Israel’s “Start-Up Nation” Progress

Israel’s contribution to the tech industry has given the nation the recognition that it deserves on the global scene. In a bid to retain its “start-up nation” status, Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, affectionately known as Bibi, has stated that he will continue to develop his vision for Israel in the next year.

The alumni of the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Prime Minister-Designate Benjamin Netanyahu, is poised to oversee the Middle Eastern economy and he has given an interview with FOX Business Network and the Former Director of the National Economic Council of the United States, Larry Kudlow.

Netanyahu was quoted as saying that Israel’s free-market reforms have helped the economy immensely through its military sector, and stresses that it wouldn’t have been possible without the free market that Israel currently commands which Netanyahu fought for, specifically, the “military prowess funded by economic free-market prowess gave Israel diplomatic prowess with the Arab countries and, by the way, with many, many countries around the world.”

Kudlow went on to describe that Israel currently looks “dynamic, entrepreneurial, technology-led”, and goes on to highlight that their per-capita GDP “now exceeds France, the United Kingdom, Germany and a couple of others”, as well as saying that Israel has become a powerhouse with Netanyahu at the helm.

To which Netanyahu replied that Israel is focused on “free markets and technology”, with the understanding that they aren’t invested in entering any kind of competition with developed nations in the EU, though, judging from the leaps and bounds of technological advancements Israel has made despite the pandemic, they are very well in the position to be a force to be reckoned with.

Many people might be curious how they might be able to invest in the Israeli market, especially considering the rich resources that the country has. As Kudlow puts it, “You’re sitting on a lot of natural gas reserves in the eastern part of the Mediterranean that will make it even a greater economic powerhouse if you let the free market develop it.”

Prof. Dan Ben-David, the president of the Shoresh Institution for Socioeconomic Research and an economist at Tel Aviv University, weighed in on Netanyahu’s contributions to the Israeli market, saying that Netanyahu understood his role as finance minister was to save the economy. When Netanyahu stepped up, the first thing he did was budget restructuring, when he noticed that their current spending was unsustainable, “he slashed it.”

The professor, who is also a trained economist from University of Chicago, applauded Netanyahu’s bold move, stating that, “It took a lot of courage on his part. He cut welfare benefits in a major way and induced a lot of people, mostly ultra-orthodox” in order to make his plan work. While Netanyahu has done wonders for the Israeli economy, Ben-David isn’t as certain about the Prime Minister’s plans for merging the coalition government’s merger with the country’s religious parties, saying that it is, “poised to give huge increase in benefits to the Haredim parties” and only time will tell whether it is a beneficial move.