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It is in the nature of political bodies always to see the evil in the opposite group, just as the individual has as ineradicable tendency to get rid of everything he does not know and does not want to know about himself, by foisting it off on somebody else. (Jung, 1964, para. 576)
At the opening of his paper, Professor Erlich wonders how cultural and artistic events are relevant in taking a clear stance in opposition to Israel's actions in Gaza. Art has always been a way of expressing denied and unwanted parts of the collective consciousness and unconscious, as well as of protest against injustice and power. Jung wrote: “Therein lies the social significance of art: It is constantly at work educating the spirit of the age, conjuring up the forms in which the spirit is most lacking” (Jung, 1966, para. 130). Yet in this case, the issue is not only symbolic expression or the articulation of what is unconscious, but the adoption of a clear ethical position, supported by the authority and the social status granted to artists and cultural leaders.
These two aspects are also relevant to psychoanalysis and to psychoanalysts. Based on my position as an Israeli Jungian analyst, looking from within at processes that are happening in the collective that I am part of, I would like to offer a shadow informed gaze at Erlich's questions and
There is no conflict of interests.
answers, and look at the manifestations of denial and disavowal of the shadow in his paper.
Professor Erlich's preoccupation with whether or not Israeli actions in Gaza can be called “genocide”, or whether those protestors who chant “Free Palestine from the river to the sea” even know which river and which sea they are referring to, distracts attention from the core issue: following the horrific massacre of Israelis carried out by Hamas on October 7, 2023, the Israeli army, under the government's orders, has killed tens of thousands Palestinians—children, adults, and elderly people. There have been reports of se