The Psalmist David wrote, “Happy is the people whose God is the Lord” (144:15).
It’s rather strange, isn’t it? Israel is a tiny nation half the size of Switzerland with a population smaller than London, England, or Tehran, Iran. It is surrounded by enemies who are threatening its extermination “from the river to the sea.” And still, it just showed up on another of those “World’s happiest nations” lists.
This time, Israel was in fifth position among 143 countries. The first four countries on the list are Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden.
Since 2013, a year after the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford began compiling the list along with the Gallup polling organization, Israel has been in the top 10 every year.
The polls were taken after the Hamas attacks of October 7 last year. That means that Israelis are among the happiest citizens in the world, despite:
ˑ being at war with Gaza
ˑ being at war with the Hizbullah terror organization in Lebanon
ˑ enduring ongoing terror attacks in Judea and Samaria (the so-called West Bank)
ˑ enduring missile attacks from Syria and Yemen
ˑ witnessing the anti-Israel demonstrations in cities and on university campuses worldwide
ˑ enduring millions of cyber-attacks from across the globe
ˑ combating the legal onslaught in the International Court of Justice (ICJ, World Court) and the International Criminal Court (ICC), both in The Hague, Netherlands
ˑ enduring the news-media campaign of lies and misinformation on Israel
ˑ hundreds of thousands of Israelis having become refugees from border communities, from which they were evacuated in October
. three hundred thousand reservists being called in to serve for several months, away from their families and jobs.
It does beg the question, what position on the list would Israel have if it didn’t have all these troubles to contend with?
The poll results were based on factors measuring satisfaction with life, including freedom, healthy life expectancy, finances and additional aspects.
Other nations on the list include: Netherlands (6), Norway (7), Switzerland (9), Australia (10), Austria (14), Canada (15), United Kingdom (20), USA (23), Germany (24).