Nearly two months after the outbreak of the October 7 war and the horrors of that accursed Saturday, we are all still shaking our heads and asking the same weighty question: how can a flesh and blood human being bring themself to carry out such cruel, heinous acts as those that we witnessed? Inconceivable acts.
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Over the years, as the disciplines of psychology and psychiatry developed, and in particular after World War II, researchers have been trying to understand the source of human malice. Is it at all possible to answer this question? At the least, we can try.
“The basic Freudian concept asserted that at our core we are all animals and that the super-ego, the part that makes us moral beings and causes us to feel bad when we seek to inflict harm, is supposed to develop gradually,” explains Dr. Idit Gutman, a clinical psychologist with Tel Aviv University’s School of Psychology.
“With that, the idea that a person is fundamentally bad has already been debunked: today we see that even toddlers are empathetic – they cry when another baby cries and try to help someone that has been injured or taken a fall.”
History does not lack for atrocities, which teaches us that evil and cruelty are human traits. The Jewish people don’t have to try hard to remember such acts. Already in the aftermath of World War II, the famous philosopher Hannah Arendt coined the term “the banality of evil” while covering Adolf Eichmann’s trial in Israel.
Dr. Idit Gutman: “The idea is that evil is something you can cultivate. People are greatly influenced by the environment in which they are raised. If their social surroundings convince them that their victims are not exactly human beings, they can do horrendous things.”
“Arendt tendered a thesis that explained that the Nazis were ordinary people,” says Dr. Gutman. “After World War II, psychologists swarmed Eichman and other criminals and put them through a battery of psychological tests.
Dr. Idit GutmanPhoto: Shachar Shachar, Tel Aviv University"The assumption was that these people couldn’t have been normal – because you must be insane to be such an extreme sadist. To their great surprise, they found that they were wrong. In other words, there was nothing abnormal about them. They were, in all aspects, ordinary people.”
After Ardent’s thesis was published, this assumption gained significant reinforcement from additional studies. The human psyche is complex and, in being so, can be influenced by a variety of factors. “Professor Fried called this ‘Syndrome Evil’,” continues Dr. Gutman.
“The idea is that evil is something that can be nurtured. People are deeply influenced by their surroundings when they grow up. If the social environment they live in convinces them that their victims are not exactly human beings, they can do horrendous things. This process has a name – dehumanization.
What does that mean?
“Think about surgeons. They take a knife and cut into a person because they are confident that they are doing it for the person’s own good – and they have every reason to believe that they are right.
"Based on the same principle, if you take a person who, from the age of zero, has been raised according to a religion, for example, or under the Nazi doctrine, that says that you are doing the world a service by ridding it, let’s assume, of Jewish children – the person may very well think that way. It is all they know.”
“Just as there are people that grow up believing that the world is flat: they are raised according to this notion from age zero, and all the people around them reinforce it. ‘The Jews are not humans’, ‘They are not like you.’ There is a belief that getting rid of them will benefit humanity.
"Under this worldview, people can learn to repress their natural empathy in the same way that a doctor tries not to think about the patient under their knife. Of course, the similarities end there – the doctor tries not to think about their patient as a person because it would make it harder to cut the person and do their job.”
According to Middle East expert Professor Uzi Rabi, Director of the Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University, religious extremism is no less responsible for the dehumanization process.
“Classical writings of the Muslim Brotherhood by Hassan al-Banna and Sayyid Qutb present a sanctification of ‘The Protocols of the Elders of Zion’,” he explains. “Sayyid Qutb was a Muslim Brotherhood disciple and a great nationalist who was radicalized and published a book titled ‘Battles Against the Jews’.
"Among his claims: The Jewish conflict is eternal and cannot be fixed; The response to Jewish machinations is a return to Islam and adopting the ways of Muhammed; Jews are characterized by deceit and cowardice. It’s important to understand that he is not speaking of Judaism.
He asserts that Judaism is a heavenly religion but that the Jews have distorted it and were, therefore, punished - see the case of the Holocaust. His writings only elevated his status, and Hamas actually incorporated them, in some form, into its charter."
And is this influence alone sufficient to produce such horrors?
“Remember that people have been educated on these ideas for a generation. Hamas has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, for 16 years. These are years in which an entire generation has grown up on the dehumanization of Jews.
"This malice can be indoctrinated – a process of instilling stances, opinions, and worldviews. Islam doesn’t dictate 'Go kill babies,' but it does allow for writing a religious adjudication that every male in Israel, whether a baby or an elderly person, has to pay the price.”
"Hamas has controlled Gaza beginning in the 60s, under the banner of the Islamic Associations, even before it became Hamas. When it became Hamas in '88, and even more so in 2007, when it assumed complete control of Gaza, Hamas diverted all of its infrastructure to create an entire curriculum that educates people to binary thinking — that is, zero or one.
"This means that if you exist as a Jew, it’s a problem. Add to this the fact that these are people who often already suffer a great deal of psychological and socioeconomic problems. They are oppressed in Gaza, and when they need to break away to a place where they can unload all of their frustrations, October 7 is the ultimate destination."
The darkest corners of the human soul
Dr. Oren Tene, Director of the Psychiatry Institute at the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center and Director of the Mentalics Institute of Mental Health, agrees with his peers mentioned herein but rushes to qualify this agreement and explain his own professional perspective.
“In the science of psychiatry, many often ask us why people commit crimes, why people do such terrible and cruel things, and this is a bit of a transgression in our discipline – because our goal is not to study and understand evil, but to advance good and the study of human recovery,” he says.
“With a great deal of modesty, I say that I am not an expert on human malice, and I hope no psychiatrist is an expert on this topic. What we do know as people who research human behaviors is that the spectrum of these behaviors also includes inconceivable malice and cruelty, which, regretfully, are part of the pool of behaviors of a good many people.”
Dr. Oren Tene: “If we look at Nazi Germany, the first thing that the Nazis did was to turn the Jews into something inhuman, to rats – something that spreads disease and must be eradicated. In this fashion, Hamas leaders suffuse the consciousness (of their followers) with the notion that all Israelis are the enemy and deserve to die. These ideas seep in. This is not unique to Hamas.”
Dr. Tene also mentions the process of dehumanization as one of the mechanisms responsible for Hamas’s malice. “These are processes that take place in wars or elongated conflicts between peoples: genocides that took place in Africa, unimaginably cruel deeds perpetrated in Russia and Ukraine, abuse in North Korea. It’s happening wherever we might point to on the map of the world. We stop seeing the other as human beings and more like animals.”
“If we look at Nazi Germany, the first thing that the Nazis did was to turn the Jews into something inhuman, to rats – something that spreads disease and must be eradicated. In this fashion, Hamas leaders suffuse the consciousness (of their followers) with the notion that all Israelis are the enemy and deserve to die. These ideas seep in.
"This is not unique to Hamas, and frankly, it happens here too. The capacity for cruelty to enemies is not something that they invented and not something that they further developed, and this without diminishing, even for a moment, the atrocities they committed, that are terrible and horrible and have no justification.”
There’s a difference between killing and abusing, raping, defiling bodies, and mutilation.
“Once people are designated as legitimate prey, once they are no longer human beings, the gates of hell are opened, and anything goes; there are no limits. There is a continuum from rape, shootings, and abuse to the end of this cycle, systematic annihilation. That, at least, is how I see things.”
Does it give them some sense of fulfillment?
“People have animalistic impulses that, over the course of tens of thousands of years of evolution, have taken form, and we’ve learned to live with them. We recognized that it is more important for us to live in communities in a way that allows us to live together.
"This gives us tremendous advantages as compared to living as savages. But these impulses exist in each of us, and if all that civilization teaches us is peeled away, a connection is made to very primitive impulses. This connection engenders very substantial and vile thrills that are also, however, very exciting and exhilarating.”
It is similar to a rapist that can find pleasure when committing rape. They know that they are doing something absolutely horrific. They know that their act is emotionally and physically injuring their victim. With that, they enjoy it because it links to some bestial compulsion of conquest. Allow me to emphasize again that these impulses exist in all of us. Abuse of others has been around for generations upon generations.”
“There are a few things that can be said in this context,” adds Dr. Gutman. “Those that headed up the forces and also created the nightmarish terror scripts are people for whom there is a basis for believing that they are what we call psychopaths.”
Dr. Gutman explains: “In essence, these are people who naturally lack empathy from birth, are born with little sensitivity to the plight of others, to their pain, and it just doesn’t bother them. Most people will cringe when seeing someone on TV receive a blow to their loins. You feel the pain yourself. A person with very little empathy – it is often very hard to love someone like that, and the less they are loved, the greater the damage. There is nothing to stop them.”
“For most of us, the idea that there is someone who loves us keeps us human. Anyone capable of conceiving these horrific deeds is someone who is not bound by a conscience, they are merciless. That which is taken for granted is destroyed, and destroying such presumptions requires a mind that is, in our worldview, sick, but in the scientific-clinical perspective, is considered psychopathic.”
The destructive power of a cohesive group
Obviously, not everyone who took part in the October 7 massacre had psychopathic tendencies. Here, another force comes into play that has proven itself a force not to be taken lightly – the force of a group social structure. One does not need to possess psychopathic or anti-social characteristics to commit atrocities. Sometimes, it’s enough that one such (psychopathic) person be your leader or commander.”
“People are highly social creatures. They very much want to belong. This is something very natural to them,” explains Dr. Tene. “Much of the body of work on the crimes of the Nazis was conducted to examine who were those people who joined the SS and carried out the hideous crimes, seemingly normative people.
"We know that groups, especially closed groups secluded from pluralistic views, are very powerful. When we become part of a group, we feel part of something bigger. We become stronger and more tolerant. Empowered.”
How significant is this influence?
“Groups have the power to brainwash people, exactly like we see in cults – when a person begins to blindly believe everything the leadership says or in its suggested teachings, this can have a lot of influence. The power of togetherness coincides with the fact that there truly is a real, grave conflict between the peoples, an existing struggle, and feelings of injustice and inequity. This is a drink that Hamas’s dogged leadership brew with great success.”
“Experiments conducted in the past on prisoners in jail found that employing various manipulations can lead groups to enact tremendous cruelty. This still doesn’t excuse any of us from asking ourselves every day, and at any stage of life, where our actions are leading us. Being a part of a group doesn’t relieve me of personal responsibility. Every person is individually responsible for their actions, and it’s important to state this. It is not an excuse. There is no justification for this type of behavior.”
Dr. Idit Gutman: “Just like people who dress in a doctor’s or nurse’s uniform will automatically show more empathy and humanity, the opposite is true as well – People who wear murderers’ clothing will behave more aggressively, and even more so when they hide their faces and feel anonymous.”
Dr. Gutman also agrees. “There is an element of conformity in groups, of falling in line with the majority even when you know they are in the wrong. Some people submit more easily, turning into prominent, loyal Nazi soldiers. In research, we call this an authoritarian personality, the personality of highly conforming people who revere power. These are the people that are most eager to learn the jobs of the executioners and the butchers.”
The conspicuous and threatening clothing of the Hamas terrorists also has a psychological impact. “The outfits, the equipment, the accessories, are extremely important. Just like people who dress in a doctor’s or nurse’s uniform will automatically show more empathy and humanity, the opposite is true as well – People who wear murderers’ clothing will behave more aggressively, and even more so when they hide their faces and feel anonymous,” states Dr. Gutman.
“There is something very anonymous in being a soldier that simply obeys orders. You feel as if you’ve relinquished your personal responsibility as a human, that you’ve given up your identity. You’re only a soldier – doing what you are told, and if you’re told to do terrible things, it’s not you – you’re only a device.
"This abandonment of the humanity of the self is the key to base and cruel mob behavior, whether it’s a mob of terrorists or soldiers in Nazi Germany, who were very organized. Each of them was only a cog in the wheel. Every person is capable of judging themself and is personally responsible for the atrocities they commit.”
The road to hell is paved with good intentions
According to the psychiatrist Dr. Zvi Fishel, former Chairman of the Israeli Psychiatric Association, sometimes, and perhaps it can even be said with a small amount of hesitation – usually, contemptuous and cruel behavior is a response that originates in intentions that are not necessarily evil.
“We already know that the road to hell is paved with good intentions,” he says. “Sometimes, bad and cruel behavior is a result of a person’s own anguish, be it anxiety, depression, or a sense of humiliation. Sometimes, its source is jealousy or hatred. There are still people whose bad behavior stems from malice, but this occurs only in relatively few cases. Evil for the sake of evil is present only in a very small segment of people.”
“I think we can all still remember the movie “The Silence of the Lambs”, and Hannibal Lecter, who was portrayed as taking delight in evil. This does not occur in most people. It’s important to remember that when such a thing solidifies, there are things that can strengthen it, things that can redirect it in different directions and there are things that can stop it. Pressure or social threatening are powerful forces that can push in one direction or another.”
Dr. Zvi Fishel: “A large portion of the people with bad intentions won’t proceed to perpetrate bad deeds because they’re afraid of getting caught. The behavior of the Hamas terrorists stemmed from the power, the preparations, and the religious fervor that has become a part of the story, which, in fact, blinded their eyes and didn’t leave them with any space to abandon their intentions.”
Throughout this complex process, Fishel deems that the surroundings in which one lives have a significant impact on the process, and that this alone can weaken or intensify the compulsion, respectively.
“If we take a human being and put them in a captivity seminar for a few months, where they live and breathe the need to conquer, kill, and murder, then, of course, this will support their evil inclinations, and it is impossible to stop the process. Conversely, if a person is set within a more complex environment, this introduces doubts, which can most certainly stop it.”
This may seem obvious, but you’ll be surprised to know that the risk of capture is also a factor. “A large portion of the people with bad intentions won’t proceed to perpetrate bad deeds because they’re afraid of getting caught.
"The behavior of the Hamas terrorists stemmed from the power, the preparations, and the religious fervor that has become a part of the story. These, in fact, blinded their eyes and didn’t leave them with any space to abandon or weaken their intentions, which is why it came in such a large wave.”
And the cultural element, it assuredly also has an impact.
“Look, we know that there are societies where murder is more common – for example, criminal populations, populations of convicts. If you live within a population where human life is considered less important, and murder becomes something that is more and more accepted, then people will resort to committing it (murder).
"An army also allows, or encourages, or doesn’t prevent people from killing during battle. Here, there is some form of justification that while engaged in battle, it's alright and permitted, but when you look from the outside in without being involved in one political conflict or another, you ask why are we killing? Why are we taking captives?”
The deadly effect of stimulant drugs
And, of course, there is also another element: The fact that large quantities of stimulant narcotics were found on the terrorists’ bodies and in their cars. This is an additional deadly component that influenced the murderous, uninhibited behavior of the terrorists on that black Saturday.
“Use of performance-enhancing drugs and medications by soldiers is not something new. For a great many years, militaries have been trying to improve the quality of their soldiers and make them more violent,” says Dr. Tene. “The drug the Hamas terrorists used is called Captagon. It is a narcotic initially developed as another medication for attention deficit disorders, of the same family as Ritalin.”
In 1986, the FDA decided that the medication was too dangerous and outlawed it. Since then, its production has continued, as a drug, that has become very popular, especially in the Middle East.
“Syria manufactures millions of such pills,” adds Dr. Tene. “It is a drug that is easy and convenient to produce and is very cheap, which is why it has been named ‘cocaine for the poor’. It stimulates, frees you from inhibitions, prevents feelings of hunger, and creates a lot of energy. It also neutralizes a great many human sensations.”
And this is what contributes to the murderous tendencies?
“You become a focused, powerful machine of sorts, and then it highly depends on your agenda. If your agenda is to become a beast, to murder, to steal, you’ll be better at these things. If your agenda is to study better for an exam, then your studying may improve. Even drugs won’t turn a peace-loving person into a violent animal. However, someone that you have trained and brainwashed to murder and rape will evidently do these things with greater ease and force.”
- Article translated by Oren Bar