For most Israelis, modern history is divided between the period before October 7, 2023, and after, according to Israeli political psychologist Daniel Bar-Tal of Tel Aviv University. The attacks shattered the myth of Israeli military invincibility that had long been a central part of the national psyche. Before October 7, a powerful confidence in Israel's technological and military superiority was common. That ended when Hamas and other groups stormed into Israel, killing nearly 1,200 people and taking about 250 captives.
Bar-Tal told Al Jazeera that the psychological impact of the attacks was immense. "It disrupted [everything] immensely. It is a crisis that doesn't leave the population," he said. He added that many Israelis were shocked that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might have had prior intelligence about Hamas's plans.
Politicians have exploited the fear and trauma of the October 7 attacks, contributing to a political lurch to the right. The war on Gaza, which Israel describes as a defensive operation, has been accompanied by a series of settler pogroms in the occupied West Bank, fuelled by the Israeli far-right. These developments have contributed to Israel's growing isolation from much of the world.
The Israeli public, Bar-Tal noted, had been generally isolated from the consequences of the military's violent actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. The October 7 attacks brought that violence home in a way that reshaped the country's internal and external dynamics.