Charles Abelsohn – Letter from Israel: Rosh Hashana 5783: The Happiness Report
Rosh Hashana 5783 12 September 2022
Shalom from Israel,
This past year has been, shall we say, tumultuous. Some highlights (lowlights?) included Russia invading Ukraine, Chinese aggression towards Taiwan, Corona, an energy crisis in Europe, terrorist attacks in Israel, Operation Breaking Dawn between Israel and the Islamic Jihad in Gaza, ongoing fighting in Syria, terrorist attacks in many African countries, most recently, Mozambique, inflation, recession, rising interest rates and Iranian nuclear intentions. In this ongoing situation of turbulence and international unrest, what was the most important issue for the United Nations? Clue: This new year Letter relates to two Reports which should, but of course, won`t, make the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) blush with embarrassment.
We wish our Jewish readers that this coming year will be a year of good health, celebrations, simchas and pleasure from your family. We wish you and all your family a שנה טובה ומתוקה, שנת שלום והצלחה; a shana tova umetuka, shnat shalom vehatzlacha, a happy, healthy, successful and peaceful new year and a meaningful fast.
With Rosh Hashana/New Year Greetings from Israel,
Charles and Vivienne Abelsohn
I am certain that many readers will have read that according to the World Happiness Report 2022, Israel is ranked the 9th happiest country. Before you say “old news”, refuse to read further and press the “delete” button, please bear with me.
I am certain that many readers will also know that the UNHRC have appointed a Commission of Inquiry (COI) to “investigate” Israel`s “oppression” of the Palestinians. Yes, dear reader, in a year of international turbulence, the UN focuses, as usual, on Israel. With the UNHRC appointing three persons as commissioners with their curriculum vitae evidencing many years of relentless anti-Israel activity, the UNHRC has already found Israel guilty. These three well-known anti-Israel campaigners, from South Africa, India and Australia, have been appointed to determine Israel`s sentence, perhaps even death sentence. Let`s have a quick look at Israel`s executioners.
This Letter relates to the Happiness Report. Let`s open with the joke of the year, actually several decades: UNHRC officials are required to conduct themselves with the highest standards of objectivity, fairness, impartiality, transparency, moral authority, integrity, honesty, good faith, and credibility while also avoiding double standards and politicization. (DRAFT CODE OF CONDUCT FOR SPECIAL PROCEDURES MANDATE-HOLDERS OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Article 3 – General principles of conduct https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/HRBodies/SP/CodeOfConduct.pdf). Ha ha.
Some information on our “objective and impartial” commissioners.
Commissioner Navi Pillay of South Africa has been appointed Chairlady of the COI. At a meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council in 2014, she said that Israel was falling short in its duty to protect citizens in the Gaza Strip from getting killed by its rockets. “There is a strong possibility that international law has been violated, in a manner that could amount to war crimes,” she said.
Now comes the unbelievable reason for Israel`s “war crimes”: Israel outright refused to share its Iron Dome with the “governing authority” of Gaza — which is Hamas!! Ms. Pillay also condemned the United States for helping to fund the Iron Dome for Israel, but not granting any such accommodations to those in Gaza.
“No such protection has been provided to Gazans against the shelling,” she said. The Washington Times – Friday, August 1, 2014. This Letter awards Navi Pillay the trophy for the absurdity of the decade!
Not so long ago, Pillay signed a petition to governments lobbying them to “Sanction Apartheid Israel!” which is one of the many areas the COI is tasked to investigate. The “objective and impartial” Pillay has also made her support known for the anti-Israel campaign of BDS, Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions.
COI commissioner Miloon Kothari from India was the subject of a formal complaint filed by Israel to the UN in 2002 for lying on a visa application. After entering Israel under false pretenses, Kothari issued a report in September 2001 in which he described the Second Intifada – during which over 1,400 Israeli men, women, and children were routinely butchered in hotels, restaurants and buses by Palestinian suicide bombers – as the “wave of Palestinian resistance.” He alleged Israel was guilty of “massacring” and “ethnic cleansing” Palestinians and concocted the allegation that Israel had a “theocratic” legal system based on “ethnic criteria.” (Definition of “massacring” and “ethnic cleansing”: Arab Israeli population 1948: 150,000. Arab Israeli population 2022: About 2,000,000).
In a UN press release, Kothari encouraged countries to discontinue “military cooperation” with Israel.
As recently as July 2022, as a commissioner, he questioned the right of Israel to be a member at the United Nations. He said the “Jewish Lobby” controlled social media, a classic and vile trope of Jew-hatred. Among other appalling things, he also said that Israel, which he mislabeled as an “apartheid state,” ought not even to be allowed to be a member of the United Nations (my translation: should not exist). At least we know that under the UN code of conduct, Kothari is objective, impartial and undoubtedly fair.
Chris Sidoti is the commissioner from Australia. At an UNHRC meeting, he said “Jews are throwing around accusations of antisemitism like rice at a wedding.”
Sidoti provides strategic guidance and advice to the “Australian Centre for International Justice (ACIJ).” Working in partnership with the “Palestinian Human Rights Organization Council,” in May 2021, the ACIJ issued a report demanding the Australian government endorse BDS and the criminal prosecution of Israelis. After the May 2021 conflict with Gaza, Sidoti’s Centre pronounced itself directly on the subject matter of Sidoti’s “Inquiry.” Among other things, the ACIJ signed and promoted an open letter objecting to the creation of a Jewish state from day one. The letter denounced “this systematic brutality, perpetrated throughout the past seven decades of Israel’s colonialism, apartheid, prolonged illegal belligerent occupation….” Under the code of conduct, Sidoti is at least totally transparent and without any possibility of double standards!
One of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) tasks required of the COI is, with regard to Israel, to investigate “all underlying root causes of recurrent tensions, instability and protraction of conflict, including systematic discrimination and repression based on national, ethnic, racial or religious identity”.
The mention of “Israel” in the mandate, in addition to “Eastern Jerusalem” and “Occupied Palestinian Territory” is an indication that the Commissioners have been tasked to fault Israel not only on its “treatment” of Palestinians but also on its treatment of Israeli Arabs. Let`s clear this aspect up immediately: In Israel, Israeli Arabs are part and parcel of the Israeli population and any reference to “Israelis” always, and at all times, includes Israeli Arabs, Druze, Bedouin and Circassians. For the sake of good order, let me emphasize: There is no ethnic or racial discrimination in Israel. None. I can buy a kosher hamburger in Israel together with Navi Pillay and eat the hamburger at the same restaurant`s table. There is no reference to race in the Israeli Identity Document meaning it is impossible to legally discriminate based on race or ethnicity.
This Letter is based on the marriage of the Happiness Report with the mandate of the UN`s COI. Let`s have some fun this year. Using the World Happiness Report as the baseline, let us investigate the countries of the commissioners, mainly India and South Africa and a bit of Australia. We will also compare Palestinian data with equivalent South African and Indian data. We will attempt to determine who is the most unhappy and oppressed of them all. Finally, based on the Happiness Report and a subsequent report, the UN`s 2022 Human Development Report, we will suggest who really should be investigated and who should blush with embarrassment. Let`s go!
Here are the first 20 countries that appear on the Happiness list.
- Finland (7.821) 11. Austria (7.163)
- Denmark (7.636) 12. Australia (7.162)
- Iceland (7.557) 13. Ireland (7.041)
- Switzerland (7.512) 14. Germany (7.034)
- Netherlands (7.415) 15. Canada (7.025)
- Luxembourg* (7.404) 16. United States (6.977)
- Sweden (7.384) 17. United Kingdom (6.943)
- Norway (7.365) 18. Czechia (6.920)
- Israel (7.364) 19. Belgium (6.805)
- New Zealand (7.200) 20. France (6.687)
Please note that Israelis, including Israeli Arabs, Bedouin, Druze and Circassians, are happier than the Australians. Sorry about that, my good mate, Sidoti. Maybe it`s due to a wee little bit of colonialism in Australia`s history that you may have overlooked while accusing Israel of “colonialism”?
First conclusion: Australia is less happy than Israel. With all humility, it is highly recommended that the Australian commissioner stay home in order to investigate why Australians appear to be subject to such systematic discrimination and live with such tension and repression that Australia ranks several unhappy places below Israel.
Next task: We go looking for the Indian and South African Happiness rankings. They are not so easy to find.
Success! South Africa has been located, albeit in place number 91. If Australians are unhappy, then Pillay`s South Africans must be absolutely depressed being subject to such systematic discrimination and living with such tension and repression that South Africa ranks over 80 unhappy places below Israel. It is highly recommended that the South African commissioner stay at home in order to investigate why South Africans appear to be so depressed, sad and distinctly unhappy relative to Israelis, including Israeli Arabs, Druze, Bedouin and Circassians.
There are 148 countries listed on the Happiness Report, with many countries being seriously unhappy. The Palestinian Territories (Areas A and B and Gaza under Oslo Accords II) have declared themselves to be the State of Palestine. Israel has no access to or presence, civil or military, in the State of Palestine and no authority, jurisdiction or control over the 98% of Palestinians living in the State of Palestine. The Palestinians, 122, are ranked about the same as Israel`s fiercest critics such as Pakistan, Yemen and Jordan. All the countries ranked from Uganda, 117, until almost the most-unhappiest of them all, India, 136, near the bottom of the list, must, according to the UNHRC, also be subject to systematic discrimination and living with tremendous tension and repression since India and all these other countries rank over 100 unhappy and miserable places below Israel and its Happy Arab Israelis, Druze, Bedouin and Circassians.
- Uganda (4.603) 127. Sri Lanka (4.362)
- Nigeria (4.552) 128. Madagascar (4.339)
- Kenya (4.543) 129. Egypt (4.288)
- Tunisia (4.516) 130. Chad* (4.251)
- Pakistan (4.516) 131. Ethiopia (4.241)
- Palestinian Territories (4.483) 132. Yemen (4.197)
- Mali (4.479) 133. Mauritania (4.153)
- Namibia (4.459) 134. Jordan (4.152)
- Eswatini, Kingdom of (4.396) 135. Togo (4.112)
- Myanmar (4.394) 136. India (3.777
In particular, it is highly recommended that the Indian commissioner stays at home to investigate why Indians appear to be so depressed, sad and miserable relative not only to Israelis which includes Israeli Arabs, Druze, Bedouin and Circassians, ranking 127 places lower than Israel but also even to the Palestinians, who rank 14 places higher than India. Reminder: Kothari is the commissioner who stated that Israel should not be a member of the United Nations.
Based on the rankings of Happy to less Happy countries alone, there is no case for the UNHRC to be stalking Israel. In this upside-down world, the UNHRC, with commissioners from seriously unhappy India and South Africa, investigate the happy and the successful Israelis including Israeli Arabs, Druze, Bedouin and Circassians, instead of investigating those countries near the bottom of the class. Let`s continue with our much more reliable and trustworthy investigation.
I have an idea. Let`s dig a little deeper and research as to why the Happiness Report ranks Israel so highly and why Israeli folk, which includes Israeli Arabs, Bedouin, Druze and Circassians, are so happy, why Australians are somewhat less happy and why India and South Africa are ranked so low and, dear me, the population of these two countries, the countries of the Indian and South African commissioners, are so sad, miserable and unhappy.
To add to our fun, using Happiness Report data variables, let`s also check how the “oppressed” Palestinians compare to the two countries of the COI commissioners, South Africa and India.
The Happiness Report is 158 pages long. The Report relies on eight variables, two being data and six surveys. The surveys cover laughter, enjoyment (described as Positive effect), anger, stress, worry, sadness (described as Negative Affect), unemployment, health, social support, donations, volunteering, freedom to make life choices, perceptions of corruption, trust in institutions and confidence in government.
I do not have access to the surveys but I am able to compare the data results. I will also add my own data which are similar to those relied on by the Happiness Report. The two data variables used by the Happiness Report are GDP per capita and life expectancy at birth. I will add infant mortality and maternal mortality.
What is the importance of GDP per capita? GDP per capita is a measure of the standard of living, prosperity, and overall well-being in a country. A high GDP per capita indicates a high standard of living, a low one indicates that a country is struggling to supply its inhabitants with everything they need. It means that there is a lower quantity of products and services produced per citizen. Therefore people will have less money to spend, tax income will be lower and the government will have less money to spend, particularly on services such as health, education and social services. It means the country doesn’t produce many goods and services per person and thus the population is generally poor, with low living standards. The population of a country with a high GDP will obviously be much happier than the population of a country with a low GDP.
Israel GDP per capita, 2022, $40,547
South Africa GDP per capita, 2022, $12,032
India GDP per capita, 2022 $6,461.
As will immediately and clearly be seen, Israelis, and specifically the oh-so-happy Arab Israelis, Druze, Bedouin and Circassians, have a far higher standard of living and much greater prosperity than the unhappy populations of the countries of the commissioners, South Africa and India. My advice (for free) to these two commissioners: please return immediately to your home countries where your talents are so badly required.
The second data variable used by the Happiness Report is life expectancy at birth. As previously mentioned, I will include additional but similar data as a check that basing results on only one data variable is not misleading: infant mortality and maternal mortality. Let`s see if the three results are consistent.
I also include data variables for the Palestinian population and for Egypt as the representative country for the North African and Middle East countries. Reminder: In the Happiness Report, the Palestinians are ranked as 122, Egypt as 129 and India 136. The Palestinians` neighbour, Jordan, one of Israel`s main critics, is ranked at a decidedly unhappy and sad 134.
The source for all the data (other than 1967) is the CIA Factbook, 2022 edition. The data themselves may not be from 2022 but are the latest data available to the CIA.
For the Palestinians, I include data from 1967, when Israel ended the illegal Jordanian occupation. Please note the Palestinian improvement while simultaneously subject to Israeli “massacring”, “ethnic cleansing”,“abuse” and “oppression”. Here are the statistics for life-expectancy, infant mortality and maternal mortality:
Israel average life-expectancy: 83.4years
Australia average life-expectancy: 80.9 years
Palestinian average life-expectancy 1967: 48 years
Palestinian average life-expectancy Areas A & B: 76.4 years
Palestinian average life-expectancy Gaza: 75.4 years
Egypt average life-expectancy: 74.5 years
India average life-expectancy: 67.2 years
South Africa average life-expectancy: 65.3 years
Israel infant mortality: 3.56 per 1000 live births.
Australia infant mortality: 3.01 per 1000 live births.
Palestinian infant mortality 1967: almost 100 per 1000 live births.
Palestinian infant mortality Areas A, B & Gaza: 15.3 per 1000 live births.
Egypt infant mortality: 17.7 per 1000 live births.
South Africa infant mortality: 25.9 per 1000 live births.
India infant mortality: 30.3 per 1000 live births.
Israel Maternal Mortality: 3 per 100,000 births
Australia Maternal Mortality: 6 per 100,000 births
Palestinian Maternal Mortality: 27 per 100,000 births
Egypt Maternal Mortality: 37 per 100,000 births
South Africa Maternal Mortality: 119 per 100,000 births
India Maternal Mortality: 145 per 100,000 births
Some more fun. Life expectancy for Israelis in 1967 was 71.6. It is now 83.4. The increase in life expectancy since 1967 for Israelis is 16%.
Life expectancy for Palestinians in 1967 was 48. In Areas A & B, it is now 76.4. The increase in life expectancy for Palestinians since 1967 in Areas A and B is 60% and the improvement in infant mortality is over 500%!!! This increase in Palestinian life expectancy and improvement in infant mortality are considered “oppression and abuse” by the UNHRC. It seems that Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the UNHRC would have been much happier had Israeli medical facilities and assistance not been available to the Palestinians and the Palestinian life expectancy and infant mortality rates were the same as the decidedly worse Indian and South African infant mortality and life expectancy rates.
This Israeli assistance to the Palestinians is regarded as “inhuman” by Navi Pillay – see below for reference and as “ethnic cleansing” by Kothari – see above for reference.
In its report “A Threshold Crossed”, Human Rights Watch writes: The decades-long “peace process” has neither significantly improved the human rights situation on the ground…. For Human Rights Watch, a 60% improvement in life expectancy and over 500% improvement in infant mortality constitutes “oppression” and “apartheid” and most definitely not an improvement in the human rights situation of the Palestinians.
We interrupt ourselves with an urgent update. Stop the Press! Stop the Press! On 1 September 2022, TIME Health reported as follows:
“Life expectancy in the U.S. dropped in 2021 for the second year in a row, marking the first such back-to-back losses in a century, with COVID-19 determined to be the cause. In 2019, life expectancy for a person born in the U.S. was 79 years. In 2020, that figure fell to 77 years due to COVID-19, and dropped again to 76.1 years in 2021.”
Here is a repeat of the Palestinian life expectancy for the massacred, ethnic cleansed, abused, oppressed and discriminated against Palestinians living in Areas A and B (of Judea and Samaria/West Bank/Occupied West Bank, as you feel applies):
Palestinian average life-expectancy Areas A & B: 76.4 years
Yes, dear reader: The ethnic cleansed, oppressed and abused Palestinians now have a longer life expectancy than Americans! I now anticipate that the three commissioners will abandon Israel and instead rush to the United States to assist the Americans to, at the minimum, reach Palestinian life expectancy standards.
We now interrupt ourselves for a second time! Urgent! Stop the Press!!! On 8 September 2022, the United Nations released its Human Development Report, 2022. Since this UN Report confirms much of the Happiness Report, it would be wrong of me to deny you a short summary of this important data from the brother/sister/transgender of the UNHRC.
Data Variables measured (no surveys): Life Expectancy, Expected Years of Schooling, Gross National Income per capita.
No of countries measured: 191
Israel: 2022 Ranked 22 2020 Ranked 22
Palestine, State of: 2022 Ranked 106 2020 Ranked 109 Improved
South Africa: 2022 Ranked 109 2020 Ranked 102 Worse
India: 2022 Ranked 132 2020 Ranked 130 Worse
I will spare you the fine print. Israelis, including Israeli Arabs, Bedouin, Druze and Circassians, are, according to the UN Human Development Report, well developed and ranked near the highest level of human development, as reported by the same UN that investigates Israeli Arabs due to “oppression”.
The UN refers to Areas A and B and Gaza as the State of Palestine. No West Bank, no “occupied west bank”. According to the UN`s Human Development Report, the “oppressed” and “abused” Palestinians in the State of Palestine are the only population group (of the four mentioned above) to have improved their country`s human development ranking. There are 85 countries, including South Africa and India, who are ranked below the State of Palestine. Are these countries “abused” and “oppressed”? These 85 countries need to be investigated by the UN, not Israel.
Meanwhile, not only are South Africa and India ranked lower by the UN than the State of Palestine in terms of Human Development, but their rank has actually worsened since 2020.
For UN commissioners from South Africa and India to investigate Israel`s “oppression”, “abuse” and “discrimination” of the Palestinians, who are ranked higher in terms of UN Human Development, than South Africans, Indians and another 83 countries, is to take brazenness and chutzpah to new levels of effrontery.
It is clear why the population of Israel, which includes as already mentioned Israeli Arabs, Bedouin, Druze and Circassians, are happy. Israelis, as evidenced by the GDP per capita, enjoy a high standard of living, prosperity and the means to happily afford a wide range of goods and services.
Israelis, and I will repeat in case someone from the United Nations is reading this Letter, including Israeli Arabs, Bedouin, Druze and Circassians, live longer than most other nations, including Australians and Americans, to enjoy the undoubted benefits of living in Israel. Read together with infant and maternal mortality, Israelis, including Israeli Arabs, Bedouin, Druze and Circassians, are healthier than Australians, Indians and South Africans.
If the allegations made by the UNHRC and also by NGOs such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are so severe that they warrant the formation of a Commission of Inquiry to investigate Israel`s “crimes of apartheid, discrimination, abuse, repression and persecution”, then, even more so, it is clear that the real transgressors are the governments of South Africa and India and those suffering are the populations of India and South Africa and all those countries ranked between 107 and 191 on the UN`s own Human Development Report. One can justifiably ask: why the double standards? Why this obsession with Israel?
Please look again at the data variables. Surprise, surprise! Even the Palestinians are in a far superior position in every statistical variable listed relating to health and human development than the deprived and indecently unhappy citizens of South Africa and India. Palestinians live longer than Americans, South Africans and Indians and are more likely to survive birth than the populations of South Africa and India.
Under Jordan, until 1967, the Palestinians were in a disastrous situation. I provide the Palestinian 1967 data variables (except maternal morality). Due to Israeli assistance, Palestinians have one of the highest life expectancies in the North African and Middle East area, higher than the United States and one of the lowest infant mortality rates. As compared with India and South Africa, the Palestinian maternal mortality rate is more than 5 times superior.
This excellent Palestinian situation, including its human development, is referred to by Israel`s critics as inhuman (Pillay, Stellenbosch University, 2021), apartheid (Pillay, Stellenbosch University 2021, Pillay signs petition June 1920), extermination (a recent article by a South African academic) and ethnic cleansing (by the objective and impartial COI commissioner Kothari). It would be interesting to know how the three fair, objective and impartial commissioners would describe the United States situation.
Despite this excellent Israeli Arabs GDP and human development situation, the UNHRC appointed the COI (Committee of Inquiry) to investigate Israel`s “oppression, discrimination and abuse” of Israeli Arabs, Bedouin, Druze and Circassians as well as Israel`s “oppression” of the State of Palestine despite Israel having no jurisdiction, no authority, no control, no access to or no civil or military presence in the State of Palestine but generously offering facilities and assistance when required, particularly medical. The three-thousand-year-old Psalm 115 “eyes they have but cannot see” continues to apply.
For the “crime” of, since 1967, uplifting Palestinians to a long and healthy life and a favourable human development situation, Israel is rewarded by a commission of inquiry into its “violation of human rights laws”, with commissioners, whose home population Happiness and Human Development data variables are not only inferior to that of Israelis, including Israeli Arabs, Druze, Bedouin and Circassians, but also substantially inferior to the Palestinian population.
From the data variables, it is also clear why Israelis, including Israeli Arabs, Bedouin, Druze and Circassians, are happier than South Africans and Indians. The South African and Indian commissioners really do need to stay at home and focus their attention on their unhappy and miserable home populations. They have so much work to do in order to catch up with, not just the Israeli Arabs, Druze, Bedouin and Circassians, but, oh, the delicious irony of it all, even the Palestinians.
While I do not have access to the results of the Happiness Report surveys, it is clear that Israel`s survey results would be classified as Positive Affect (laughter and enjoyment) while the results for South Africa and India are clearly Negative Affect (anger, stress and sadness).
From the data variables, it is clear why the population of Israel, which includes as already mentioned Israeli Arabs, Bedouin, Druze and Circassians, are happy, even happier than Australians, Canadians, Americans, the British and the French. Israelis enjoy a high standard of living, prosperity and the means to happily afford a wide range of goods and services. The commissioner from Australia should really stay at home to concentrate on making Australians happier.
Meanwhile, the unhappy populations of the countries of the two commissioners appointed to investigate Israel`s “systematic discrimination and repression” of its Arab citizens and of the Palestinian population of the State of Palestine, South Africa and India, suffer from a low standard of living, much poverty, with life expectancy and mortality data variables and human development substantially inferior not only to those of Israelis, including Israeli Arabs, Druze, Bedouin and Circassians, but even to those of the Palestinians.
The UNHRC should be blushing from embarrassment, but of course it is not, by the superior Palestinian human development and data variables over most other third world countries and even partially the United States but specifically over South Africa and India. I am going to repeat yet again since the UNHRC world has not yet cottoned on: These two commissioners should really stay at home. They both have lots of work to do with their so unhappy populations to even catch up to the longer-living, healthier and better-developed Palestinians.
As for the Happy Israelis, including Israeli Arabs, Druze, Bedouin and Circassians, ninth in the world for Happiness, they are enjoying all the good things in life such as prosperity, crowded shopping malls, great beaches, excellent restaurants, world-class wines, traffic jams, good health and airport shambles as Israelis, including Israeli Arabs, Druze, Bedouin and Circassians, happily enjoying international travel, take off to visit the Turkish holiday resorts and the many Greek Islands, leaving the South African and India commissioners wondering how their unhappy respective populations can catch up, not just with the Happy Israelis, including Israeli Arabs, Druze, Bedouin and Circassians, but even with the healthier, longer living and better developed Palestinians.
It is fair and reasonable to ask: What exactly do these guys and these institutions want from Israel? There is much for the UN, the UNHRC, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the three commissioners and indeed the critics of Israel, to learn from the annual Happiness Report and the UN`s very own and unambiguous Human Development Report.
I look forward with much interest to the 2023 Happiness Report and the 2023 UN Human Development Report, to learn whether the Indian and South African commissioners, having wisely taken my advice and returned home, managed to improve the happiness and human development rankings and life expectancy of their own sad, unhappy and less developed populations to, at the very least, meet Palestinian standards of happiness and human development.
