Why is world outrage and anger always much louder when it is about Israel?

This is a question that is becoming more difficult for the morally astute to ignore. Why is the outrage and anger always much louder when it’s about Israel? This is not to say Israel shouldn’t be criticised. No government should be above criticism (not that authoritarian governments keep to that rule). That goes for the Israeli government and the Palestinian leadership too. And it’s not that the suffering of Palestinians doesn’t matter.

The real question is, why does Israel receive such constant political and cultural outrage when other countries do far worse things to their own people yet receive almost no attention? It is worth asking, because the difference is so easy to see for those prepared to see it and admit it is so.

Take the United Nations. Between 2015 and 2024 the General Assembly passed 173 resolutions about Israel. In that time, they passed only 80 resolutions about every other country put together. In 2025 there were 15 resolutions about Israel and only 11 for the rest of the world combined. Since 2006 the Human Rights Council has passed 112 resolutions about Israel. Compare that to 45 for Syria 16 for Iran and 11 for Russia.

While these numbers may not prove that people are being antisemitic, they do raise very big questions.

Where was all the outrage when it came to Syria? Syria went through years of war, chemical weapons, torture and destroyed cities. Even after Assad fell, the violence didn’t stop. The UN reported civilian deaths and attacks as recently as 2025.

Where is the current outrage for Sudan? The United Nations says Sudan is currently facing the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world. In 2026, 34 million people need help. There is famine and millions of people have fled their homes and sexual violence is being used as a weapon in that war. Yet Sudan does not attract even the smallest proportion of protests, boycotts or university sit-ins that Israel does.

Where is the outrage about how China treats the Uyghurs? The UN has documented forced labour and anti-Islam ”re-education”. Yet, while is very hard for Western activists to go after China, and it is not easy to boycott their goods and universities, and large companies rely on China far too much, that is no excuse.

Then there is Afghanistan. The Taliban have taken away all rights from women and girls. Girls cannot go to school or work. There are over 100 specific rules that limit what women can do. The UN says Afghanistan is the place where women face extreme limits on their lives. So where is the big Western boycott of Afghanistan? Where are the mass protests?

What about Yemen? In 2026, over 22 million Yemenis need help. Millions of children are starving. The Rohingya in Myanmar face persecution and killings. Iran continues to punish women and political rivals. The illegal occupation and war by Russia wages on in Ukraine. Yes, it does receive attention and media coverage, but nothing even approaching the focus on Israel.

It’s not that no one cares about these places. There are activists, journalists and NGOs working on them. It’s just that the intensity is nowhere near the same. That is a truth we cannot ignore.

Maybe part of it is just practical. Israel is a very easy target for activists in the West. And it is 75% Jewish. They can also blame Zionism. Yes, Zionism is the nearest thing to how Mohammad Ali Jinnah got his Pakistan back in 1948. Yet it has been so conveniently forgotten that all he wanted was a homeland for South Asian Muslims, in the same way Israel is a homeland for Jews. But unlike Israel, and its proven Judaic connection, Pakistan is some 2,000 miles and almost 3,000 years away from any biblical connection to Islam.

Israel is a democracy with a free press and ties to Western governments. It is easy to protest outside an Israeli embassy or lobby a politician about Israel. China, Iran, Russia and the Taliban are much harder to pressurise. They don’t put up with such demonstrations.

But that is not the main reason. Israel has also become a way for people to tell their story of the supposed powerful versus the weak. Once people use that lens, Israel fits perfectly. Even though Israel has a neighbour with a publicly published charter that openly wants to destroy it and murder its occupants, and to also murder Jews worldwide. Yet there are 52 Muslim-majority states in the world, with five more nearly so, versus a state the size of Wales in the UK, and yet they laughingly and incorrectly claim Israel is the coloniser. All conveniently forgotten. The focus remains on Israel.

There is another reason that has to be mentioned, even if it is uncomfortable, and that is antisemitism.

It would be wrong to say that everyone who criticises Israel is antisemitic. They are not. Criticising the policies of the government is fine. But antisemitism can show up as a double standard. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance says that applying standards to Israel can be a form of antisemitism. That is an important point. So the question is not, “Do you criticise Israel?”, but the question has to be, “Why does Israel attract this sustained hatred, attention and anger? Why do people not act that way when the country is China, Russia, Iran, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Syria, Sudan or Yemen?”

If you cannot answer, why is this?

Maybe it is politics. Maybe it is just how the media works. Maybe it is antisemitism. Maybe it is jealousy that a state started from nothing has become an inventive medical, technological and agricultural powerhouse, prepared to share its life-enriching inventions with the world. This is despite the sustained efforts of the BDS movement, a movement that has been proven so often to be antisemitic. So yes, often antisemitism is very much part of the reason. We should not just allow it to be called a conspiracy theory.

The United Nations numbers themselves demonstrate that Israel receives an extraordinary level of focus. At the time, most, if not all of the worst disasters in the world are happening elsewhere with much less outrage. Asking why this happens is not about trying to stop people from criticising the government of Israel.

It is about being consistent. If human rights matter, they should matter for everyone. If an occupation is wrong, it is wrong no matter which flag is flying. If attacking civilians is wrong, it is wrong no matter who does it. If denying girls an education is oppression, it is still oppression, whether it is done by the Taliban or someone else. If antisemitism is wrong, and it is, we should look at the subtle ways it happens. We should look at why the world applies rules to Israel that it does not apply to any other country.

The hardest question is not, “Why do people criticise Israel?”, but “Why do people not criticise other countries, many with far more severe problems, with the same fervour that they do to only Israel ?”

That question needs an answer. Asking it does not mean to stop caring about Palestinians. Human rights should not depend on what country you’re from. They should be applied to everyone equally and equitably, not with the current, proven, partisan hypocrisy.