Renowned television personality and psychologist Dr. Phil McGraw delivered a passionate and unflinching defense of Israel at The Jerusalem Post’s gala event in New York City on Sunday night, warning of growing moral confusion in the West and praising Israelis for their resilience in the face of relentless trauma.
“I am very proud to be here,” Dr. Phil told Jerusalem Post Editor-in-Chief Zvika Klein during an on-stage conversation at the star-studded conference.
“I know a lot of people said things would turn in the first month or two after October 7. It only took 24 hours before some of the sentiment started to swing against Israel.”
As a psychologist, he admitted his struggle to make sense of that rapid shift: “I think I am supposed to understand, but I had a really hard time wrapping my mind around it. Because the fact of the matter is, I don’t care where you stand politically, I don’t care what your beliefs are — there is right and there is wrong.”
Referring to the atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists on October 7, he said: “I do know that when people come across a fence and they massacre women, children, and infants, and they do it with glee, there is no moral equivalent to that. It is absolutely inexcusable. It isn’t a war, it’s a war crime!”
PTSD in Israel, antisemitism in academia
Reflecting on Israel’s mental health crisis since the war, Dr. Phil said it was inaccurate to talk about post-traumatic stress.
“People have asked me how rampant post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is in Israel. And I have been to Israel, and I don’t know that Israel is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder because there isn’t anything ‘post’ about it. It is a current stress disorder in Israel. This is right now!”
He also aimed at antisemitism in academia.
“I want to apologise on behalf of certain segments of the American population for a lack of critical thinking. Our elite universities, some of them here in New York, such as Columbia, are now fostering intellectual rot.”
Still, he expressed hope. “I learned about the Israelis when I was there. You put a steeper hill in front of Israelis, they’re going to climb that steeper hill."