This paper explores the different ways in which psychoanalysis can engage with socio-political events, taking as its primary focus the conflict between Israel and Palestine/Gaza. At a general level psychoanalysis shares with other disciplines a mode of thought which emphasises such things as historical continuity, the distinction between what is manifest and the hidden realities it obscures. More specifically psychoanalytic contribution comes from its understanding of the nature and functioning of unconscious phantasy both at group and individual level. The paper problematises the frequent misuse of the term ‘psychoanalytic neutrality’ which, the author claims, serves to silence opposition to a dominant ideology rather than question it. Lastly, the author describes how attempts to think about the onset of the current conflict in its long historical and geopolitical context are misunderstood as seeking to provide justification- the author emphasises the need to maintain the critical distinction between these two modalities of thought.