My purpose in writing this is to discuss what I have experienced working with clients who have expressed concerns about what is happening in Israel/Palestine, and the reactions to it in the U.S. Before I get into that, I want to be transparent about where I stand, rather than writing from a neutral position – I am a long-time supporter of the Palestinian people and their desire for basic human rights. I have had an interest in this area for a long time and have read and learned as much as I could over that time – a couple of recent books that I read were “Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine” by Noura Erakat, and “Palestine: Peace not Apartheid” by former President Jimmy Carter.
There is a profound sense of powerlessness and helplessness for many people about what is going on in the Middle East. This starts with the violence, death and destruction – including what Israel is currently doing to the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank, what Hamas did on October 7, and everything that’s been happening in the decades before that (the UN Secretary General was correct to say that this isn’t happening in a vacuum).
The other issue that is coming up for a lot of people I work with is more specific to being in the U.S. (but not exclusive to it by any means). For people who are sympathetic to and supportive of the Palestinian people there has been a sense that they cannot speak up for fear of repercussions. If this was just a case of being challenged for what they are saying it might be easy to categorize it as standard social media issues, but it does go beyond that, including people losing their jobs because they posted something pro-Palestine on social media. This includes an NYU Law student who had a job offer rescinded for speaking in support of Palestinian human rights. When I saw the story on LinkedIn I was dismayed to see all of the comments that praised the law firm for this decision. (This didn’t just start happening, back in June a CUNY Law School student was attacked for pro-Palestine statements she made in her commencement address.)
From a therapy perspective, particularly from a Feminist Therapy perspective, what I try to offer is (1) validation about what they’re feeling, and (2) helping them explore what sources of power they do have in this situation. Depending on their position, they might be able to attend rallies, make statements themselves on social media, discuss the issues with others, amplify the voices of those who are making statements (via liking and reposting on social media), and contacting their elected representatives to express their feelings. To be clear, not all of these options are available to everyone – we have to individually examine potential consequences and how we could handle them, but almost everyone could do at least one of these things (among other options that I haven’t thought of).
I don’t consider it my role as a therapist to specifically encourage any action by clients – but if that is something they want to do, I can help explore that and help manage the feelings of powerlessness. None of us individually can resolve what is going on – the fact that we do live in a time where we can become aware, sometimes instantaneously, of things going on all around the world can overwhelm our “problem-solving” natures, we can’t change that. We can focus on the ripples that we can make and know that if enough other people make the same ripples it can bring about change.
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