There are 17 countries in the Middle East (including Cyprus and Egypt, despite their ties to the EU and Africa respectively).
Exactly two are considered democracies. Cyprus and Israel.
In only 5 of them is homosexuality not illegal - Cyprus, Israel, Bahrain, Turkey and Jordan.
5 of these countries have the death penalty as a possible punishment for same sex acts, although only one actively uses it - Iran.
Iran allows for marriage as young as 9.
Saudi Arabia and Yemen have no fixed minimum. Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon and Libya allow it at 15. Israel is with a group of 5 countries with a minimum age of 18.
All 17 have Christians and all 17 have Muslims.
Israel has more Muslims than Bahrain and Cyprus.
9 of them have Jews living in them, but 4 of those have less than 100 Jews each. After Israel at 7.4M the next highest is Turkey at 14,000.
Israel is the 6th smallest of the 17, yet has the 3rd highest total GDP and the second highest GDP per capita.
Israel has won the 4th highest number of Olympic medals, and has the highest number of Nobel prize winners. Combined, the other 16 countries have won 2 more (16) Nobel prizes than Israel has (14).
14 of these countries have moderate to significant distinctions in laws between men and women. Israel has high equality with some differences in marriage and divorce.
According to the 2026 World Happiness Report, Israel leads the Middle East as the 8th happiest globally. Next highest is UAE at 22nd. Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen are numbers 139-142 respectively.
And despite all of this, the Free-Palestine movement has managed to convince so many that Israel is an apartheid nation. That Israel is an evil nation. That Israel does norm”have the right to exist” / whatever that means. That Israel should be destroyed.
Stop listening to the lies and propaganda.
Look at the data.
Look at the facts.
Discover who’s who.
Do some critical thinking.
And let’s shut down the real threat, so that the world is safer for everyone.