Yesterday the BBC World Service released the results of an annual poll gauging the popularity of more than two dozen countries around the world. The BBC World Service gauged the popularity of countries by asking respondents to assess whether a country had a mainly positive or mainly negative influence in the world.
Last night I was able to download a copy of the poll’s results and had an opportunity to examine them. Today I share my thoughts on the poll’s findings concerning Israel and relate the findings to Bible prophecy.
Before I fully-examined the poll results I expected Israel to be viewed negatively around the world because Psalms 83 and Ezekiel 38 suggest that many countries will attack Israel in the future.
- Psa 83:2 For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.
- Psa 83:3 They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones.
- Psa 83:4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
- Psa 83:5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:
- Eze 38:2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,
- Eze 38:3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
- Eze 38:4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
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- Eze 38:8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
- Eze 38:9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.
Unsurprisingly, Israel was one of the least popular countries included in the study. The only three countries that were less popular than Israel were: Pakistan, Iran, and North Korea. Surprisingly, two countries that were found to be more popular than Israel were China and Russia.
- 21% of the total people surveyed believe that Israel has a positive influence in the world while 49% of the total people surveyed believe that Israel has a negative influence in the world.
The negative views of Israel were strongest in Europe and the Middle East, which is not too surprising if you believe some European and Middle Eastern countries are going to attack Israel in the future.
- Over 60% of people in Germany, the United Kingdom, and Spain believe that Israel has a negative influence in the world. In contrast, less than 15% of people in these countries believe that Israel has a positive influence in the world.
- The results are not much differently in France, Portugal, and Italy.
- Interestingly, only 5% of Egyptians believe that Israel has a positive influence in the world while 78% of Egyptians believe that Israel has a negative influence in the world. This result reinforces my concern that Israel’s peace treaty with Egypt might be in trouble if/when a democratically-elected government in Egypt gets the opportunity to decide whether to disannul the treaty...
Surprisingly, the American public does not seem to view Israel as positively as one would expect given America’s pro-Israel stance over the past several decades. The BBC World Service found that the American public is practically split in how it views Israel:
- 43% of Americans believe Israel has a positive influence in the world while 41% believe Israel is a negative influence in the world.
Overall, the BBC World Service’s poll results are consistent with what I expected. Psalms 83 and Ezekiel 38 suggest that Israel won’t be popular with many countries since many countries will agree to attack Israel. Israel’s lack of popularity today reinforces my belief that the Bible’s predictions about Israel being attacked by many countries in the future will come true.
- The countries that will attack Israel in the future will dislike Israel, and this dislike can already be seen in the BBC World Service's latest poll results.
