How modern psychology is turning a genocidal army into a ‘morally injured’ one by Rami Rmeileh

Numbers and testimonies reveal that Israel is drowning in the consequences of its own violence, and the media have been calling it a mental-health crisis. Suicide among IOF soldiers is constantly on the rise, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has become a routine diagnosis, and crisis hotlines are overwhelmed. Hebrew media speak of “war trauma” and “emotional first aid.” Israeli psychiatrists and Knesset members warn of an “epidemic.” But instead of asking what kind of perverted political-settler order produces this level of psychic collapse, the country, and psychiatric institutions such as the American Psychological Association (APA) are racing to medicalize in order to contain and manage the moral consequences of its own actions. The American Psychiatric Association has now recognized “moral injury” as a legitimate focus of clinical attention. Israeli clinicians, journalists, and scholars have begun to adopt the term for soldiers returning from Gaza. A new diagnostic container is being prepared to hold, neutralize, and ultimately absolve the guilt of perpetrators at the very moment the word “genocide” is entering mainstream legal and moral debate.