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'Ecology of healing': Israel's October 7 trauma victims say the system is failing them

A survey presented at a Tel Aviv conference reveals that most victims of hostile acts in Israel have not returned to their pre-war employment, many face financial decline despite state compensation, and two-thirds report a lack of consistent support. Advocacy groups and experts argue the system is too focused on disability determination rather than rehabilitation.

By Tertius News AI Desk 1 outlet · 2 articles Version 1 Coverage Jul 14–17, 2026 Published Aug 15

Lead

A survey presented at a Tel Aviv conference on Sunday suggests that many Israelis recognized as victims of hostile acts are struggling to reclaim their pre-war lives, with only a minority back at their previous level of employment and most reporting a deterioration in their financial situation despite state assistance. The findings, presented by the nonpartisan social-policy organization 121 Engine for Social Change, were accompanied by warnings from survivors, mental-health experts, and political representatives that the country's rehabilitation system prioritizes disability certification over helping people rebuild.

Coverage comparison

The Jerusalem Post reported on the conference and the survey in two articles. One, written by Sarah Ben-Nun, framed the event around the theme of an "ecology of healing," quoting organizers and experts who argued that the current system's focus on proving disability percentages is "anti-rehabilitative." The other, by Avihai Chaim, emphasized the employment struggles of terror victims, highlighting that only 27% of surveyed respondents had returned to the same scope of work they had before the October 7 attack.

Both articles drew on the same interim survey data, but they differed slightly in their emphasis. The first piece led with the systemic critique, while the second concentrated on the employment and economic consequences for victims. Neither article provided a detailed breakdown of how the survey was conducted beyond noting it was administered among 145 victims of hostile acts as part of the "Light on the Horizon" partnership.

Key claims

According to the survey, only 27% of respondents have returned to the same scope of employment they held before the war. An additional 35% are not working at all, and 34% have returned only partially. Nearly two-thirds of respondents—61.8%—said their financial situation had deteriorated even after receiving state allowances and compensation.

The survey also found that 35.2% of respondents said an immediate family member had been forced to reduce their working hours to care for them. About two-thirds of respondents said they had not received continuous and consistent support throughout the rehabilitation process, and they gave the assistance they received in navigating their rights an average score of 2.5 out of 5.

The conference, organized by 121 Engine for Social Change through its partnerships Or BaOfek ("Light on the Horizon"), which advocates for victims of hostile acts, and Tikva LaNefesh ("Hope for the Soul"), which focuses on mental-health and resilience policy, also heard broader claims about the scale of the issue. Approximately 82,000 civilians were recognized as victims of hostile acts between 2023 and 2025, and by April 2026, about 38,000 had applied for a disability determination, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Perspectives

Survivors and advocates

Speakers at the conference, including survivors, representatives of civil-society organizations, and experts, argued that the current system is not built to handle the scale of injuries—both physical and psychological—sustained since October 7. They described a "widespread sense of abandonment by the state" and called for a shift toward a more holistic, rehabilitation-centered approach.

Political representatives

MKs and party representatives attended the conference and were reported as joining the calls for changes to the system of recognition and rehabilitation. Their presence underscored the political dimension of the issue, though the articles did not specify which parties or MKs participated or what specific legislative proposals were discussed.

The state system

The material does not include a direct response from the government or the relevant state bodies. The claims about the system's shortcomings come solely from the advocates, experts, and survey respondents, and no official rebuttal or defense of the current approach was presented in the articles.

How this outlet told it

Jerusalem Post as of Jul 17, 2026, 1:00 PM UTC

Framing: Critical of current system — Sympathetic to victims

Facts Included:

Only 27% of respondents have returned to the same scope of employment they had before the war
61.8% of respondents said their financial situation had deteriorated even after receiving state allowances and compensation
35.2% of respondents said an immediate family member had been forced to reduce their working hours to care for them
Two-thirds of respondents said they had not received continuous and consistent support throughout the rehabilitation process
82,000 civilians were recognized as victims of hostile acts between 2023 and 2025
38,000 had applied for a disability determination by April 2026

Read the source article →

Jerusalem Post as of Jul 14, 2026, 11:30 PM UTC

Framing: Employment struggles of terror victims — Informative

Facts Included:

Only 27% of terror victims surveyed have returned to the same scope of employment they had before the October 7 attack
61.8% of respondents said their financial situation had deteriorated
35.2% of respondents said an immediate family member had been forced to reduce their working hours to care for them

Read the source article →

What was claimed, and who backed it

Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status counts the distinct outlets we found asserting it — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.

Claim	Confidence	Status
ClaimOnly 27% of respondents have returned to the same scope of employment they had before the war.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Jerusalem Post as of Jul 17, 2026, 1:00 PM UTC
Claim61.8% of respondents said their financial situation had deteriorated even after receiving state allowances and compensation.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Jerusalem Post as of Jul 17, 2026, 1:00 PM UTC
Claim35.2% of respondents said an immediate family member had been forced to reduce their working hours to care for them.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Jerusalem Post as of Jul 17, 2026, 1:00 PM UTC
ClaimTwo-thirds of respondents said they had not received continuous and consistent support throughout the rehabilitation process.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Jerusalem Post as of Jul 14, 2026, 11:30 PM UTC
ClaimApproximately 82,000 civilians were recognized as victims of hostile acts between 2023 and 2025.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Jerusalem Post as of Jul 17, 2026, 1:00 PM UTC
ClaimBy April 2026, approximately 38,000 had applied for a disability determination.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Jerusalem Post as of Jul 17, 2026, 1:00 PM UTC

Transparency & Audit Trail

1 outlet · 2 articles consulted: Jerusalem Post 6 claims extracted Version 1 Written 2026-08-15