Israel: Literature as resistance amid the Gaza war

At first, it felt barbaric to write a book after October 7, 2023 , says Israeli author Ayelet Gundar-Goshen . "Especially because the hostages are still separated from their families in Israel and the destruction in Gaza continues. And then you take away the privilege of escaping into another world that you create from your own words—that feels wrong."

But there came a turning point that made her scruples disappear: namely, when Israeli government officials called for a boycott of books and films that portrayed Palestinians in a human way. "Then I thought, these fascists are afraid of words. If they believe that words change something, then words can also be used as a weapon. Not to escape reality, but on the contrary, to face reality."

Psychogram of Israeli society

So Gundar-Goshen resumed work on her latest novel, which she had begun long ago: "Unbebidden Guests," which was also published in German this summer.

An Israeli toddler drops a hammer from a balcony, killing a teenager. A Palestinian craftsman who was working on the balcony is arrested. The little boy's mother remains silent. A drama of guilt, repression, and revenge begins – a psychogram of Israeli society, which, as Gundar-Goshen sees it, is trapped in a fatal system of fear of the "other."

Ayelet Gundar-Goshen is not only a writer but also a psychotherapist. In her novel, she explores hidden mechanisms that she also discovers in herself. As a mother of an infant, she herself had a Palestinian craftsman at home a few years ago. Suddenly, the news broke of the murder of a Palestinian worker by his Israeli employer. "The room immediately filled with fear," she says. "You could smell the fear. Then I quickly realized he was just as afraid of me as I was of him. Because he knows I can call the police because I feel unsafe, and they'll take him away immediately."

Trauma on both sides

Her novel illuminates hidden psychological mechanisms that shape everyday Israeli-Palestinian life. "By viewing yourself as a potential victim," says Gundar Goshen, "you are prepared to become an aggressor."

The therapist's perspective also shapes the writer's: not judging, but understanding why people act. "I wonder why it's so difficult to acknowledge the terrible trauma of October 7, for which there can never be any justification. And at the same time, to acknowledge the horrific trauma now being inflicted on the Palestinians , while the trauma continues for the hostages' families. It's as if one of those sides has to be erased for people to bear it."

Ayelet Gundar-Goshen stands quite alone in the empathy with which she views both sides. Voices like hers are drowned out by the global roar of the ideologically charged debate, which is sometimes carried out with violence, but primarily with demonstrations, politically motivated coercive confessional statements, and rejections of artists, intellectuals, and musicians from both sides. And in Israel itself, critical self-reflection like Gundar-Goshen's has almost no chance. But it's all the more important.

"I try to identify and explore my own blind spots. I often find that they are universal blind spots. If we don't go through the painful process of honestly looking at ourselves in the mirror, we will never be able to change anything."