Al Jazeera Podcasts.

Hey everyone, Malika here. Today, I've got some news. I'm going on parental leave, handing the

mic to a slate of guest hosts you already know well. I'll be back on the mic this summer,

though you may still hear my voice here and there on episodes. And before we get to today's episode, just to note that this

interview was recorded before a ceasefire was announced between Israel and Hamas. Here's the show,

and I'll be back soon.

Today, when trauma becomes a weapon.

This is a very emotional issue.

It's not about intellectual facts or historical facts or debates about realities.

Renowned doctor and author, Gabuarmate's journey from embracing Zionism to rejecting it,

and what his work tells us about trauma as a driving force for violence.

I'm Malika Bilal, and this is The Take. My name is Gabor Maté. I'm a retired physician, author of five books published in over 40 languages, and I do a lot of speaking internationally on issues of health, body and mind unity, stress, child development, addiction, and

trauma. I also speak on the Israel-Palestine issue, which is very close to my heart.

Well, Dr. Monti, it is so good to have you on the take. You've been all over all of my social feeds on all of those topics,

but today we're going to be talking about that last one.

You are a Holocaust survivor, born in Hungary, and later, growing up in Canada, you became a Zionist.

In your work, you explore the many ways that trauma can shape an individual and society.

And I want to start with how that's played out in your own life.

How do you think the trauma of your family's history influenced your life and your earlier beliefs about Zionism?

Well, so I was an infant in 1944 when the Nazis occupied Hungary.

So I spent the first year of my life under Nazi occupation during the genocide of Hungarian Jews where over half a million people

were sent to their deaths within a space of three or four months.

...