Witnessing and Its Implications in Personal and Collective Memory

This paper describes the unique modes of witnessing that have been emerging in the aftermath of the 7/10/23 Hamas attack in Israel. The paper deals with the meaning of witnessing during, and immediately following, a major catastrophe. I argue that these testimonies connect the witness bearing them, and the collective. The testimonies serve the victim but are shaped by what the collective needs. As such, the testimonies become narrower, and unify the narrative, while leaving out, or ignoring parts, that do not conform to the narrative of the collective. This process glosses over vast splits and differences of interpretations, erases multiplicity, and provides constant justifications for the evasion of responsibility, and for the continued cycle of violence. When it reaches the collective, the testimony does not only tell a truth, it also conceals it. I discuss witnessing in the setting of psychoanalytic treatment, briefly reviewing major current theoretical contributions to the understanding of the functions of witnessing in psychoanalytic treatment. I conclude with an afterward, reflecting on my perspective a year and a half after the trauma, as an Israeli citizen facing the suffering of Palestinians, implicated in the abhorrent destruction, killing, and famine inflicted on Gaza and its citizens.