Three Years After October 7: How Trauma and Fear Reshaped Israeli Politics and Society

Three years have passed since the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023, yet for most Israelis, that date still functions as a dividing line between two distinct eras. The period before the assault and everything that followed are treated as separate chapters in the nation's modern history. In the intervening years, Israel has undergone profound social and political transformations that continue to reverberate through its domestic life and its standing on the world stage.

The attacks themselves shattered long-held assumptions. Before that day, a deep sense of confidence in Israel's technological and military superiority was widespread among the public. That confidence collapsed when Hamas and other armed groups breached the border, killing nearly 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 captives back into Gaza. Daniel Bar-Tal, a political psychologist at Tel Aviv University, described the event as a rupture that destroyed the myth of Israeli military invincibility.

Bar-Tal noted that the Israeli public had largely been insulated from the consequences of the military's operations in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Many were therefore stunned to learn that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have possessed advance intelligence about Hamas's intentions. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Bar-Tal said the attacks disrupted everything on an immense scale and created a crisis that has never left the population.

For Palestinians, however, the aftermath has meant living under Israel's devastating military response, which has killed more than 74,000 people in Gaza since the war began. The conflict has also expanded beyond Gaza's borders, with Israel widening its attacks to several regional states. Simultaneously, a wave of settler violence in the occupied West Bank, driven by the Israeli far right, has deepened the country's isolation from much of the international community.

Within Israel, the psychological toll of October 7 has been palpable and enduring. A sense of collective trauma has been magnified through political rhetoric and media hysteria to levels observers describe as unprecedented in modern Israeli history. This heightened emotional climate has created fertile ground for political exploitation.

Israeli sociologist Yehouda Shenhav-Shahrabani acknowledged that many Israelis experienced genuine fear after the attacks. However, he argued that political forces have deliberately weaponized that fear to dismantle virtually every achievement made over the years in Jewish-Palestinian relations. The result, he suggested, has been a systematic erasure of decades of painstaking work toward coexistence.

Countless polls indicate that Israeli society has shifted sharply to the right over the past three years. Mainstream newspaper headlines have openly questioned whether the left, historically the primary advocate for a two-state solution, still exists as a meaningful political force. The decline of the left represents a significant realignment in a country where the peace camp once played a central role in shaping policy and public discourse.

Support for hardline positions has become increasingly mainstream. A substantial number of Israelis continue to back the execution of Palestinian prisoners convicted of "terrorism," as well as the ongoing expansion of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. These positions, once confined to the political fringe, have moved toward the center of public opinion.

A May 2025 survey conducted by Penn State sociologist Tamir Sorek found that an overwhelming majority of Israeli respondents supported expelling Gaza's residents. A significant minority also endorsed the "mass killing" of all residents of cities invaded by Israeli troops, drawing a parallel to the biblical account of the Israelites at Jericho. Such findings underscore the depth of the ideological transformation that has taken place.

Shenhav-Shahrabani described October 7 as an undeniable watershed moment in contemporary Israeli politics. In his assessment, the attacks have set the country back a hundred years in terms of collective consciousness, willingness to engage with one another, and above all, the level of mutual trust. He characterized this as an enormous setback that will be extremely difficult to overcome.

The far right has capitalized on this shifted landscape. Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel's far-right National Security Minister, was seen celebrating after parliament passed a law in March 2026 making the death penalty a default sentence for Palestinians convicted in military courts of deadly attacks. The legislation represents one of the most concrete manifestations of the rightward lurch that has accelerated since the attacks.

The war in Gaza, combined with settler pogroms in the occupied West Bank, has contributed to Israel's growing isolation from much of the world. Diplomatic relations have frayed, international criticism has mounted, and the country's traditional allies have grown increasingly vocal in their concerns. This isolation marks a significant departure from Israel's previous position on the global stage.

Three years on, the trauma of October 7 continues to shape Israel's politics, its wars, and its place in the world. The fear that gripped the nation in the attacks' immediate aftermath has been channeled into political movements that have reshaped the country's domestic landscape and its international relationships. Whether this trajectory can be reversed remains an open and deeply uncertain question.