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Psychological Warfare after the Guns Are Stilled: The Need for Cognitive Reframing the "Day After"

(Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Irwin J. Mansdorf, PhD - In the repeated battles between Israel and Palestinian and Islamic terror organizations, Israel finds itself time and again at a psychological disadvantage despite holding a clear military advantage. Much of this psychological disadvantage stems from the lack of any need for Israel's enemies to conform to accepted standards and "rules of war." Whereas most civil societies would prefer negotiation over self-destruction, Palestinian terror organizations do not, when ideology becomes the motor for cognitive choice. When an ideology is religiously based, belief in those precepts presents a formidable obstacle to any reality-based argument to the contrary. Those who are ideologically addicted will see victory where others see defeat. This religious-ideological mechanism driving Hamas is the primary reason why, for Israel, the insistence on removing any vestige of Hamas rule in Gaza is essential. While Western eyes and ears see and hear a defeated Gazan population, Hamas' perspective is still focused on the events of Oct. 7, which represents a victory of the Jihad-based resistance to infidels on Islamic land. For Israel, if the military defeat of Hamas is not followed by its psychological defeat, the remnants of the organization will undoubtedly regroup to fight another day. The events of Oct 7 created a broad and encompassing common societal trauma for Israelis. The military and political response must promise an effective and lasting feeling of personal security, which is at the center of Israeli thinking. Any political solution for the "day after" will need to be based on the current broad consensus among Israelis of zero tolerance for terror or the threat of terror. The trauma caused by the attack has reinforced thinking that demands personal security and prioritizes it above taking risks for peace with a partner in whom any trust has been marred. The Israeli public will not likely accept any post-war reality where threats to personal safety continue. The writer is a fellow at the Jerusalem Center specializing in political psychology and a member of the emergency division of the IDF Homefront Command.
2024-01-22 00:00:00
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