Jerusalem. Photo: Anav Silverman/Tazpit News Agency.

Throughout the Middle East there are many who feel that Israel doesn’t have the right to exist as a nation and that the Jews there should be eradicated from the Earth. These sentiments are echoed around the world. This is evident because of the wars Israel has been involved in, including the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the Six Day War of 1967, as well as the numerous terror plots launched against Israel, which have resulted in countless casualties.

It’s very clear that Israel and her citizens are pariahs of the region, but I could never understand why. Israel has never been the initial aggressor in any war and Israelis have always sought peace with their hostile neighbors. However, after intense research, I think I’ve found an answer to the question that has been plaguing my mind for years. People hate Israel because it’s everything they’re not.

After examining the history, culture, and condition of Israel, the only logical way to explain such widespread hatred of a country for no apparent reason is Israel’s constant struggle for perfection. Pesky Israel is always trying to make progress while the other nations in the region would rather stick to the ways of the past. Don’t believe me? Let’s examine the facts.

Ever since its inception in 1948, Israel has always been a democratic nation in a sea of dictatorships whose leaders ruled with an iron fist. Now, because of the Arab Spring, many other nations in the Middle East are also adopting democracy as their method of rule, and one by one as each dictatorship falls, Israel waits in the wings to chime in, “We had democracy first.” Maybe that’s exactly the kind of hipster attitude that keeps nations like Libya and Tunisia from extending a hand of friendship to Israel.

Another reason for the intense hatred of Israel is the great mixture of different ethnic and religious groups throughout the country. Israel boasts that all of its citizens, regardless of ethnicity or religion,  enjoy all of the same rights even though it is a Jewish majority state. This is clearly a plot by the Israeli government to steal the citizens of other nations, which is enraging nations like Iran that want nothing more than to keep their citizens locked away like the popular fairytale character Rapunzel.

Israel is also a beacon of humanitarianism in an area where silly, trivial things like women’s rights, gay rights, and minority rights are swept under the rug like annoying insects. Israel is the only nation in the Middle East that can honestly say that all of its citizens are treated equally without regard to their race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.

In summation, Israel is like the girl in the classroom who sits in the front and always raises her hand with the right answer. Nobody likes an overachiever. Especially when it comes to running a nation and trying to ensure the best quality of life for your citizens.

John Wright is a Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) Fellow at Alabama State University. He is a Sophomore, majoring in Finance. This piece was originally published in the CAMERA Student Blog in Focus.