For Israelis, sexual atrocities of October 7 carry a long shadow

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So what is clear, is the immense impact of the trauma on their lives. It’s not just sexual violence but what people saw. Things were severed and cut, like limbs, heads and breasts. Grenades were put in the intimate organs. It’s something that you can’t comprehend.

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There are people whose lives have fallen apart. Divorce, suicide, unemployment, psychiatric hospitalization. Then there are relatives, their spouses and children, living with the consequences of post-trauma. It is hundreds of people affected.

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Q: Has anything become clearer as more time has passed?

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A: More stories have come out, particularly from people who were held captive, including men. At first, we were very worried about women, and did not speak enough about men. Over time, some men’s accounts of abuse emerged, too.

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What has become clearest is the immense impact of trauma on people’s lives. We hear from survivors and witnesses who are in horrific mental situations and barely surviving. Human beings who saw such cruelty cannot simply return to themselves.

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Q: Have Israel’s support systems caught up with the need?

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A: There are many new NGOs that sprang up after October 7 to offer mental-health support and other assistance. But it is not enough.

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The social-security system offers monthly payments and other support to people who cannot work, but it is not coping with the demand. Funds are limited. There are many people who cannot work, have divorced, have children, and are trying to survive.

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Q: What have Israeli institutions done well — and what is still missing?

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A: The health system — like therapists, hospitals, security personnel –- did sensitive work. They initially met and questioned released hostages. They were generally trauma-informed: they understood not to ask what did not need to be asked.

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But three years later, what is hugely missing is a national initiative to help people navigate mental health, rehabilitation, employment and bureaucracy. If people do not have someone helping them through the system, they can hardly survive.

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This will take a decade.

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The forthcoming ARCCI study is intended to make that goal clearer. It’s not just what happened on October 7, but what happens afterward. It’s the effects on those who lived through it, those who witnessed it, and the systems now responsible with helping them.

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Q: What do you make of the disbelief surrounding these accounts?

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A: This story has become connected to bigger political arguments about Israel and Zionism. But atrocities are atrocities, whatever one’s politics. They should be examined first as human acts.

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Sexual violence does not necessarily leave something a survivor can show the world. That makes it easier for people to place everything in apolitical context and say, “You are lying.” I think that is horribly sad.

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