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Imagine a culture so consumed by grievance that it fixates heart, mind, and soul on a singular obsession: Jews and Israel as the root of all ills. Now, distil that sprawling, complex phenomenon—often labelled the Hamas-embracing Palestinian Arab “death cult”—into one man: Mohammad.
Not a faceless ideology, but a single, dark-hearted soul sitting across from Dr. Haqq, a saintly psychologist determined to guide him toward light.
Mohammad’s name isn’t a pseudonym; it’s shared by roughly 8% of Muslim men worldwide, a common choice in Gaza, where no confidence need be betrayed by its use.[1] This examination explores Mohammad’s psyche as a microcosm of a broader cultural narrative, weaving in psychological research, historical patterns, and the critical concept of locus of control to illuminate his worldview for the layperson.
Dr. Haqq, with her gentle resolve, seeks to unravel Mohammad’s obsession with Jew hatred—not out of judgment, but from a belief that his mindset is a shackle, misaligned with reason, health, and even the divine will he claims to serve. She frames his pathology as a nurture-over-nature case: not an inherent flaw but a product of relentless cultural programming—a psychological operation spanning generations.[2] The architects? Not shadowy cabals, but educators—those wielding chalk and blackboards long before suicide belts or rifles enter the scene.
The Classroom as Crucible
Mohammad recounts his Gaza City schooling with a mix of pride and venom. Textbooks painted Jews as treacherous, subhuman, and locked in eternal war with Islam.[3] History lessons framed Israel’s destruction as a sacred inevitability, not a mere political goal.[4] Dr. Haqq sees this as a masterclass in influence: What happens when an education system chains minds rather than frees them? Social learning theory, developed by psychologist Albert Bandura, underscores how children absorb attitudes from authority figures like teachers, internalizing them as truth.[5] Mohammad’s worldview, she muses, was sculpted before he could question it.
Reports amplify this concern. Children in Gaza have been observed participating in activities that simulate violence against Israelis, such as a video showing a mock game of “Stab the Jew,” reflecting how conflict seeps into playtime (Israel Times, April 27, 2016).
Additionally, media like the children’s program Tomorrow’s Pioneers has featured characters promoting anti-Semitic themes, embedding hostility in young minds. But unlearning is no simple task. Mohammad’s family, friends, and society echo the same refrains, a chorus of reinforcement. Dr. Haqq leans on reason as her tool, hoping to pierce the fog of his convictions.
Yet she knows the odds: Mohammad’s not just clinging to ideas—he’s sunk deep into them, a victim of the sunk cost fallacy.[6] This cognitive trap, identified by psychologists Hal Arkes and Catherine Blumer, occurs when one doubles down on a belief because of prior investment—time, emotion, or identity.[6] For Mohammad, hatred isn’t just a thought; it’s his identity, woven from years of emotional, social, and cultural capital. To reject it would be to admit his life’s foundation was a lie—a cost too steep for most.[7]
Dr. Haqq knows that leaving Gaza should help dissipate the violent cultural norms that have become part of the DNA of the culture. But she acknowledges that even when other “Mohammads” have left, the results have not been healthy, suggesting deeper psychological entrenchment.
Historical Patterns of Transplantation
Dr. Haqq shifts the conversation to history. She asks Mohammad, “What happens when Palestinian culture is transplanted elsewhere?” He is unsure, but later, she researches it, uncovering a troubling pattern.
In 1992, Denmark accepted 321 Palestinian refugees. By 2019, reports indicated that 64% of these individuals had been convicted of crimes, with 34% of their children also having criminal records. In response, Denmark introduced a new classification for ethnic minorities from North Africa and the Middle East, citing higher crime rates and lower employment rates among these groups. This suggests that cultural attitudes, including resentment and resistance to integration, may persist across borders.
In Jordan, during Black September (1970-71), Palestinian militants, displaced after the 1967 Six-Day War, used Jordan as a base to attack Israel. This provoked King Hussein to crush their forces, resulting in thousands of deaths and the PLO’s expulsion. In Kuwait, before the 1990 Iraqi invasion, 400,000 Palestinians lived peacefully. However, the PLO’s support for Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War led to a violent backlash, with 360,000 expelled in 1991. In Lebanon, the PLO’s relocation after Jordan fueled the 1975-1990 civil war, drawing in Israeli interventions.
Dr. Haqq lets the weight of this history settle. “Wherever your people have gone, you have fought wars—not just against Israel, but against the very countries that took you in,” she tells Mohammad. He mutters about serving God, unmoved.
This pattern hints at a cultural mindset that struggles to adapt, often externalizing blame rather than seeking coexistence.
Faith, Law, and Identity
In their sessions, Mohammad defends Hamas’s iron grip on Gaza, including its death penalty for apostasy—a punishment rooted not in the Quran but in Hadith like Sahih al-Bukhari: “Whoever changes his religion, kill him.”[8] He nods approvingly at Sharia’s role in Gaza’s legal patchwork, where Egyptian law meets Islamic tradition.[9]
Hamas leaders, he insists, are right to enforce it—executions of converts to Christianity in 2009 prove their resolve.[10] Dr. Haqq isn’t shocked; she knows his social web spins these threads into normalcy. To abandon his faith—or its justification for Jew hatred—wouldn’t just risk his soul. It’d risk his neck, as defectors and homosexuals have had their corpses dragged behind motorcycles through Gaza City streets.
The stakes amplify his resistance. Admitting he’s been misled would mean confronting manipulation by those he loves: parents, teachers, imams, leaders. Cognitive dissonance—the mental sting of being wrong, as theorized by Leon Festinger—looms large.[11] It’s easier to double down than face an existential unravelling. Dr Haqq sees parallels elsewhere: ex-Nazis clinging to swastikas post-1945, KKK members too entrenched to quit, Soviet diehards blind to the USSR’s collapse.[12] For Mohammad, breaking free isn’t just hard—it’s a betrayal of everything he knows.
Cult Logic and Control
Dr. Haqq likens Mohammad’s mind to a cult member’s, shaped by what psychologist Robert Lifton calls “thought reform.”[13] Gaza’s milieu control—censoring dissent, curating narratives—ensures only the approved story reaches him.[14] Mystical manipulation casts his suffering as divine destiny, with Hamas preachers promising paradise for martyrs.[15] Purity demands silence dissent as treason; sacred science deems Israel’s end a cosmic fact; doctrine trumps personal experience, teaching hatred of Jews he’s never met.[16] This isn’t education—it’s the erasure of agency, crafting foot soldiers from the cradle to the grave.
The Role of External Locus of Control
Worse, Mohammad has surrendered his locus of control—the belief that he can shape his fate. Psychologist Julian Rotter introduced this concept in 1966, distinguishing between an internal locus (individuals attribute outcomes to their actions) and an external locus (where outcomes are blamed on outside forces).[17] Mohammad exemplifies the latter. Taught from age five that Jews orchestrate his every woe—from poverty to leaky roofs—he’s outsourced accountability.[18] Research ties this external locus to radicalization: when all failure is blamed outward, violence feels like the only answer.[19] Mohammad admits as much, calling Jews “devilish impediments” to his joy, a view his faith blesses. Dr. Haqq worries he’s sliding toward martyrdom—a bid to reclaim significance through blood.[20]
An external locus of control doesn’t just shape Mohammad’s aggression; it cripples his resilience. Studies show that individuals with an external locus tend to feel powerless, attributing setbacks to fate, luck, or powerful others rather than personal effort.[17] In Mohammad’s case, this manifests as a dependency on Hamas’s narrative: if Jews are the cause of his suffering, then only their destruction—or his sacrifice—can restore order. This mindset fosters passivity toward self-improvement, as he awaits external salvation rather than seeking internal change.
A Path Out?
Dr. Haqq knows fixes exist. Studies suggest shifting the locus of control inward—via critical thinking, economic opportunity, or meeting the “enemy”—can unravel extremism.[21] Education could counter-propaganda, teaching Mohammad to question rather than obey; jobs could dull jihad’s allure by offering tangible rewards for effort; an Israeli friend might humanize the faceless foe, challenging his stereotypes.[22]
Research by psychologists like Arie Kruglanski shows that fostering a sense of personal significance through constructive means can reduce the pull of violence.[20] But in Gaza, these are fantasies. Hamas’s system thrives on ignorance and conflict, trapping Mohammad in a cycle of victimhood and resentment.[23] An external locus doesn’t just stifle his mind—it strangles his future, fostering dependency and fear of risk.[24]
Viktor Frankl’s words haunt her: “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”[25] Hate isn’t Mohammad’s fate—it’s a lesson he can unlearn. Dr Haqq clings to hope: if he could see his true enemy isn’t Jews or Israel, but the men who forged his chains, he might yet break free. She listens, probes, and prays for a season to find a crack in his armour—one that might shift his locus of control inward, granting him the power to rewrite his story.
_________________________________________
References
[1]: Pew Research Center. (2011). The Future of the Global Muslim Population. The estimated prevalence of the name Mohammad among Muslim men.
[2]: Horgan, J. (2014). The Psychology of Terrorism. Routledge. On cultural indoctrination as a psychological operation.
[3]: IMPACT-se. (2021). Review of UNRWA-Produced Study Materials in the Palestinian Territories. Documents antisemitic content in Palestinian textbooks.
[4]: Ibid. The curriculum frames Israel’s destruction as a moral and historical imperative.
[5]: Bandura, A. (1977). Social Learning Theory. Prentice Hall. On the influence of educators in shaping young minds.
[6]: Arkes, H. R., & Blumer, C. (1985). The psychology of sunk cost. Organisational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 35(1), 124-140.
[7]: Festinger, L. (1957). A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Stanford University Press. On the pain of abandoning invested beliefs.
[8]: Sahih al-Bukhari, 9:83:17. Hadith prescribing death for apostasy.
[9]: Human Rights Watch. (2012). Abusive System: Criminal Justice in Gaza. Sharia’s role in Hamas governance.
[10]: Associated Press. (2009). “Hamas Executes Suspected Collaborators and Apostates.” Reports on killings of converts.
[11]: Festinger, L. (1957). Ibid.
[12]: Staub, E. (2011). Overcoming Evil: Genocide, Violent Conflict, and Terrorism. Oxford University Press. On entrenched ideologies.
[13]: Lifton, R. J. (1961). Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism. W. W. Norton & Company.
[14]: Freedom House. (2020). Freedom in the World: Gaza Strip. On media and information control.
[15]: Post, J. M. (2007). The Mind of the Terrorist. Palgrave Macmillan. On mystical manipulation in extremist groups.
[16]: Lifton, R. J. (1961). Ibid.
[17]: Rotter, J. B. (1966). Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. Psychological Monographs, 80(1), 1-28.
[18]: Kruglanski, A. W., et al. (2014). The psychology of radicalization and deradicalization. Political Psychology, 35(S1), 69-93.
[19]: Ibid. External locus as a predictor of extremist violence.
[20]: Kruglanski, A. W., & Orehek, E. (2011). The role of significance loss in terrorism. Terrorism and Political Violence, 23(4), 486-501.
[21]: Webber, D., et al. (2018). The road to extremism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 114(2), 270-290.
[22]: Berman, E., & Laitin, D. D. (2008). Religion, terrorism, and public goods. Journal of Public Economics, 92(10-11), 1942-1967.
[23]: Staub, E. (2011). Ibid. On perpetuating conflict through education.
[24]: Rotter, J. B. (1966). Ibid. Economic impacts of external locus of control.
[25]: Frankl, V. E. (1946). Man’s Search for Meaning. Beacon Press.
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