Psychiatrist Prof. Yoram Yovell says Israel is in a “liminal” state, neither in emergency nor in calm, nearly three years after October 7. In a live interview that will air Monday at the ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth conference “A State in Post-Trauma,” held with the Histadrut, he said the country is stuck between crisis and recovery, and that this in-between condition carries a heavy price.
Yovell said the national reaction is natural, not pathological: “There are quite a few among us carrying real post-traumatic syndromes, and it has to be treated,” but he added that Israel also revealed “very great resilience.” He said the October 7 massacre, when “the most Jews were murdered since the Holocaust,” will remain part of the national consciousness for many years. He also said Israel is a world power in trauma treatment, pointing to figures such as the late Prof. Edna Foa and Prof. Yair Neria, and stressed that the challenge is getting those resources to the people who need them.
He described a cultural shift from the days of the Yom Kippur War, when admitting distress was seen as weakness, to today, when asking for help is more legitimate. Yovell said everyone in Israel is at risk, not only combat soldiers, and urged people to watch for two warning signs, a clear drop in functioning and a loss of joy in life, even when outward duties continue normally.
On policy, Yovell accused the government of failing to direct enough resources to public mental health care, leaving much of the work to nonprofits and the public sector under strain. He said it is unacceptable that someone who is not suicidal and not in need of hospitalization may wait six months for treatment. He called for a model similar to the Defense Ministry’s support system to be expanded across society, including for police and ordinary citizens, not just reservists or new immigrants.
For coping, he said time can be “a great doctor” if there is a clear trend of improvement, and people should rely on those who love them. He warned against divisive political rhetoric, which he called a “machine of poison,” and said 7 October showed Jews and Arabs alike were targeted and also helped one another. Despite everything, he said Israel ranked eighth in the 2026 World Happiness Report, which he attributed to social cohesion and the fact that Israelis would help a stranger and are more likely than anyone else to say someone in their life would do anything for them.
