Global recession? War in Gaza? Yet again, more poor international press. The Israeli economy has faced all this in the past and still delivers to its trading partners.

The Israeli Ministry of Industry has just released its latest newsletter. It describes some of the leading M&As from the past few weeks, valued at over US$400. They include industry leaders, such as St Judes Medical from the USA and Thales from France.

In the other direction, Israeli internet giant, Checkpoint, has bought out Nokia’s security appliance business.

The newsletter leads wit a quote from international banker and Governor of the Bank of Israel, Stanley Fischer

“If there is a significant improvement in the security situation following the military operation, it will have a positive effect on the economy, and in particular on the scope of investments, both local and foreign.”

“My experience with crises over time has taught me to be optimistic. It takes a long time for a crisis to start off. We have known since mid-2007 that a crisis was on its way. In the end a crisis breaks out suddenly, but from my experience crises tend to end faster than expected.”

Not just the words of an optimistic senior civil servant. Despite some profit taking, the Tel Aviv Stock exchange rose 4% this week.  In parallel, a special report from Moody’s has noted that:

“Israel’s present political and financial shocks do not pose an immediate threat to the country’s risk profile, including its A1 rating and stable outlook.”

Recession or war – there is smart investment money still around, and now you know why some of it is heading towards Israel.