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Statement of the Israeli child psychoanalysts and psychoanalysts in general from the 
ISRAEL PSYCHOANALYTIC SOCIETY

 

We, Israeli child psychoanalysts and psychoanalysts in general, like the rest of the Israeli citizens, are under an ongoing traumatic onslaught following the heinous acts of Palestinian Hamas terrorists, which took place on Saturday, October 7th in the southern Kibbutz, villages and towns of Israel. In the past days we are exposed to horrifying evidence about the massacre of civilians: children, women and elderly people in their homes and the abduction of citizens to Gaza with abuse and humiliation that is beyond description in words. The sadistic cruelty towards infants, children and young adolescents, many of them mutilated, raped and tortured after having been forced to witness the murder of their parents and of entire families, is unthinkable. This is not just a crime born out of hatred of Jews (which the Hamas openly propagates in all its official channels) or territorial or religious conflict, but a crime against humanity. The target is humanity, not just Israel.

Our main concern now are the children who were kidnapped to Gaza, and who are hopefully still alive, held in captivity by murderous terrorists. Some of those children were unmercifully orphaned, as the terrorists brutally abused their parents and often murdered them while the children were forced to watch the horrifying scene. The terrorists then shot and burned their parents in front of their eyes, celebrating the killing, filming and broadcasting the horrors in their victims’ social media, after taking their cellular phones and using them for these horrific purposes.

The sadistic, deliberate targeting of infants and children for abuse, torture and murder is an attempt to destroy the most fundamental link to humanity. It is an attempt to annihilate any connection to vulnerability, development, love and goodness. It is a death-driven culture of hate and destruction. It has nothing to do with territorial claims or conflict, and everything to do with a perverse idealization of death and torture. As such, these perpetrators exiled themselves from any inclusion in human discourse.

We call upon every government and organization to speak out loud, condemn these monstrous actions and perpetrators and call for the immediate, unconditional release of the Israeli children who were abducted to Gaza.

Editors: Tal Sharir Wolpe, Ehud Wolpe and Joshua Dorban, Psychoanalysts  for children and adults.


Statement of the Members of the Israeli
Psychoanalytic Societies and Institutes

 

On Saturday morning, October 7, 2023, like a violent eruption of a volcano, the earth unleashed the most absolute explosion of evil. Hamas terrorists raided calm civilian communities on Israeli territory, murdered, raped, abused bodies and babies, burned homes, and kidnapped babies, children, elderly, women and men.

Over 1,400 people were murdered, 4000 injured, hundreds are absent and 239 are held hostage in the hands of a terror organization, their fate unknown. Moreover, Israel is under a constant rocket attack from south to north targeting the entire Israeli population, with over 130000 civilians already evacuated from their homes, living as refugees in their own country. For this reason, as any other country, Israel has the right and the obligation to protects its citizens.

These acts targeted Jews and Israelis, however they did not discriminate, as Arabs and people of many other nationalities were murdered. There is no justification for this horrific brutality, this outbreak of sheer evil and inhumanity. This presents a real threat and is entirely a war against all humanity.

It is important to emphasize that we, in the mental health field, are ethically committed to the wellbeing of people on both sides.

We are well aware of the psychological price of war firsthand, and as a result, we would like to express the wish that all children and innocent people, regardless of race or nationality should be protected. We express sorrow for the suffering caused to uninvolved Palestinians. It is shocking that Hamas deliberately hides among them and endangers their lives.

We turn to you and ask for your solidarity in our plight for the immediate release of the hostages, and in expressing condemnation of the atrocities and crimes against humanity that the Hamas unleashed on October 7th and continues to unleash, using innocent civilians as human shields.

We are very grateful for the deep concern that has been expressed by some of our affiliate professional societies around the world. Such gestures of solidarity have been very valuable and reassuring. On the other hand, other statements and
demonstrations which have taken place in some cities and campuses that have overlooked or flatly denied the atrocities experienced by Israelis on October 7th, are injurious and worrisome in their disregard of these events.

The refusal to recognize the human catastrophe of the events that occurred in Israel, the turning a blind eye to expression of cruelty and an additional blind eye to the suffering of the victims, flattens the human soul and dehumanizes Israelis whose losses do not count. These types of attitudes disregard the human price paid by thousands of victims. We are calling for all people concerned with human rights to openly oppose all statements and actions that ignore the plight of those affected by the Hamas attack and neglect to condemn the violence that Hamas has perpetrated on innocent civilians.

Praying and hoping for better days,

The Psychoanalytic and Analytic Societies and Institutes in Israel

Dr. Viviane Chetrit-Vatine, Israel Psychoanalytic Society, President
Simi Talmi, Chair of Tel Aviv institution of Contemporary psychoanalysis
Raanan Kulka, Head, Human Spirit Psychoanalytic-Buddhist Training Program
Ahuva Yavin Arnon, The Israeli Society for Analytical Psychology, ISAP, president
Batya Brosh Palmoni, President of The Israeli institute of Jungian Psychology, in honour of Erich Neumann
Iris Elyakim-Meroz, New Israeli Jungian Association, president
Liat Ariel, Chairperson of the management committee of the Israeli Institute of Group Analysis (IIGA)

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