Are we the only ones wondering why Israel isn’t included in the G20?
The short answer to this question is simple: The G20 consists roughly of the 20 largest economies in the world. Israel is the world’s #30 economy as of 2022, which is nowhere near the minimum to join this forum.
But it is a bit more complex than that. According to their description, the G20 is composed of “systemically important industrialized and developing economies” that come together to “discuss key issues in the global economy.” After understanding that emerging economies are not represented in the forum, the group has created a mechanism to add more voices and perspectives to the conversations about global financial stability and governance.
Can Israel mark this box of being an “important industrialized developing economy”? for sure yes. Israel is a start-up nation, with many of the world’s unicorns (companies with a market cap of more than 1 billion dollars), has the second-highest number of startups in the world after the United States (with a tiny population of only 6 Million), and the largest number of NASDAQ-listed companies outside of North America.
On top of that, Israel has geopolitical importance in the middle east, it is a world leader in the diamond trade, military industries, a TV production powerhouse, and in general a local power.
The issue is different. A political one.
The G20 and Israel
The G20 or Group of Twenty is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union (EU) and most of the world’s largest economies, including both industrialized and developing nations, and accounts for around 90% of gross world product (GWP).
As of 2017, leaders from the following nations have been invited to the G20 summits: Azerbaijan, Benin, Brunei, Cambodia, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malawi, Malaysia, Mauritania, Myanmar, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, the Philippines, Poland, Senegal, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe.
To be a G20 member, a country needs approval from all the current members of the summit, which is politically not possible in the case of Israel, which is still a red flag for many Muslim countries, and a controversial hot potato for others. As the Huffington Post summed it up – “The world has no fondness for Israel”.
Saudi Arabia and South Africa, two fumbling fool countries, one of other nothing more to offer than oil, religious extremism and corruption and the other corruption and how not to run a country.
The G20 is a bit of a buffoon show as some of its invited guests included backward countries like Bangladesh and insignificant countries (no disrespect meant) economically like Mauritius. How on Earth does a tech end economic powerhouse like Israel not even get invited as a guest?!