During Monday’s special session of the committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality on the issue of the rehabilitation package for women who returned from captivity, and for the families of returning hostages, three women suffering from shell shock shared their pain.
Stav “Silvi” Suissa tearfully recounted: “On October 7th, I was called up by the Home Front Command to Nova (music festival), Be’eri, and Nir Oz—where soldiers were slaughtered and women were raped—and I relive October 7th every single day. They sent me there without a weapon, just a truck driver, with no operational training, and since then, I live without sleep. I don’t know how I’ll ever bring children into this world. I haven’t received any treatment. I’m a living dead person. Everyone here talks about the returnees, but what about us? Today is my birthday—what kind of birthday am I celebrating? I heard about a shell-shocked woman who went missing in the forest, and we went to find her seconds before she died. There will be no more ‘permitted for publication’ cases. We need an open house for people like us.”
Lee Rina Levy, who also suffers from PTSD, said, “I was among the first women recruited into the IDF as a combat soldier. I served in a combat engineering battalion in Gaza. I have been living with trauma for 18 years. I am a mother who wets the bed, and my two daughters help me change the sheets. I have fits of rage, and my house is in ruins. If a balloon pops at a birthday party—I destroy the party. My husband has to hold me and bring me back into focus. For 18 years I’ve been begging for help. In committees they said I look great with makeup. We’ve been warning for 18 years that this would become a problem, and already there are 64 confirmed suicides. How am I supposed to raise a family? I didn’t go to my daughters’ graduation party. I have no nights and days. Where am I? I’ve been a ‘hostage’ in Gaza for 18 years. Who can understand what it’s like to be giving birth and think that a terrorist could burst in at any moment? Out of fear, I spread knives all around the house. One night I pulled my gun on my husband, and he almost left. I have no relationship.”
Substitute Committee Chair MK Merav Ben Ari (Yesh Atid), who could not hold back her tears, said “I don’t think enough has been done for you. Since October 8th, I have said that a designated directorate should have been established. The Nova massacre, specifically, was an entirely different kind of event. We shouted this everywhere. We will do everything to make things right and will hold a special discussion soon on male and female shell-shocked individuals.”
Chaya Arbitman, a combat soldier and medic, said, “I’ve done several rounds of reserve duty since the war began. A year ago, I went through an incident in Judea and Samaria, and as a medic, I did everything I could to prevent post-trauma. I was in psychological treatment. My commanders knew I was in an acute state of trauma after the incident. I lost 12 kilograms, and in two days, it will be exactly one year since it happened. Last July, I tried to commit suicide. Every time I asked for help, I didn’t get it. It’s hard to come forward, to ask for help, and to accept that I suffer from shell-shock. I didn’t want to believe this is who I am. Luckily, my partner stopped me during the suicide attempt, otherwise I wouldn’t be here. I went looking for a place to be hospitalized, and everyone told me, ‘There’s a waiting list, we can’t take you.’ All I am really asking is that you listen to our voices and make this help accessible to us. A ‘balancing house’ is not the right place for shell-shocked individuals.”
Tamar Gersin, the sister of Hanan (Hanania) Amar, who was murdered at the Nova festival, said, “This discussion cannot exclude any group that was harmed as a result of the Swords of Iron War, and it cannot be that the families of the murdered and the shell-shocked individuals are being sidelined. You do not understand what my family is going through. No one talked to us, and no rehabilitation budget has been allocated. We were added as an appendix to the category of families of terror victims. What we went through on October 7th – seeing horrors – and no one acknowledged us. No one spoke about the rights of the families of the murdered. The disparity between the treatment of hostage families and families of the murdered is enormous, and it’s unreasonable that you’ve focused on one group while pushing us aside.”
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