As the Holy Land heads off towards Christmas and the cold weather approaches, Israel’s economy is sending out a string of healthy messages.

Israel’s debt-to-GDP ratio has risen only marginally during the international credit crunch. In comparison, other countries like the UK have suffered much worse and will have to pay for their governments’ rescue programmes for years to come via higher taxes.

That macro supervision is encouraging. In parallel, analysts showed their faith in the Israeli economy this week. Bank of America-Merrill Lynch commented that “investors should overweight Israel, at least until the dust settles in Dubai”. The stock market has recorded solid gains for the past 3 days.

On the micro level, Kodak Israel will be hiring new workers. The company is one of several multinationals, such as Intel, Siemens and Microsoft, with succesful r&d centres in Israel. The local branch will be supporting the software development of the Kodak’s preprinting and digital imaging systems.

Foreign investment is also picking up. Pfizer have just committed to a strategic partnership with Protalix, a contract valued at up to US$110 million. Go back 5 years and Protalix was barely a commercial germ in  small industrial incubator.

Dune Networks is a similar story. Founded less than a decade ago and located on an agricultural kibbutz, the company has been sold for US$200 million to Broadcom, a major player in the fabless semiconductor market. This places Broadcom’s level of investment in Israel at nearly US$600 million.