Israel has spent much of her 60 years fighting wars to protect its existence. Despite these adversities, it is become a global high tech power and has recently joined the OECD.

The war with Hamas provides another example of how Israel’s economy continues to seek growth, despite thousands being conscripted and vast parts of the country under on-going rocket attack.

Here are 4 examples of what I mean: –

• The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange has risen 6% during the first 9 days of hostilities. It accepts that the country is being run by strong team of economists, dedicated to long term financial stability.
• In the same period, the shekel has not suffered any major devaluation against the major currencies, primarily for similar reasons to the above.
• The Office of the Chief Scientist has just allocated another 225 m shekels ( US$60M) of government money to new high tech projects. Or look at LiveU, which has raised US$9 m, and whose TV tech is now helping live news to be broadcast into homes throughout the world.
• Yesterday, I participated in a networking meeting, where the names of 6 Israeli companies were mentioned, all signing new agreements with overseas partners, specifically in the UK and in Romania.

The point: Invest in peace and growth, not in war machines. The result – optimistic predictions from overseas pundits.

Now contrast this to the economy of Gaza. The Palestinian Authority took over in 1993 under the Oslo Accords. Israel withdrew in 2005, and Hamas came to power over a year ago.

The successful greenhouses left behind by Israel and which received a US$15m from the World Bank are now dust bowls. Hamas has built hundreds of smuggling tunnels, but few houses and there are no bunkers for citizens (as in Israel). Ad-hoc factories for producing Kassam rockets have emerged throughout the region, but there is no attempt to create a civilian manufacturing base.

And so the Gaza tragedy goes on.

War is terrible for all sides. Israel should be recognised for taking the courageous decision to defend her citizens. Its economy will probably emerge from this period of turmoil without too many battle scars.

And here is a central lesson here for Israel’s neighbours in society building. Wealth creation does not come via exporting hatred.