TEL AVIV (The Thursday Times) — In 2010, a renowned Israeli psychiatrist, Moshe Yatom, who had made significant strides in treating severe mental disorders over a reportedly notable career, tragically took his own life at his residence in Tel Aviv. His suicide note, found beside him, revealed a deep despair brought on by his professional relationship with incumbent Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he had been treating for nearly a decade. Yatom’s note expressed a ‘loss of hope,’ as he found himself engulfed in a whirlpool of contradictions and misleading narratives perpetuated by his patient, Netanyahu.
Read this article in Arabic: انتحار الطبيب النفسي لرئيس الوزراء الإسرائيلي بنيامين نتنياهو عام 2010 بسبب نفاق نتنياهو
Yatom’s note conveyed his disillusionment, as he mentioned a barrage of conflicting ideologies — equating robbery to redemption, labeling peace activists as terrorists, and other such paradoxical statements. He felt overwhelmed by Netanyahu’s self-contradictory rhetoric, which he found to be far removed from reality. The psychiatrist, who had previously helped many individuals overcome schizophrenic disorders, found Netanyahu’s case to be a black hole that slowly eroded his once resilient personality.
His personal diaries depicted a gradual decline in his mental fortitude, as each session with Netanyahu seemed to be a descent into a realm of self-serving rationalizations. Yatom’s neighbors and close acquaintances were taken aback by the incident, as there were no visible signs that the psychiatrist was facing such a profound internal crisis.
The situation took a severe toll on Yatom’s health, as he suffered multiple strokes, each incident related to a shocking or profoundly contradictory statement made by Netanyahu during their sessions. For instance, one of the strokes was triggered when Netanyahu purportedly made a positive remark about the devastating 9/11 attacks. Another episode occurred following a comparison made by Netanyahu between Iran and Nazi Germany, describing them as “the same thing”, and a third after a hyperbolic description of Iran’s nuclear program.
