The Euphoria of Killing Jews

The disturbing euphoria seen in those who attacked Israel on October 7, 2023 was not just a reflection of the animalistic thrill they got from the acts of raping, torturing, and killing. 

That thrill existed, in my opinion, but the acts also had enormous significance to them. Engaging in these acts meant doing what was explicitly taught to them and reinforced -from all directions- since childhood. It meant doing what their teachers taught them. It meant doing what the Quran prescribes and what their imams taught them. It meant doing what their families, communities, indeed their society value above all else. Killing Jews. So, the intensity of the righteousness they felt in those moments caused elation.

I recently heard Einat Wilf, PhD offer an additional explanation of the significance of these acts. To her, the euphoria was caused by enacting one of the four tenets of what she calls Palestinianism. That is, the (bogus claim to a) right of return. Like the value of killing Jews, another of the four elements of Palestinianism, this was taught to them and reinforced, from every direction, since childhood.

Continuing to use Dr. Wilf’s model of Palestinian identity to fill out the explanation for the euphoria, another element was their belief that they were fulfilling the societally shared desire for Palestinian control of the land spanning from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. (In other words, Israel.) As with the other elements of Palestinianism, the centrality of achieving this was taught and reinforced since childhood. So, when the attackers were ostensibly in control, if briefly, of a slice of land east of Gaza, it’s likely they felt they had taken back some of that very land between the River and the Sea.

The fourth tenet of Palestinianism is the belief that they are refugees. Taught and reinforced since childhood, refugee status is seen as their unfortunate fate at the hand of the Israelis. [I am setting aside the term’s extensive use in propaganda and the dramatic absurdity of Gazans still claiming refugee status.] So, in the short period during which the attackers believed they had taken back and returned to their homeland, they must have consequently felt jubilation in no longer being refugees.

Experienced together, taking back and returning to their homeland, ending their status as refugees, and eliminating Jews produced euphoria, elation, and jubilation in the attackers. But in doing these things, they also became the people who fulfilled the greatest desires of their society. Combining the intensity of the righteousness they must have experienced, as a result, with the euphoria, elation, and jubilation they felt, was the recipe for something nearly orgasmic. 

To be, or not to be (surprised by Trump): Part VII--Trump, Daddy Issues & The Brave New World of Campaigning

Metaphorically, one might say that what Trump is "putting on" his supporters is a mirror. "I'm one of the guys" is the constant meta-and sometimes explicit-message. This facilitates two things. It prevents Trumpsters from feeling threatened which, in turn, enables their basic identification with him. Adding some substance (and I use the term loosely here), the Donald has unequivocally and repeatedly declared that he is pissed off, providing more tangible material with which his furious followers can identify. From a logician's point of view, the argument is, "You are strong. You are one of us. Therefore we are strong". Or, symbolically, "A=B. A=C. Therefore B=C".

All would agree that a fifty-something who's long been out of work, and has exhausted the limited vocational benefits of a high school diploma, is likely to be highly frustrated and quite angry. But, showing anger is generally socially proscribed. [Many psychologists have decried "venting" anger since he late 1970s when it was shown to be self-reinforcing. Indeed, the psychotherapy highway is littered with the casualties of earlier days. Primal Scream Therapy, of John Lennon-fame, is the most absurd example.] Instead, it grows internally because-as is the case with ire-the related thoughts are repeated so often. And it is the intensity of this anger that enhances Trumpsters' identification the most, supporting their wish to share his power to solve their problems. The hopefulness that this wish produces, even if unconscious, acts as a reward that reinforces the identification.

In summary, Trump projects power as a rule. This projection is being amplified by his symbiosis with his political supporters. As a group, Trumpsters desperately want relief both from their plights and the consequent rage. Their reinforced identification with the Donald supports the unconscious desire to partake of his power, bringing respite into view.

On a conscious level, Trump's supporters see him as an honest change agent, hardly enough to warrant forgiveness for his vaunted venomous verbage. Nor can they easily explain their exoneration of him. That is, of course, because the answer lies inaccessibly wedged deep in the unconscious. It is the place that this identification calls home. From another perspective, the presence of identification means-by definition-that Trumpsters' criticism of the Donald would also be self reflexive. That makes refraining from such critique a method of protecting oneself from the related pain, albeit unconscious.

So, they support him despite his unreserved contemptuousness because they are moved by profound and powerfully conditioned identification; and because they are utterly oblivious to it.