RESILIENCE CHECK

Western Negev residents face major mental health challenges because of domestic turmoil more than war, study finds

One year on, survey conducted by New Land Now nonprofit finds that the majority of those living in the areas that were most affected by the Oct. 7 attacks suffer from high stress and anxiety

Residents of the Western Negev face dire mental health challenges one year after the Oct. 7 terror attacks and start of the war in Gaza, due to the ongoing conflict and — an even greater extent — the country’s own political turmoil, according to a new report released on Monday.

The Negev Residents’ Resilience Index revealed widespread feelings of insecurity and mental health struggles for residents of the Western Negev in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. The report indicates that more than half of the area’s residents perceive their living conditions as dangerous, with approximately 60% reporting high to moderate symptoms of stress and anxiety and about 50% of the residents in the Jewish localities exhibiting moderate or high levels of post-traumatic stress disorder.

It found that the domestic political turmoil and the threat of violence in Israeli society were perceived by all residents of the Western Negev as even more threatening than the threats of war that the country is facing on all fronts, researcher professor Bruria Adini, head of the emergency & disaster management department at Tel Aviv University, told eJewishPhilanthropy.

The study was conducted by New Land Now, a nonprofit formed after Oct. 7 dedicated to the strategic revival of the Western Negev, in collaboration with researchers from Tel Aviv University and Tel Hai College, as well as Indicate, a strategic consulting and digital communication company. It is the most thorough examination of the local population’s emotional state since the onset of the conflict.

The report, the second released by the group, was created to assess the psychological resilience of the local population and evaluate the ongoing war’s impact on southern residents, said David Gabbay, chairman of New Land Now and a survivor of Oct. 7 from Kibbutz Re’im, where he was a member of the emergency squad. He was evacuated first to Eilat and then to an apartment complex in Tel Aviv with his family and community where he is still living today.

The quantitative data collection for the report was carried out between Aug. 28 and Sept. 8, 2024. The qualitative study tracked and analyzed the discourse that developed on main social media networks from July to September 2024, examining 12 variables that make up the resilience index, including: national, community and individual resilience; hope and morale; indicators of stress symptoms and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms; perceived threats, sense of danger, social cohesion and attitudes towards the education infrastructure and employment.

Results point to the need of equipping relevant authorities with data-driven tools to develop effective measures tailored to the specific needs of each Western Negev community individually, the researchers concluded in the report.  

“The policymakers need to look at the numbers and see the diversity among the different communities in order to design the interventions,” Adini said. “It’s not one suit fits all…and you need to have civic engagement as part of anything you plan.”

The report will be used as a baseline study for the Western Negev population and is part of ongoing analysis of the general population in Israel, which includes five previous studies since the start of the war, she said.

The study encompassed the three demographic groups of the region: residents of larger towns; members of small kibbutzim and moshavim; and Bedouin Israelis. Not all communities were measured in all areas of the survey. It found that 64% of those from kibbutzim and moshavim reported stress symptoms, with many struggling to recover from their trauma in the months following the conflict. The majority of respondents —  — 58% — reported that they were directly affected by the Oct. 7 attacks or had a close family member harmed.

Additionally, the report highlighted a dramatic decline in feelings of social cohesion among Jewish residents since the war began, with a corresponding drop in the “Hope Index,” she said, with just 14% of kibbutz and moshav residents expressing a sense of hope for the future, compared to 28% of residents of the towns of Sderot, Netivot and Ofakim. There may be a political element to this, as residents of these towns are more likely to have voted for the government parties than the residents of the kibbutzim and moshavim, who have historically voted for left-wing and centrist parties.

While the sense of social cohesion was high at the beginning of the war, it declined sharply as the war continued, Adini said. At the beginning of the war the sense of social cohesion among the general Israeli public was scored at 3.95 out of five but fell to 2.6 in the months following the war. In the Western Negev the overall score for the sense of social cohesion among the Jewish residents was 2.47, while the cities had a score of 2.57. The kibbutzim and moshavim exhibited the least sense of social cohesion with a score of 2.41, she said.

The report also notes a pervasive lack of trust in governmental support and institutions, particularly among the Bedouin community, noted Gabbay.

One element which has impacted the level of resilience and governmental trust especially in the kibbutzim and moshavim and Bedouin community is the issue of the hostages remaining in Gaza, said Adini.

“The fact that they feel that not enough is being done [to bring the hostages home] — that there is a conflict of interest — impacts on their [resilience level], on their level of trust,” she said. “The hostages are from the kibbutzim and some of the Bedouin [communities.] For them, it’s very personal…they are directly impacted.”

In addition, the researchers noted that residents of kibbutzim and moshavim expressed concerns regarding returning to their communities, and also anger at the Tekuma Administration — the government body tasked with overseeing reconstruction in the Western Negev — for pressuring them to return to an area that is still unsafe. In the Bedouin communities, contrary to the expanding construction in the municipalities, discourse about housing focuses on the demolitions of houses that has intensified since under National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and combined with arrests has created an increased lack of trust in the police, the report notes. Only 36% of Bedouin respondents reported high levels of national resilience.

Western Negev residents have also expressed dissatisfaction with the level of mental health treatments available in the region, which for some is a deciding factor in their choice to return to the area, said Gabbay.

“People don’t want to go back or have difficulties coming back to their homes because they feel that the treatments they will receive at the mental health level will not be high-level,” Gabbay said.

In light of this, New Land Now is planning the creation of a multidimensional healing village on 33 acres in Kibbutz Sa’ad, which will provide both traditional and alternative therapeutic treatments for the area residents, he said. They will be receiving some funding from the Tekuma directorate but are also looking for philanthropic partners who will help them raise matching funds to reach the $12 million budget goal needed for the facility, he said.

The researchers hope to issue four resilience reports a year and make them available to relevant authorities and organizations such as local councils, kibbutzim, government ministries or philanthropic groups and individuals who want to better understand the process the region is undergoing in terms of economic indicators, relevant social issues and mental health needs, and the impact of interventions and projects being implemented. This will enable them to more wisely invest resources and funding, and create the appropriate programs that will help more efficiently in the rehabilitation of the area and avoid duplication of projects, Gabbay said.

“First, let them understand what’s going on, understand what the situation is, understand what the processes are,” he said. “Let them understand data and then accordingly [they will be much wiser when] they come and contribute their part to the rehabilitation framework because everything will be based on numbers and data and insights.”

As a resident of the area, Gabby said he believes that all rehabilitation and development of the Western Negev should be from the bottom-up, with the residents and leadership of the region taking the lead in establishing their own needs, with the help of analysis using advanced research methods. 

“It is very important that the residents who are affected be the ones who will rehabilitate it,” he said.