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Freud Museum event on Israel-Palestine conflict criticized for lacking focus on October 7 perpetrators' psychology

From Jerusalem Post · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

Opinion Sources not specified Context piece
  • A London museum event discussing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has drawn criticism for its perceived focus on Palestinian narratives.
  • The author, a psychoanalyst, argues the event lacks specialists in terrorism studies or trauma work with Israeli survivors of October 7.
  • The event is organized around a publication by the Tavistock Working Group, which the author suggests may be biased.

A psychoanalyst has voiced concerns over an upcoming online event at the Freud Museum London titled “How do we even talk about Palestine and Israel?” The event, scheduled for July 7, is centered on a 2025 publication by the Tavistock Working Group, a collective of 12 child psychiatrists, psychologists, and psychotherapists who began meeting after October 7, 2023.

How do we even talk about Palestine and Israel?

— Freud Museum LondonTitle of the online event organized by the Freud Museum London.

While the museum's announcement acknowledges suffering in both Gaza and Israel, the author, Nancy Hartevelt Kobrin, argues that the emphasis quickly shifts almost entirely toward Palestinian narratives, suffering, and "social justice." Kobrin, who has decades of experience studying terrorism and political violence, expressed concern not about the discussion itself, but its apparent framing.

the insurmountable difficulties of the Palestine-Israel conflict.

— Freud Museum LondonDescription of the subject matter for the event, as stated by the museum.

Kobrin's critique stems from her review of the speakers' biographies. She notes that several speakers have histories of Palestinian advocacy or humanitarian work, including personal connections to displacement and work with Palestinian organizations. While acknowledging these as sincere commitments, Kobrin points out that none of the 12 biographies identify a specialist in terrorism studies, hostage psychology, military psychiatry, or trauma work specifically with Israeli survivors of the October 7 attacks, the Nova music festival, or Gaza border communities.

the psychology of the predatory perpetrators who carried out the October 7 massacre, or the ideology that produced it.

— Nancy Hartevelt KobrinWhat Kobrin believes is missing from the event's intended discussion.

Kobrin suggests the language of the announcement, which promises empathy, dialogue, and reflection, omits the clinical vocabulary her profession uses to understand organized violence. This includes terms like "genocidal ideology, paranoid mental states, primitive defenses, projective identification, dehumanization, collective sadism, or the intergenerational transmission of hatred."

empathy, dialogue, reflection, memories, and poetry.

— Freud Museum LondonThe kind of discussion the museum announcement promises.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Jerusalem Post in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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