Abstract This auto‐ethnographic analysis describes the loss of my ethical worldview and my attempts to regain it following the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent Israeli retaliation. On October 7th, I was unable to feel compassion for the people of Gaza or to take action against the Israeli retaliation, aspects that I used to see as foundational to my humanistic worldview. As I lost my intuitive understanding of humanism, I realized that it had become to me what Hannah Arendt defined as a “frozen” thought, a fixed and unquestioned concept. Drawing upon my attempts to “defrost” my humanistic worldview, this essay critically considers Arendt's theorization and offers an ethical perspective that is grounded on ambiguity rather than on clear and fixed concepts. Focusing on these internal processes also illuminates the moral atmosphere that enables an Israeli public discourse that largely facilitates the violent retaliation against Palestinians.
Yael Assor (Tue,) studied this question.