War's New Psychology: Rocket Syndrome
By Rabbi Pesach Steinberg
It brings no one any joy when we learn a new human psychological defect based on events of war and terrorism.
Stockholm Syndrome was a regrettable conclusion based on the terrifying idea that hostages manifest feelings of sympathy for their captor's cause. The captives thus feel no ill-will despite the infringement of their personal liberty and inhumane treatment.
Likewise, in this latest and most shocking round of war against our Gaza neighbour there is a new community psychology that has been borne out of ongoing crisis and anxiety, namely Rocket Syndrome.
Imagine a petulant child, poking their finger ceaselessly and annoyingly, but not injuriously, into your shoulder: Poke, poke, poke, poke, poke, etc… Even reading the word "poke" here after a while becomes annoying.
However, you're mature and can withstand naughtiness and you feign tolerance and attempt ignorance of the problem. It's not really hurting anyone. You give warnings which go unheeded but you are the bigger person, and the mentor. In fact, you even become somewhat immune.
But eventually, you snap. Everyone snaps. And that reaction is often far beyond just a single poke. It's a slap, it's a scream, it's a grab. Someone gets hurt, and the responder hurts themselves because guilt ensues.
Now let's take the current situation with Gaza. Rocket, rocket, rocket, rocket, rocket, rocket, etc…
A strange but serious issue is that in these modern and tech times rockets have become just a proverbial poke in the shoulder. It is actually an extraordinary thought. Because of Iron Dome, rockets are now generally perceived as nothing.
Whereas once even just a few rockets landing in civilian and populated areas would have caused enough distress to mount a severe counter-attack. These days, it's even seen as a personal curiosity, and worse, a bit of a joke. Rockets!
Imagine another terrifying scenario of a hostage bound up by a terrorist captor who is intent on intimidating their captive with severe psychological trauma. That's a terrorist's job, to intentionally inflict unexpected terror on an individual.
The bound up and helpless hostage is told to kneel as the terrorist takes a gun and points it at the hostage's head. The threat of death is imminent.
Click the trigger… Nothing.
The hostage is taken away.
The next day, exactly the same, and the pattern repeats itself day after day.: Click… Nothing. The hostage is taken away. Click… Nothing. Click… Nothing. Click… Nothing. Day after day.
Feelings of nonchalant immunity from danger ensues. The behaviour has been normalised and the hostage desensitised. Even just coming out to go through the motions becomes an annoyance for another frivolous act.
It's hard to imagine, but your own death by murder becomes emotionless.
The fable related to 'crying wolf' also comes to mind: There's a wolf! No wolf. There's a wolf! No wolf. No wolf, no wolf, no wolf. Ignore.
So you see the commonality between these situations. The child poking. The Gaza rockets. The terrorist clicking the trigger. Crying wolf.
Feelings dissolve, passion decreases, responses are forgotten, jokes ensue.
Herein lies the hole and a hole which Hamas has cleverly and intentionally exploited.
Before I continue, I want to make it known that I fully support Israel in every way. I am also very involved in Sar-El, an organisation which places international volunteers on IDF bases to assist the soldiers.
Now, unfortunately and with the greatest of regret, during war our own people can be caught in the crossfire. It's a tragedy and there are tragic mistakes.
Without fully knowing the details of each situation, and without any element of being judgemental, Israeli soldiers have killed Israeli hostages. In some cases the hostages were holding white 'surrender' flags.
There are multiple cases of Israeli soldiers killing Israeli soldiers. Perhaps due to misidentification or perhaps a basic problem of crossfire.
But another event that occurred is outside the actual scope of the battlefield in Gaza. This incident is of particular note and the most exemplary of the problem Israel, its soldiers and civilians, are now encountering.
In or near Jerusalem, a lone Arab terrorist began shooting at Jewish civilians. In true resilient and courageous style, a civilian bystander legally carrying a gun fired back at the Arab terrorist killing them.
What happened next draws attention to the new psychology suffered not only by our brothers and sisters in Israel, but perhaps Jews throughout the world.
The Jewish civilian who killed the terrorist was himself killed by another Jewish civilian who misidentified him as the terrorist. And worse still, it is reported that the Jewish civilian who killed the terrorist lay down on the ground 'spread-eagled' without a gun in hand screaming in Hebrew that he is not the terrorist.
The definition of a tragedy is where a series of incidents take place that lead up to and are the progenitor of a major unfortunate event. This was a tragedy, and the tragedy is in fact based on 'rocket syndrome'.
All Israelis, and Israelis in particular, suffer from 'ongoing' Traumatic Stress Disorder. It is not 'Post', it is ongoing.
Never has an entire country in history had to live with the weekly, daily or hourly threat of missiles that could kill you, but you know won't kill you.
If you were to choose the greatest threat that any country as a whole could face, it would arguably be rocket attack.
'Minor' terrorist attacks are perhaps a bigger threat but they are generally random and affect an immaterial, small percentage of the population. Whilst featuring prominently in mainstream media they do not cause enough distraction that people cannot get on with their regular lives.
On October 7th Hamas masterfully changed-up their game plan of terrorism. It is a new form of terror based on old ideas and mixing ideas.
Like a right-handed boxer leads with their left. Left-jab, left-jab, left-jab, left-jab. Let the opponent get used to it: Block, block, block, block. Then… Bang! A right handed body blow, or uppercut. Something unexpected.
Rockets, rockets, rockets, rockets… sirens all over Israel. Iron dome, iron dome, iron dome, iron dome. Hide in maamad or miklat. No threat anymore.
Now! While they're sleeping in bed with sirens going off 50km away, or in between sirens… Bang! Jump the fence and start committing individual murderous atrocities. So Israel was lulled into a false sense of security and the terrorists won the battle that morning.
However, something worse happened. We realised well and truly that we had been lulled into a false sense of security. Like the child poking the parent, like the terrorist clicking the gun trigger against the hostage's head, like the boy who cried wolf. Israeli society, and Jews worldwide, unwittingly became victims of ongoing traumatic stress disorder.
The foolproof rockets - Iron Dome stalemate lulled us into a fall sense of security, ignorance and bliss. Israel revelled in its marvel and marketed its hype. The victory of Iron Dome was the distraction.
But then we woke up. Because the worst threat that could come upon Israel was in fact the distraction. And that created fear. Fear so great that individuals started to make mistakes. Mistakes that blur the line between forced and unforced errors. But the risk of error significantly increased and Israel fell victim to that risk.
Worse again is when terrorists gain another battle victory when we start doing their job for them.
When Israel realised that we had let our guard down, perhaps slightly reminiscent of wars of years past that few remember first hand, it led individuals throughout society to kindle their patriotic fervour by redeeming themselves through extra vigilance. And this has unfortunately led to higher risk of error.
Thus Rocket Syndrome is:
Action, No reaction, Reaction.
Hamas pelted rockets into Israel. Iron Dome stopped the rockets and there was no need for further reaction. But when the actions of Hamas suddenly escalated in an unforeseen way, unlike anything experienced in 50 years nay perhaps 75+ years, Israel reacted with unmitigated force.
Nobody can deny that one cannot be blamed for their actions when they are suffering trauma and stress. And the entire point of a disorder is that there is prevailing disorder, chaos, in a mindset or environment. Disorder leads to uninformed and uncontrolled actions and reactions.
This is the reality of modern day warfare and Rocket Syndrome. We take a battlefield where we believe it could not possibly escalate beyond the current status quo which involves the worst case scenario, and then it does, and then it causes a reaction that at times becomes unmitigated.
This article does not pretend to offer a solution but rather explain and reveal another psychology of warfare that leads to highly regrettable errors.
Beyond this, there are suggestions which can help lead to control of a situation, break the cycle of disorder and reduce unmitigated individual responses.
Zero tolerance is a proven policy in all sorts of scenarios and would work well against ongoing threats. Offensive versus defensive action is more difficult but builds better character and healthier attitudes.
The goal is to be seen to be doing something at the outset, before people become accustomed to constant terror. A global policy of restraint in the face of daily threats to life and liberty is not an answer and one that a community cannot live with.
Moses and Joshua were armed by God with two important attributes: Be strong and of good courage. May it be so.
Pesach Steinberg is a community Rabbi in Melbourne Australia and is married with five daughters and two sons-in-law. He is involved in the kashrut industry, is a prison chaplain, author & publisher, sits on industry boards for ethics in human research, has worked in Synagogue administration and has been the Rabbi of a Synagogue. He graduated from Mount Scopus College and Monash University and received semicha from HaRav Zalman Nechemiah Goldberg zt'l. Pesach is also the Australian Ambassador for Sar-El Israel, which places volunteers on IDF bases throughout Israel.
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