Israel’s economy seems intent on defying logic. The country has been and remains in political flux for over  a year. And yet the economy grew by 3.6% in the first half of 2019, a better performance than 2018 and way ahead of many competitors in the OECD.

There is no doubt that much of that success is garnered in and around the high-tech sector, roughly 15% of employment in the country. And it should also be pointed out that the gap between the those who have and those who have not is one of the widest in the West. That said, almost every week brings a new set of shining headlines:

• The relatively new area of Foodtech already boasts around 250 companies in the Holy Land and has raised nearly US$150m in this year alone.
• American vehicle trading and services giant, Cox Automotive, is the latest to form a partnership with a Tel Aviv-based smart mobility innovation centre.
• Facebook announced the acquisition of yet another Israeli start up, Servicefriend, that creates bots — chat clients for messaging apps based on artificial intelligence.

All very neat. What prompted me to focus on these tidbits of news was the latest survey from IVC. It is a 60 page survey, covering nearly 50 years. Here are some of the highlights.

1. M&As in the past decade have totaled almost 1,900, close to double the previous period.
2. Around 3,000 overseas corporations have activities in Israel, with over half coming from America. (I am not sure how BDS proponents deal with that issue.)
3. Of the top ten foreign corporations, Microsoft has 161 sets of activity, Intel – 116 and Samsung – 63. (Again, this looks to be a massive BDS failure.)
4. Since 1990, over 350 r&d centres have been opened by foreign companies; Phillips, SAP, Sony, Alibaba, et al.

By way of summary, during the first quarter of 2019, over US$14 billion was paid in 66 exits, the best performance in five years.

You have to wonder how the macro economy would have performed if there had been a functioning central government in Jerusalem for the past 12 months.