Israel: The Trauma

Zionists are still trying to defeat the Nazis by committing genocide against the Palestinians, and if that sounds insane, you understand perfectly.

Source: The Electronic Intifada

When I returned from Palestine in 1994, I exhibited signs of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It is common among NGO staff who have worked in war zones and among civilian populations subjected to massive shock. Trying to heal myself, I became fascinated by the impact of trauma on individuals and collectives.

Collective PTSD is called “historical trauma.” The devastation of a collective—from genocide, slavery, ethnic cleansing, etc.,—gets passed down from one generation to the next psychologically and genetically, causing a cascade of mental health problems. Think: The Great Famine in Ireland; the enslavement of Africans; the genocide of indigenous peoples in the Americas; the Holocaust.

Since October 7 last year, from a psycho-social perspective, I’ve been trying to understand Israel’s behavior. Two things have become abundantly clear: Zionists suffer from both Historical Trauma and Narcissism.

Repeatedly, Israelis and other Zionists have referred to Palestinians as “Nazis.”

The Nazis controlled a state with internationally recognized borders and an army so powerful they could invade and wage war on numerous countries simultaneously. They murdered Jews simply because they were Jews.

Palestinians don't control a state with internationally recognized borders, don't have an army, and don't hate Jews because they're Jews. They oppose Zionism because it requires the ethnic cleansing of their people from their homeland.

They couldn’t be more different.

One could argue this absurd claim is simply propaganda on their part, but I fear this irrationality goes deeper.

Dr. Yael Danieli, a clinical psychologist, observed specific behavior patterns among children of Holocaust survivors: an overly protective stance toward their parents, a high need for control, an obsession with the Holocaust, a defensive stance toward life, and immature dependency.

She named these reactions “reparative adaptational impacts” because survivors’ progeny try to repair the world for their parents, their grandparents, and themselves—largely unconsciously.

Psychically, Israel has spent the past year trying to defeat the Nazis, undo the Holocaust, and repair the world not only for their ancestors and themselves, but for all Jews.

This may explain the bloodlust of the last year, but Zionism cannot be justified by the Holocaust or any anti-Semitic murderous rampages against Jews, because as Ha’Aretz journalist Amira Hass observed in the film Where Olive Trees Weep, “The settler colonial system here was created before the Holocaust.”

“[Zionism]’s fed by a stream of trauma, but after so many decades….it’s simply colonialism…. It’s an apartheid state,” said trauma specialist and Holocaust survivor Dr. Gabor Mate.

Israel justifies that apartheid through another form of psychopathology: collective narcissism. I’ll discuss that in my next post.

Disclaimer: This is one article in a series by writers who do not share all opinions and approaches, but strongly agree that human rights is universal, and that the genocide in Palestine must be stopped.

About the writer: Val Phillips is a writer and farmer residing in Colorado. She received her B.A. from the University California, Los Angeles, her coursework centered on Arab history and European Jewish history. She lived and worked as a teacher in the Occupied West Bank for 2 years, and later returned to Palestine with the International Solidarity Movement to engage in nonviolent resistance to the Occupation.