Stop judging Israel like it’s 200 years old.
The State of Israel is younger than McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Harley-Davidson, JCPenney, Colgate, and your grandma’s microwave. Yet the world expects it to have the wisdom of a centuries-old monastery.
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The modern State of Israel is 77 years old.
But here’s the truth: Israel is still a teenager in the life cycle of nations. A precocious, wildly accomplished teenager, but still figuring things out.
You wouldn’t expect a 16-year-old to have the wisdom of a 60-year-old. So why does the world expect a 77-year-old country to act like Britain or France with centuries of political maturity behind them?
Let’s zoom out and get some perspective.
America at 77: A Dumpster Fire of Division
In 1853, the United States — the same age Israel is now — wasn’t some shining beacon of harmony. It was a powder keg. Expansion was tearing the country apart, slavery was the moral crisis of the century, and politics had become a blood sport.
Eight years later, Americans were bayoneting each other in the deadliest war in U.S. history. The Civil War would kill 600,000 Americans and nearly split the Union in two.
So when people clutch their pearls because Israelis shout at each other over judicial reform? Please. America’s growing pains involved muskets and cannons.
France at 77: Addicted to Revolutions
Start France’s modern clock in 1789, the French Revolution. By year 77, in 1866, France was still in chaos (under its second emperor, Napoleon III) after decades of coups, bloodshed, and political upheaval. “Liberty, equality, fraternity” was still a slogan, not a reality.
Compare that to Israel: a functioning democracy since birth, with real elections, free speech, and a lively press — even during existential wars. Messy? Yes. Fragile? No.
Argentina at 77: Oligarchs, Uprisings, and a Fragile Democracy
When Argentina turned 77 in 1893, it was a nation blessed with fertile land and booming agricultural exports, but politically unstable and democratically immature.
The early 1890s saw violent uprisings like the Revolución del Parque (1890), sparked by rampant government corruption and economic mismanagement. Power remained in the hands of oligarchic elites, with limited suffrage and recurring military interventions shaping governance.
While Argentina faced no existential military threats, it still struggled with inequality, political violence, and dependence on volatile commodity markets.
Germany at 77: Ashes and Shame
Germany became a unified nation in 1871 under Otto von Bismarck. Fast forward 77 years to 1948, and the picture is grim: a nation in rubble, its cities bombed to dust, its economy obliterated, and its population traumatized. Germany was guilty of the most systematic genocide in human history, the murder of six million Jews, and had unleashed two world wars that devastated the planet.
By 1948, Germany was divided into East and West, stripped of sovereignty, and occupied by Allied powers. Its leaders had been tried and executed at Nuremberg, its industry dismantled, and its reputation stained for generations. At the same age Israel is now, Germany wasn’t building startups or leading in technology; it was digging itself out of moral and physical ruin.
Japan at 77: Bombed to Oblivion
Japan opened to the modern world in 1868 with the Meiji Restoration. Fast forward 77 years to 1945, and the once-ambitious empire lay in ruins. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were smoking craters from atomic bombs.
Its cities were firebombed, its economy destroyed, and its military dismantled. The empire that had sought to dominate Asia was gone, replaced by unconditional surrender and U.S. occupation.
At 77, Japan wasn’t innovating or exporting technology; it was struggling to survive and rebuild from total collapse.
Now, let’s compare the State of Israel to other countries “born” around the same time.
India (78 Years Old)
India is the world’s largest democracy and a rising economic giant, boasting a GDP of $3.7 trillion. Yet for most of its history, it has struggled with extreme poverty, weak infrastructure, and political corruption. Even today, hundreds of millions lack access to clean water and sanitation.
India has the advantage of vast natural resources and no existential war every decade. Israel, landlocked in hostility, still outpaces India dramatically in GDP per capita, innovation, and living standards.
Pakistan (78 Years Old)
Pakistan, born alongside India, has endured chronic political instability, rampant corruption, and repeated economic crises. Despite being almost 24 times Israel’s size in population, its GDP is only about $375 billion — much smaller than Israel’s. Pakistan also wrestles with terrorism, weak democratic norms, and a fragile economy.
Indonesia (80 Years Old)
Indonesia is a resource-rich archipelago and the world’s largest Muslim-majority democracy. Its GDP is $1.4 trillion, but per capita income remains far behind Israel’s. Corruption, deforestation, and religious extremism continue to plague its progress.
Despite having peace and abundant natural wealth, Indonesia is still classified as a developing country. Israel, resource-poor and under siege, is a global innovation hub and part of the OECD club of advanced economies.
South Korea (77 Years Old)
South Korea is Israel’s closest peer success story. From poverty and devastation after the Korean War, it rose to become a tech and cultural powerhouse with a GDP of $2.2 trillion. But South Korea had two things Israel never did: vast U.S. military protection and a relatively calm neighborhood compared to the Middle East.
Israel had to defend itself alone while building its economy and absorbing immigrants. Still, both nations share a story of resilience and transformation.
North Korea (77 Years Old)
North Korea was born the same year as Israel. Today, it is a totalitarian dystopia with famine, a broken economy, and a population living in fear. While Israel became a global tech leader, North Korea became a global cautionary tale.
Vietnam (80 Years Old)
Vietnam fought decades of war, unified under communism, and now has a growing economy of about $450 billion. It’s rising fast, but still decades behind Israel in innovation, per capita wealth, and democratic freedoms.
Perspective Check
The State of Israel is younger than McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Harley-Davidson, JCPenney, Colgate, and your grandma’s microwave. Yet the world expects it to have the calm wisdom of a 500-year-old monastery.
Many countries mature in peace. Israel has grown up in a perpetual, multi-front knife fight. The world expects Israel to be Switzerland while living in a war zone. That’s not a standard; it’s a trap.
Every decade brings another existential war, yet look at what this “teenager” has done:
Revived a dead language and made it flourish
Absorbed Jews from 100-plus countries, including Holocaust survivors and expelled refugees from Arab lands
Built a vibrant democracy in the least democratic neighborhood on Earth
Created a booming, innovation-driven economy out of sand and sweat
Ranked among the top for life expectancy, Nobel prizes, and tech startups
All in less than eight decades.
In just 77 years, Israel has pulled off a transformation few nations can match. At independence in 1948, it had barely 806,000 citizens and a GDP of just $3 billion. Today, it’s home to nearly 10 million people and boasts an economy worth nearly $600 billion.
It leads the world in startups per capita; ranks among the top in life expectancy; and produces breakthroughs in tech, medicine, and water innovation that power global progress. These aren’t just numbers; they’re proof that Israel is thriving despite its youth.
Nobody asked America in 1853 why it wasn’t Sweden yet. Nobody demanded France be “perfect” in 1866. But Israel? People expect it to be a flawless utopia while fighting nonstop wars, absorbing millions of refugees, and defending itself from genocidal enemies. That’s not just unfair; it’s absurd.
You want perfection? Try building a nation in a desert, under indiscriminate fire, while absorbing refugees from 100 countries — and do it in less than a lifetime. Israel did, hold your applause.
While critics tweet, Israelis innovate and invent. The world’s smartphones, cars, and hospitals run on Israeli ingenuity: Waze, Mobileye, drip irrigation, cybersecurity, cutting-edge medical research, water tech, you name it.
Even as haters expect Israel to behave with unabridged perfection, let’s look at what many democracies are facing today.
The United States, nearly 250 years old, is grappling with political polarization so extreme it’s flirting with constitutional crisis. Violent protests erupt in major cities. Meanwhile, Europe’s oldest democracies are reeling from immigration surges, assimilation challenges, crime spikes, and cultural fragmentation. Countries like Argentina are facing chronic economic crises, triple-digit inflation, and capital flight. Public trust in institutions is collapsing across the Western world.
Now compare that to Israel, which features cities among some of the safest in the world. Crime rates are lower than in most U.S. and European cities. Despite endless existential threats, Israel manages better social cohesion, higher voter turnout, and stronger national identity than many Western nations.
While the world’s most “mature” democracies stumble, Israel at 77 is holding together. Even during nearly two years of war following the October 7, 2023 massacre, Israelis continue to churn out innovation, technology, and cultural exports at a pace that shocks the world.
Despite rockets falling and reservists rotating in and out of battle, Israeli startups still attract billions in global investment. Tel Aviv remains one of the world’s leading tech hubs, producing breakthroughs in cybersecurity, AI, medical research, and water technology. Israeli companies are advancing cancer treatments, desalination systems, and autonomous vehicle technology — while fighting a multi-front war against Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Iran.
Contrast this with most countries, which see their economies collapse under far lighter strain. Israel not only fights for survival; it simultaneously builds, creates, and leads the world in innovation. This is not just resilience; it’s an economic and cultural miracle playing out in real-time.
Jews waited 2,000 years for sovereignty; 77 years is a blink.
For nations, 77 is adolescence. The U.K. took centuries to establish constitutional monarchy. The U.S. needed almost 200 years to fix segregation. Israel is still becoming; still negotiating its social contract, its balance between religion and state, security and liberty. That’s not failure; it’s normal.
If this is what Israel can do in 77 years — while under nonstop threats — imagine what the next 77 will look like: more peace deals, more Nobel prizes, more startups, maybe even solving water scarcity for half the planet.
The critics will continue to scream, but history will whisper: This little nation did the impossible, again and again.
Great article! Kudos to Israel.
When you judge Israel more harshly than any other nation in the world you are anti Semitic