If a country has just gone through a war and is engaged in a global economy in the midst of a downturn, then surely we can expect that its export performance will be gloomy? Not so Israel.

The latest financial stats from Jerusalem encouraged this newspaper headline: “Despite Gaza war, ……the Israel Export Institute reported a 4.5% increase in overseas sales…” Further, as the shekel has depreciated around 12% in recent months, exporters are experiencing a field day of growth.

As ever, Israel’s exports are dominated by three key sectors: cut diamonds, defense and high-tech. Industrial exports, excluding diamonds, were up nearly 15% in the last quarter, a significant improvement from the second quarter of 2014. Even more encouraging, there has been no  parallel rise in imports. Thus, Israel’s debt to the world has shrunk.

One interesting fact that has come to light is that ten companies now make up 50% of the country’s total exports. Less than a decade ago in 2007, that figure was barely 36%. A further analysis reveals two interesting comments:

A) In the same period, exports as a whole grew 34%. However, if you take out these same companies, the growth factor was a bare 55.

B) Six of the ten companies are “Israeli born”, such as Teva (pharma sector) and Raphael (defense). The other four are multinationals – Intel, HP, Philips and General Electric. For example, it is well-known that Intel’s past, current and next generation of chips were developed in the Holy Land, No wonder, the company is about to open up a fourth plant.

So Israel’s exports continue to move ahead, dragging the economy with it. And the rest of the world? Well, clearly despite the country’s detractors, it too is increasingly dependent on Israeli brawn power.