semitism.” He contrasts this with Palestinian ressentiment, which he frames as a legitimate response to the ongoing reality of settler-colonialism and displacement. His work both critiques the complicity of liberal Zionism in maintaining the status quo and challenges us to reframe the way we understand both Zionist and Palestinian anger.

Full episode notes available at this link:
https://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/episode-155-the-palestinian-question-with-zahi-zalloua

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