Tehila Kalagy

The October 7, 2023, attack and ensuing Iron Swords War exposed Israeli society to severe and prolonged collective stress. This study examined differences between Jewish and Arab citizens in terms of exposure to war-related events, hope, family quality of life, and community and national resilience, as well as psychological distress. Guided by the ecological theory, we aimed to explore (a) group differences in coping resources and distress, (b) associations among resilience and distress variables, and (c) the extent to which multilevel sociodemographics and coping resources explain psychological distress within each group. A convenience sample of 471 Jewish (69.6%) and Arab (30.4%) adults completed self-reported questionnaires approximately 100 days after the October 7 attack. Jewish participants reported significantly greater exposure and community resilience, whereas Arab participants reported greater national resilience and psychological distress. No group differences emerged for hope or family quality of life. Coping resources were positively interrelated and negatively associated with distress. Structural equation modeling revealed that distress was more strongly explained among Jews (35% variance) than Arabs (9%). Among Jews, younger age, being a woman, greater exposure, less hope, poorer family quality of life, and weaker community and national resilience predicted greater distress. Among Arabs, only poorer family quality of life and less hope significantly predicted distress. While Jewish distress was associated with exposure and multiple resilience systems, Arab distress was impacted less by contextual factors and more by internal and familial resources. Strengthening hope, family functioning, and culturally sensitive community supports may enhance psychological resilience across both populations.