Confronting Illusions Can HELP

"'Confronting Illusions Can Help Heal Trauma'

Renowned physician Gabor Maté ruminates on trauma and Jewishness at a time of conflict"

BY MADHUSREE MUKERJEE

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/confronting-illusions-can-help-heal-trauma/

"Do you see a link between the Holocaust and what is happening in the Middle East?"

"The events of October 7, the brutal atrocities committed against Jews in southern Israel—for most of my fellow Jews, who don’t know the history of who the Palestinians are and what has happened to them, this is a terrible attack on Jews, the largest catastrophe that has befallen us since the Holocaust. So one trauma is reminiscent of and feeds into the other.

But the analogy [between the two traumas] is a false one. Four years ago a poll in Canada showed that most Canadians knew nothing or little about residential schools: [in the late 19th to late 20th centuries,] Indigenous kids were tortured physically, sexually, and emotionally and were beaten or had pins stuck in their tongue for speaking their language. Most Canadians said they knew nothing or little about this. Most Jews and Israelis are similarly attached to their own narrative, which excludes the experience of [Palestinians]."

"Hundreds of Jewish people have been arrested while protesting the bombing of Gaza and saying, 'Not in our name.'"

"I’ve been very public on this issue for a long time now, and it hasn’t made me popular in some circles. I get all kinds of e-mails, some of which tell me I’m a self-hating Jew and betraying my people. But I recently got two e-mails from fellow Jews—very famous people. One of them writes, 'I’m reaching out to you in the midst of this horrible war.... Thank you for speaking out. You’ve been my voice.' Another one says: "Your words are healing the world as they’ve always healed me.'

When I saw those demonstrations on television, I wept. I was so moved. I was just so moved. And so that’s just how it goes. I’m not blaming people on the other side; I understand their experience. I used to believe what they believe. But, thank God, I became disillusioned."