The Case for Optimism: Why Israel’s Future Is Better Than You Think

In the early hours of October 7th, my phone pulsed with messages I’ll never forget. Just days beforehand I had been sitting in New York City with friends and colleagues, Israelis and Americans, and even a former United Nations Secretary General, discussing a project that would inspire hope around the world. But after the massacres of Israelis in their homes… on the fields of a festival… hope felt suddenly, painfully,  out of reach. The world, it seemed, had turned darker. Israel would need to fight for its future. Again. And with that fight would come necessary and unbearable sacrifices.

Optimism was, unquestionably, hard to come by.

Now, over 600 days following that unforgettable moment, and after almost two years of war, including operations that have extended far beyond Israel into a full-blown confrontation with Iran, Israelis stand in a different place.  Despite the sense of pessimism and doubt that enveloped it in the days after October 7, Israel has endured. Iran’s proxy armies of extremism that have encircled the Jewish state for decades have been either defeated or largely defanged. In daring operations that are now part of the extraordinary history of Israel’s self-defense, Iran was forcefully confronted and put on notice: Israel will take decisive action to ensure its existence. And it has a mighty ally, the United States, that has proven it will stand by Israel’s side. The Iranian axis of terror may not be vanquished, but it has unquestionably been set back.

So now what? What’s next? 

“It’s too soon for optimism,” a friend recently told me. I understand this sentiment and I also empathize with those who are seeing the world through glasses smudged with the pain of the present, unable to recognize anything but pessimism. The wounds are too fresh, and too deep. There are still hostages in Gaza.  The cost of the conflict feels suffocating, both financially and psychologically. And in many ways, the military and diplomatic storm has not passed. While Israel’s national existence endures, its safety still doesn’t feel assured.

That, however, is not the way I see it.

What I see is a future for Israel that is brighter than it has ever been in my lifetime. The sacrifices made on and since October 7 are not for nothing. They are the prerequisite for a future of possibility that has been almost unimaginable by so many of us, me included. Ranging from regional economic opportunity to a Palestinian state, and from the reimagination of the Israeli civic compact to an explosion of regional cultural creativity and exploration, there is good reason to believe that the golden age of the modern state of Israel is right in front of us.

Photo by Seth Cohen

How can I believe that so deeply? Here are four reasons why I think Israel’s new age of optimism begins right now.

Reestablished Deterrence Has Created Economic Opportunity

First, we must recognize what has been regained. For too long, Israel’s military deterrence had been eroding in the eyes of adversaries and even allies. October 7th exposed that vulnerability brutally. Now, over 600 days of conflict has reasserted a foundational truth: Israel will defend itself boldly and decisively when necessary.

And when it does so, it will win.

But establishing deterrence is not merely about security. It is also about enabling stability and creating the conditions under which new partners are drawn to certainty and strength. We see this already taking shape. Normalized relations with nations across the region are not only feeling strategically possible, but even probable. The Abraham Accords, the diplomatic triumph of the first Trump administration, is poised to become a crowning achievement of President Trump’s second administration. Remember the rush of enthusiasm after the first wave of Abraham Accord nations were announced? It’s once again around the corner, and this time it brings with it an even greater opportunity.

This is why seizing upon the possibilities of post-war diplomatic stability and economic integration are two of the most urgent imperatives of our time. Imagine the Middle East not as a fractured zone of threats but as an expanding multilateral economic engine. Cross-border energy corridors, joint AI, water, and defense technology initiatives are already being quietly explored. Even Lebanon and Syria hold possibilities for alignment in a way that can create new economic zones of reconstruction and trade.

On top of the benefits of normalized regional economic relations, Israel is also poised to seize the peace dividend at home and abroad. At a time of exponential technological innovation globally, Israeli expertise and insight is coming “back online” just in time.  Every day I see entrepreneurs and investors that are embracing the ‘startup nation’ in both term sheets and trade.

For over 600 days, an economy that has been consumed by conflict and combat can once again focus on coding and creating. And the sky for Israeli innovation is, once again, the limit.

This is not mere utopian thinking. It is the kind of functional optimism that arises when deterrence reorders the landscape and leaders reimagine what collaboration can unlock. Yes, the long (good) economic boom is here, and I’m optimistic that this is just the beginning.

A Solution for Palestine Nationhood Is Within Reach

It sounds paradoxical to write this when the battles still seem unfinished, but Operation Rising Lion may have unlocked what decades of diplomacy could not: a genuine pathway to a Palestinian future beyond Hamas.

No one believes Hamas will negotiate its own demise. But it is dramatically weakened and once it is removed from Gaza’s political equation, there is an opportunity—however fragile—for pragmatic Arab states to support the emergence of a credible, governance-oriented Palestinian leadership.

Neighboring nations and regional actors are not mere spectators to this issue. They want stability. They want prosperity in the West Bank and Gaza. And they know, like most Israelis know, that a permanently dispossessed population is both a humanitarian tragedy and a geopolitical time bomb.

For Israel, the moral and strategic imperative now converge into one undeniable fact: only by helping catalyze a viable Palestinian governance alternative can true security take root. A demilitarized, economically supported Gaza under Arab and Palestinian stewardship is not impossible. For the first time in over a generation, this solution is within sight—and more importantly, within reach – if courage and clarity align.

The outcomes of this solution would be unparalleled. Without Iran’s regional proxies engaging in self-sabotaging acts that destroy and displace innocent Gazans, the rebuilding of Gaza will not only respond to a moral imperative but also create the capacity for what so many people on both sides of the conflict believe is necessary: a Palestinian nation that sees prosperity, not confrontation, as its north star.

Renewed Investment in Israel’s Civic Compact

Third, success in the security and diplomatic spheres creates space for something equally vital: reinvestment in Israel’s domestic social compact.

Israel’s divisions have deepened over the past decade—religious vs. secular, Mizrahi vs. Ashkenazi, ultra-Orthodox vs. modern Orthodox vs. secular, Jewish vs. Arab citizens. Security fears often papered over these fractures. But lasting national strength will demand deeper unity, and that can only be forged in times of relative calm and confidence.

The ebbing of military conflict creates new bandwidth—politically, financially, emotionally—to tackle internal challenges: judicial reform debates, equitable economic development, integration of minorities into the tech economy, housing crises, and education transformation.

But this will not be without an important acknowledgement by the political echelon in Israel: military victory without civic renewal is hollow. But the optimistic corollary to this point is that military clarity makes civic renewal possible.  That is the moment we are in right now. By inviting leaders and citizens alike to reimagine what it means to be a society worthy of its sacrifices, there is a real possibility that a new civic and social compact can take root, with an intellectual and social dynamism that hasn’t been seen since Israel’s earliest days of modern existence.

A Cultural Horizon of Creation Over Destruction

Finally, my optimism is not just in the domain of strategy and politics—it is cultural as well.

For too long, the region has been consumed by what has been destroyed: wars, terror, displacement, trauma. But what if the coming decade is defined instead by what can be created?

Israel’s entertainment industry is gaining international acclaim. Israeli music is weaving Arabic, Ethiopian, Russian, and Mizrahi sounds into a cultural renaissance. Think about it: in a Middle East no longer defined by existential threats, imagination becomes the true currency of power. And Israel is uniquely positioned to help lead with its combination of resilience, creativity, and cultural dynamism.

Without radical elements pressuring artists to boycott instead of collaborate, new opportunities for artistic co-creation will soar. Travel, exploration, and exposition all become possible in new ways with nearly endless possibilities. The cultural peace dividend is one of the brightest opportunities that awaits Israel and its regional partners and is also one that can inspire future generations to see what many of us have long dreamed: the Middle East resuming its rightful place as one of the world’s iconic melting pots of culture and community.

Of course, each of these four areas—diplomatic magnetism, a resolution to the national aspirations of the Palestinian people, domestic reinvestment, and cultural creation—are optimistic projections. Like any projections, many may criticize them as flights of fantasy or indulgences of naiveté.

That’s why I use the term applied optimism – a form of optimism that is gritty and relentless.

Of course, Iran is not finished. Of course, terror networks will adapt. Of course, regional jealousies remain. Certainly, internal political divides will not dissolve overnight. This isn’t pessimism. It’s realism.

But to be an applied optimist, particularly as it relates to Israel, is to act on the truth that agency, strategy, and moral courage can also reshape reality.

Yes, Israel has borne an unbearable cost in recent years. Families are grieving, the nation is exhausted, and the Jewish people are traumatized anew. But in this darkness, I see more than a flicker of dawn. I see a brand-new sunrise, including a chance for security reborn, a region realigned, a civic life renewed, and a culture reimagined.

Israel’s new age of optimism begins right now.

The only question is whether we will choose to see it and to build it. I, for one, am optimistic that we will.

Are you?