The Day After: Tracing the Political and Emotional Evolution of Survivors of the October 7 Massacre

What psychological mechanisms enable communities that have experienced extreme violent massacres to continue their lives? Can hope for reconciliation persist even in seemingly hopeless circumstances? Violent collective trauma profoundly disrupts political worldviews, yet community responses vary. While some disengage or radicalize, others move toward engagement and reconciliation. The mechanisms driving these divergent political pathways remain undertheorized. This study examines the impact of traumatic political violence on survivors’ political attitudes and behaviors in the context of a prolonged conflict, focusing on Jewish and Bedouin communities victimized during the October 7 massacre. My research compares how right-wing and left-wing, as well as religious and secular affected communities, perceive their representation in government and their belief in living under a functioning democracy.A central question concerns how different levels of exposure to extreme violence influence hope for reconciliation and community recovery, as well as levels of trust in government and the army, at both the individual and community level, and how these factors affect political behavior. Data collection employed a mixed-methods design. Semi-structured interviews with 51 participants, conducted in summer 2024, explored personal narratives, trauma, and sources of hope. Initial findings suggest that collective trauma arises not only from the extreme violence of October 7th but also from a profound sense of abandonment by governmental and military institutions, exacerbated by prolonged displacement and uncertainty. Complementing this, an online and phone survey (N = 495), conducted in spring 2025 across kibbutzim, moshavim, and development towns with varying levels of exposure to violence, assessed levels of hope and trust, political attitudes and behaviors, social cohesion, PTSD symptoms, and growth. Together, the findings shed light on how communities coping with mass trauma in an ongoing conflict renegotiate trust, political attitudes, and the social contract with the state.