JVL Introduction
Israel’s stock exchange had more than doubled since October 7th – in less than three years.
Everyone was predicting its collapse and indeed, in the early days of the war, the economy plummeted.
Catastrophe appeared to loom, but it has weathered the storm and come out triumphant.
What saved it was its weapons and cyber industries.
As Joshua Leifer points out in this analysis in Haaretz, Israel’s secular, educated, high-tech elite – at loggerheads with Netanyahu over so much – is doing very well thank you.
And liberal Europe, for all its condemnation of Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank, is actually more dependent than ever in Israeli military technologies.
Over a third of Israeli defence and weapons record sales last year were to Europe.
This article was originally published by
Haaretz on Thu 27 Aug 2026.
Why Israel’s high-tech elite won’t save Its democracy
The post–October 7 wars were supposed to be an economic catastrophe. Instead, they became a windfall that binds Israel’s liberal economic elite to the occupation. It will stay that way until the high-tech class feels less comfortable profiting from the defense and cyber industries
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