Aletho News

Foreign investors help Israeli economy ‘soar’ despite multiple wars, growing isolation

The Cradle | August 5, 2025

Israel’s financial markets have been soaring despite almost two years of war on several fronts, data released on 5 August revealed.

The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange’s benchmark index jumped 21.3 percent in the first half of this year, marking an outperformance of nearly all other international markets. This has been driven mainly by investors outside of Israel.

Stocks belonging to insurance and financial services firms, particularly, have done significantly well, rising by 68 percent.

Israel’s shekel also remains among the leading global currencies.

According to the Startup Nation Central NGO, January through June marked the strongest six months for Israeli tech funding.

The NGO estimates that over $9 billion in capital has been raised – a 54 percent increase since the second half of last year.

In the first seven months of 2025, Israeli shares received $8.5 billion in foreign investment.

The success has been accompanied by deepening internal disputes in Israel after nearly two years of war on several fronts – including Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, and Yemen.

Israel’s terror attack in Lebanon last year – involving the rigging and detonation of pager devices – attracted investors, who viewed the indiscriminate attack as ingenious.

“Markets are soaring, but some of that leans on investor FOMO, and that won’t be enough to sustain a positive trend over time,” an investment officer at Israeli asset management firm Sigma Clarity Investment House told Bloomberg.

Joseph Wolf, chief executive officer of EFG Wealth Management in Israel, said, “If we get more peaceful relationships with our neighbors, I think you’re going to see a very quick formation of investment funds and vehicles looking toward the Gulf.”

Despite the numbers, Israel’s credit rating outlook was still negative as of May 2025. The year before, Israel’s rating had been downgraded multiple times.

Israel has faced growing isolation and condemnation over its genocidal actions in the Gaza Strip – including the starvation of the Palestinian population. More states are gearing up to recognize Palestinian statehood, and Israeli soldiers involved in war crimes are being pursued by courts around the world.

Nonetheless, the Israeli economy has survived and is apparently thriving.

Early last month, the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine, Francesca Albanese, presented a report naming dozens of companies involved in supporting the surveillance, repression, and killing of Palestinians.

She noted that “for some, genocide is profitable,” revealing how investment in Israel’s defense sector and occupied West Bank settlement expansion have kept the Israeli economy afloat.

“Far too many corporate entities have profited from Israel’s economy of illegal occupation, apartheid and now, genocide,” Albanese said, calling on the international community to “hold the private sector accountable.”

“There is a prima facie responsibility on every state and corporate entity to completely abstain from or end their relationships with this economy of occupation,” she added, naming companies which have “profited from the violence, the killing, the maiming, the destruction in Gaza and other parts of the occupied Palestinian territory.”

Among them were Lockheed Martin, Caterpillar, Hyundai, Microsoft, Palantir, and others.

Albanese pointed out a 200 percent jump in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and the accumulation of hundreds of billions in market gains. “One people enriched, one people erased,” she said.

As a result, the UN rapporteur was targeted by US sanctions less than a week later.

August 5, 2025 - Posted by aletho | Economics, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | Israel, Palestine, Zionism