Sir Afilonius Rex and Editorial Team

New Jersey and Toledo (Spain), 25th November 2025

Surveying the Estate

The trauma and post-traumatic stress from the Holocaust and historical pogroms profoundly influence many non-religious (secular) pro-Zionists today. This manifests itself as mechanisms like inter-generational trauma, collective memory, and a deep-seated sense of vulnerability tied to Jewish identity. This isn’t limited to religious observance; Judaism often functions as an ethnic and cultural heritage. Situations in which historical persecutions shape worldviews even among atheists or agnostics. Here’s a breakdown of why this persists and affects them so significantly.

Inter-generational Trauma Transmission

The trauma from the Nazi Holocaust was passed down in multiple ways. Centuries of pogroms across Europe and the Middle East also left their mark. It was passed down biologically, psychologically, and socially. Studies show epigenetic changes. These are alterations in gene expression that do not change the DNA sequence. They can occur in the offspring of survivors. This leads to heightened stress responses, anxiety, or depression.

Note: Epigenetic. Relating to changes, especially heritable changes, in the characteristics of a cell or organism. These changes result from altered gene expression or other effects. These do not involve changes to the DNA sequence itself.

For secular Jews, this manifests not through faith but via family narratives. Stories of grandparents’ survival, lost relatives, or displacement become core to personal identity. This “vicarious trauma” fosters a persistent fear of recurrence, even generations later.

In Jewish communities, it’s common for children and grandchildren to internalise these experiences, leading to hyper-vigilance about antisemitism.

Connection to Secular Zionism

Zionism, at its core, is a nationalist movement for Jewish self-determination. It appeals to secular individuals as a pragmatic response to historical threats. It is not seen as a divine mandate. The Holocaust amplified this. Pre-Holocaust Zionism (dating back to the late 19th century) focused on escaping pogroms and discrimination. The genocide underscored the need for a sovereign state as a refuge.

For non-religious pro-Zionists today, Israel signifies security against existential dangers, informed by collective trauma. This is clear in how events like rising global antisemitism or conflicts revive Holocaust-era fears. These fears drive support for Israel’s existence as a “never again” safeguard.

Secular Zionists often view it through a lens of human rights, democracy, or cultural preservation. Still, underlying trauma influences their intensity, for example, perceiving criticisms of Israel as threats to Jewish survival.

Cultural and Societal Factors

• Education and Media: In Israel and diaspora communities, Holocaust education (e.g., via museums like Yad Vashem) emphasises remembrance, embedding trauma into secular culture. This influences political views. Many secular Israelis support Zionist policies. About 45% of the population identifies as non-religious and sees these policies as a buffer against perceived vulnerabilities.
• Ongoing Echoes: Modern pogrom-like events (e.g., attacks on Jews in various countries) or the October 7, 2023, attacks in Israel trigger post-traumatic responses, linking past and present.
• For secular pro-Zionists, this reinforces advocacy without relying on religious texts.
• Psychological Cycles: Unprocessed trauma can lead to defensive postures in politics, where support for Zionism becomes a way to reclaim agency after historical powerlessness.

While this trauma undeniably fuels much of the passion among secular pro-Zionists, it’s not universal; some Jews process it differently, leading to anti-Zionist views or calls for reconciliation.

The influence is debated: critics argue it sometimes justifies policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while others see it as a legitimate response to real threats.

Overall, it’s a complex interplay of history, psychology, and identity that transcends religion.

Understanding Palestinian Intergenerational Trauma

Palestinian intergenerational trauma refers to the transmission of psychological, emotional, and even biological effects of historical and ongoing violence across generations, stemming from events like the 1948 Nakba (the Arabic term for “catastrophe,” marking the displacement of over 700,000 Palestinians during Israel’s founding) and decades of military occupation, displacement, and conflict. This trauma is not a singular event but a continuous process, amplified by recent escalations such as the 2023–2025 Gaza war, which has inflicted widespread loss, destruction, and siege conditions. It manifests in heightened rates of mental health disorders, altered family dynamics, and a collective sense of loss tied to identity and homeland, affecting Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and the diaspora.

Historical Roots and Transmission Mechanisms

The Nakba serves as a foundational trauma, involving the destruction of over 500 Palestinian villages, mass expulsions, and the creation of a refugee population that persists today (over 5.9 million registered with UNRWA). This event disrupted family structures, livelihoods, and cultural continuity, leading to “chronic grief” and a fractured sense of belonging that echoes through family narratives and education. Subsequent events, such as the 1967 Six-Day War, intifadas, and blockades, compound this, creating a cycle where each generation inherits not just stories of loss but ongoing exposure to stressors such as home demolitions, checkpoints, and violence.

Transmission occurs through:

• Psychological and Social Channels: Parents and grandparents pass down memories via oral histories, fostering anxiety, pessimism, and hypervigilance. Studies show second- and third-generation refugees often exhibit “vicarious trauma,” including distorted worldviews (e.g., viewing the world as inherently hostile) that correlate with poorer mental health outcomes.
• Epigenetic and Biological Factors: Emerging research indicates trauma can alter gene expression, potentially affecting stress responses in offspring. For instance, the ongoing Gaza conflict may leave “generational scars” on epigenetics, impacting unborn children through parental stress hormones and malnutrition.
• Cultural and Structural Reinforcement: Occupation normalises violence, with children as the fifth generation under Israeli control facing restricted movement and systemic discrimination, embedding trauma into daily life.

Effects on Mental Health and Society

Recent studies highlight severe impacts, particularly post-2023:

• Prevalence Rates: In Gaza, after one year of war, anxiety affects ~70%, probable PTSD ~65%, and depression ~60% of adults, with children showing similar or higher rates due to displacement and loss. Older adults face compounded risks, including shortened lifespans from chronic stress.
• Intergenerational Ripple: Trauma from the Nakba predicts social media addiction and mental health issues in youth, as coping mechanisms like escapism fill voids left by unresolved grief. In the diaspora, it contributes to identity struggles and higher radicalisation risks in refugee communities, though most channel it toward resilience.
• Broader Social Consequences: This leads to family breakdowns, reduced educational attainment, and cycles of conflict, where unaddressed pain fuels both despair and resistance.
• On X (formerly Twitter), users describe it as a “unique” burden requiring culturally tailored therapy, with calls for Palestinian-led healing initiatives.

Key Study	Focus	Key Finding
War-related trauma in Gazans (2024)	Narratives post-2023 genocide	Exploratory analysis shows layered trauma from violence, loss, and displacement, extending to future generations.
Psychological impact of 2023–2025 conflict (2025)	Mental health outcomes	High psychosocial burdens, with intergenerational effects via family separation and chronic exposure.
Gaza’s hidden crisis (2024)	Adults and children	Anticipates enduring mental health scars from war, including PTSD and depression, across age groups.
Nakba second-generation absorption (2023)	Refugee families	Anticipates enduring mental health scars from war, including PTSD and depression, across age groups.
Unbearable suffering in Gaza (2024)	Post-October 7	Catastrophic psychological consequences, not short-term but multigenerational.

Paths Forward, Resilience and Reconciliation

While devastating, Palestinian society demonstrates remarkable sumud (steadfastness), with community storytelling, art, and mutual aid as buffers. Experts advocate for trauma-informed interventions: culturally sensitive therapy, reparations for refugees, and ending the occupation to break the cycle. International bodies like the WHO emphasise psychosocial support, but access remains limited amid ongoing violence. As one analyst notes, healing requires “courageous listening” to Palestinian narratives in a “genocidal world.”

Recent X discussions underscore urgency, linking it to broader calls for justice and a ceasefire.

This trauma, like others globally (e.g., Indigenous or Holocaust survivors), underscores how unresolved historical injustices perpetuate suffering, yet awareness and action can foster recovery.

Reconciliation between Israelis, Jews, Palestinians, and Muslims is challenging. These groups are intertwined by shared history, geography, and Abrahamic faiths. Addressing deep-seated traumas from events like the Holocaust, pogroms, the Nakba, and ongoing conflicts is essential. These have fostered cycles of dread, fear, phobias, and antagonism, often manifesting as intergenerational psychological wounds, hypervigilance, and mutual dehumanisation. While no quick fix exists, experts emphasise that healing is possible. It can be achieved through voluntary, long-term processes. These processes prioritise empathy, acknowledgement, and shared humanity. Drawing from peacebuilding frameworks, we offer psychological insights and real-world initiatives. These are interconnected strategies. They foster reconciliation and heal these emotional scars.

Acknowledge Collective and Intergenerational Trauma

Both sides must recognise the validity of each other’s pain without competition or hierarchies of suffering. Israelis and Jews often carry Holocaust-era fears of annihilation and historical pogroms, while Palestinians and Muslims endure traumas from displacement, occupation, and violence. This mutual acknowledgement breaks denial and self-victimisation patterns that fuel antagonism.

• Practical Steps: Implement trauma-informed programs. This includes psychosocial support groups where participants share narratives in safe, single-identity settings. They do this before progressing to joint sessions. For example, culturally tailored therapy—such as Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) for triggers or journaling to process emotions—can help individuals reframe memories. Community rituals, such as exhumations or memorial days, support grieving and spiritual healing, drawing on Islamic practices of supplication (e.g., seeking refuge from worry and sorrow) or Jewish concepts of unconditional love to integrate past wounds.
• Role of Professionals: Engage therapists trained in vicarious trauma, emphasising epigenetic transmission (e.g., stress responses passed biologically) and resilience-building through sumud (Palestinian steadfastness) or tikkun olam (Jewish world-repairing).

This step reduces phobias by humanising the “other,” as seen in programs where Palestinians visit Auschwitz to understand Jewish fears, leading to empathy breakthroughs.

Foster Dialogue and Build Trust

Antagonism thrives in isolation; reconciliation demands sustained, facilitated interactions to replace fear with confidence and empathy.

• Grassroots Initiatives: Start with non-confrontational activities like joint olive harvests, home visits during holy days, or telephone hotlines (e.g., “Hello, Shalom! Hello, Salaam!”) for anonymous conversations. These build personal bonds, as evidenced by thousands of calls breaking years of silence.
• Interfaith Dialogues: Leverage shared religious values, Abraham as a common patriarch, Qur’anic calls for peace, or Torah teachings on pursuing justice, to humanise differences. High-level summits, such as the 2002 Alexandria Declaration, bring together rabbis, sheikhs, and priests to condemn violence and promote cease-fires, while grassroots groups (e.g., Women’s Dialogue or Jonah Group) meet in homes for story-sharing.
• Educational Exchanges: Train educators in tolerance curricula, such as studying texts on “the land” from Jewish and Muslim perspectives, to influence youth and counter incitement.

Trust evolves in stages: from coexistence (replacing violence) to empathy (understanding shared vulnerabilities). Avoid pressuring forgiveness; focus on voluntary participation and safe spaces.

Pursue Truth-Telling and Justice

Unresolved grievances perpetuate dread; transparent processes can dismantle myths and restore dignity.

• Truth Commissions: Establish independent bodies (e.g., modelled on South Africa’s TRC or Rwanda’s gacaca) for public testimonies, accommodating multiple narratives without erasure. This reveals motivations behind actions, individualises guilt, and counters collective blame.
• Restorative Justice: Combine retributive measures (punishing key offenders) with restorative ones (mediation, reintegration). Conditional amnesties tied to truth-sharing can prevent cycles of impunity.
• Reparations: Provide material (e.g., compensation for lost homes, aid for rebuilding) and symbolic (apologies, monuments, joint memorials) redress. Acts like replanting olive groves with cross-community funding affirm mutual blessing and address economic injustices.

These elements heal by empowering survivors (e.g., through advocacy groups like Parents’ Circle, where bereaved families from both sides campaign together) and preventing re-traumatisation.

Promote Symbolic and Cultural Healing

To cure phobias and antagonism, integrate spiritual and communal practices that emphasise shared futures.

• Symbolic Rituals: Organise peace vigils, meditative walks, or sulha (traditional Arab reconciliation ceremonies) involving food-sharing and forgiveness pledges. These tap mysticism (e.g., Sufi bridges) and positive religious interpretations to override violent texts.
• Media and Arts: Use campaigns, plays, poems, and social media to highlight common humanity, such as billboards showing mutual grief or stories of transformation (e.g., a former Hamas sympathiser shifting through rabbi dialogues).
• Cross-Cutting Cooperation: Form alliances based on gender, economics, or environment (e.g., women’s groups or business partnerships) to transcend ethnic divides.

Strategy	Focus on Trauma/Dread/Fear	Focus on Phobias/Antagonism	Example/Application
Acknowledgment & Therapy	Sulha rituals: text studies on peace.	Intergenerational wounds via EMDR, rituals, and support groups.	Palestinian visits to Holocaust sites; Jewish aid for Gaza trauma.
Dialogue & Trust-Building	Safe workshops, phone lines for empathy.	Counters isolation with personal bonds.	Alexandria Summit for religious cease-fires; joint harvests.
Truth & Justice	Testimonies, tribunals to reveal truths.	Bridges divide via Abrahamic roots.	TRC-style commissions for narratives; gacaca for accountability.
Reparations & Symbols	Material/symbolic redress restores dignity.	Affirms shared humanity, prevents cycles.	Olive replanting; memorials for all victims.
Interfaith/Cultural	Religious values for compassion.	Humanises pain, reduces denial.	Sulha rituals; text studies on peace.

Challenges and Paths Forward

Obstacles include political exploitation of trauma, ongoing violence, and resistance to vulnerability. Success depends on international support (e.g., NGOs such as USIP or IDEA), local ownership, and sequencing (e.g., prioritising security before deep dialogue).

Despite setbacks, initiatives like Parents’ Circle or Open House demonstrate impact: shifting attitudes, sustaining hope, and reducing reactive violence. Ultimately, reconciliation demands “courageous listening” and a commitment to non-violence, transforming trauma into a bridge for coexistence. As one framework notes, it’s a “delicate mixture of remembering and forgetting,” where empathy liberates all parties.

Many thanks for reading!