A critical response to Reem Shelhi on the social unconscious of Israelis

This article responds critically to Reem Shelhi’s interpretation of the social unconscious of Israeli Jews, with particular attention to her reading of my chapter. Through contextual comparison of the source texts, it examines factual inaccuracies, selective historical framing, and the conversion of psychoanalytic hypotheses into claims about collective psychopathology. It argues that treating both acknowledgment and omission as evidence of disavowal insulates interpretation from correction, while shifting between Zionism, Israel, Israelis, and Jews obscures distinct levels of analysis. Historical events, legal findings, political frameworks, and unconscious processes require different forms of evidence. The response identifies neglected passages addressing Palestinian suffering and Israeli responsibility, alongside insufficient consideration of violence and existential threats shaping Jewish experience. Drawing on Jessica Benjamin’s account of doing and done-to, it proposes a relational alternative to fixed divisions between victims and perpetrators, without implying equal power or equivalent responsibility. It concludes that inquiry into the social unconscious requires contextual accuracy, reflexivity, engagement with alternative explanations, and recognition of both peoples’ suffering and agency.