This letter addresses the article by Lipskaya-Velikovsky et al. (2025), which examined mental health and contributing factors among Hebrew-speaking higher education students in Israel during the onset of the Swords of Iron war. Their study’s focus on the population-level impacts of trauma and factors that influence mental health offers valuable insights for occupational therapy practitioners. The authors’ methodology and analysis highlight occupational therapy’s role in supporting mental health at individual, community, and population levels. However, methodological and contextual limitations bound the study’s findings, reducing its applicability to gaining an understanding of the broader occupational and mental health impacts.
Although the authors provide worthwhile insights, the omission of Palestinian perspectives is a substantial limitation. The study does not mention Palestinian students in higher education in Israel, who have been deeply affected by what the International Court of Justice (2025) described as genocide against Palestinians. This exclusion skews the findings, offering...
