Bereaved Sister Feels Abandoned by Israel After October 7
Translated & summarized from Israel Hayom by baba
Hodia Cohen, a sister who lost a relative on October 7, expressed feeling abandoned by Israel, stating "my country threw me to the dogs." She sought help from four to five psychologists but felt unsupported and that her personal grief was overlooked. Cohen criticized the state's approach to providing psychological aid as superficial and part of a campaign, not genuine support.
The story in 5 lines · by baba
- Hodia Cohen feels Israel abandoned her after the October 7th attacks.
- She sought help from four to five psychologists without finding adequate support.
- Cohen described the state's psychological aid as a superficial 'band-aid' solution.
- She found the slogan 'Together We Will Win' to be a hollow campaign.
- Cohen felt her personal grief was overlooked in favor of a collective narrative.
Hodia Cohen, a sister who lost a loved one on October 7, shared her profound sense of abandonment by the state in a podcast interview. She described her struggle to find adequate psychological support, approaching four to five different therapists without finding one that resonated with her personal grief. Cohen expressed that her individual pain felt subsumed into a larger narrative, stating, "What do I care about everyone else? I came to talk about myself."
Cohen recounted feeling that therapists were merely waiting for sessions to end, perceiving their engagement as a favor rather than genuine support. This led her to believe that the state had hired psychologists for a nominal fee to handle a large volume of clients, offering a superficial "band-aid" solution. "It felt like the state took psychologists, paid them peanuts so they would get a lot, a lot of clients, and just show: 'Here, we put for you.' Here's the band-aid. This is the band-aid, deal with it now,'" she explained.
She also reflected on the pervasive slogan "Together We Will Win," which became a prominent feature of Israeli discourse after the October 7th attacks. Cohen found the slogan hollow, viewing it as a marketing campaign, citing examples like a "Tapuchips, 'Together We Will Win'" promotion. For her, the slogan, intended to foster unity, instead highlighted the disconnect between the official message and her lived reality of grief and perceived neglect.
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