Theo Von is upset about the suffering of Gaza children

comedian Theo Von burst into tears when the doctor. Gabor Mate detailed the extreme psychological distress and suffering experienced by Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip before October 7 and during the current war. Von, getting emotional, told the guest that “it feels like genocide is happening there.”

Von hosted Mate, a physician and expert on child development and trauma, on an episode of his program. Last weekend podcast on Tuesday to discuss the issues.

Midway through the interview, Mate explained how trauma causes shame in developing children and how the child projects this feeling deeply within himself, believing that he is to blame for the pain or alienation he suffers.

He said this begins a cycle of trying to “fix” what is wrong. He began by detailing some of the scenarios where this could happen, including cases where the parents themselves are traumatized.

Children are narcissists, little children. When I say narcissists, I don’t mean it in a pathological sense. I mean they think it’s all about them. Yes, and they have no other choice. They are all they know. That’s all they know. So, if the parents are happy and sociable, and there is an atmosphere of loving acceptance and so on, then the child thinks, “Hey, I must be very good.” I should be fine. But if parents are stressed, depressed, traumatized, racially challenged, economically challenged, or these kinds of terrible things that the kids in Gaza are going through right now with the daily bombings and all these kinds of things, what can they think? That there’s something wrong with me.

Amazed by the analysis, Fon responded: “Oh, imagine some kid down there in Gaza looking up and seeing a bomb. And “man, I’m so terrible.” I deserve to be bombed.”

Mate then went on to detail a study conducted in Gaza in 2003 that found that 95 percent of children “showed traumatic symptoms.” He noted that “a high percentage of people wet the bed”, “expressed aggression towards parents” and suffered “panic attacks”.

This was “long before the consequences of October 7,” he said, adding: “Can you imagine what will happen to this generation in a few years? I mean it just breaks my heart every day when I think about it. And I know that many of my fellow Jews disagree with me, but as a Jew I am not the only one who thinks so. This especially breaks my heart.”

With tears in his eyes, Fon replied:

Yeah. When you put it that way, imagine a child, you know, because what would he think? They don’t know. They just think, “Dude, there’s something wrong with me, I deserve to be killed.” You know, or something like that. I don’t know.

Mate added that the hopelessness of the situation increases when children not only lose their parents, but their “extended families are destroyed.” He noted that “19 thousand children were left orphans.”

Von responded, “It’s heartbreaking. I mean, it feels like there’s a genocide going on there and you don’t know what to do, you know, it’s like… I mean, you can pray, you can talk about it. And I know there are political aspects to this as well. And different people came here to talk about Israel and Palestine. And that was very educational for a lot of our listeners because you hear a lot about it, but you don’t know the history and everything.”

The comedian continued: “I mean, it’s heartbreaking every time something happens to a child, you know? This should be the only thing we can all understand. This shouldn’t happen.”

Mate agreed and added that “it is also true that the same thing happens to children in Israel.”

He said: “There are bombs, missiles and so on. I don’t know if now is the time to delve into politics. This is not about valuing or respecting the suffering of one over the suffering of another. We are not comparing injuries, but the extent and scale of suffering in Gaza is unprecedented.”

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