Israel, the Jew Among the Nations

Two years before the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) published a summary of an outrageous conference, “Promise of the Hereafter Post-Liberation Conference,”held by Hamas in Gaza on how to administer liberated Palestine after Israel disappears.

Fighters (Israeli soldiers, I assume) would be killed. Those attempting to flee could do so, or be detained and undergo criminal prosecution. However, to prevent a brain drain, educated Jews and experts in the areas of medicine, engineering, technology, and civilian and military industry would be retained. They would not leave taking with them the knowledge they had acquired “while living in our land and enjoying its bounty.”

By this somewhat backhanded compliment, Hamas joined the rest of the world in acknowledging the intellectual prowess of the Jewish people.

Jews like to cite the statistic that while Jews make up only 0.2 percent of the world’s population, 22 percent of Nobel prizes awarded thus far have gone to Jews (or individuals with Jewish ancestry). Likewise, that two-thirds of the leadership of the Theoretical Division of the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Manhattan Project, those who calculated critical mass and modeled implosions during the development of the atom bomb, were Jews.

In the 18th century, the celebrated French writer Voltaire described Jews as a crude and ignorant people. By the late 19th century, however, after the enlightenment and Jewish emancipation in Europe, the situation was very different. In an 1899 Harper’s Magazine article called “Concerning the Jews,” Mark Twain tabulated Jewish achievements in business, literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine, and abstruse learning “away out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers.”

Until 1948, Jewish intellectual achievements were essentially diaspora milestones. Now, Israeli scholars have also been the recipients of awards, including 13 Nobel prizes, a commendable number for a small country with a relatively small population.

Israel’s educational institutions have deep roots, going back to pre-Mandate times and the creation of the first Jewish agricultural school, Mikve Israel, in 1870. Today, Israel is home to nine universities and 53 colleges and the country is a powerhouse in a wide range of intellectual pursuits including literature (7000 books published yearly), music, art and Judaic studies. We should not be surprised to learn that a 19-year old Israeli undergraduate at the Technion, Revital Wallach, recently won an International Physics Olympiad in a competition with 370 students from 74 countries. Or, that Israel’s national chemistry team dominated a competition involving students from 89 other countries, winning two gold and two silver medals (Joanie Margulies).

However, it is Israel’s economy and its achievements as the “start-up nation” that have attracted the most attention. You would think that a small country embroiled in a long, 21-month existential war with Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and the Houthis would be facing economic ruin. Yet the data reported recently indicate the opposite.

Israel’s stock market is at a record high. Israeli stocks have surged 200 percent from a post-Oct. 7 low. Participation in retail investment has surged, along with foreign investment in Israeli equities, the latter driven largely by increased investor confidence in Israeli technology and defence sectors. An April 2025 OECD report indicates that the Israeli economy has been remarkably resilient to the shock of Oct. 7 and the subsequent war. A vibrant high technology sector and deft financial management were factors noted. Additionally, as World Bank data show, Israel spends more on research and development, by far, than any other country. The amount, six percent of GDP, is double the average for the 38 OECD countries and more than triple that of my own country, Canada.

Israeli technology strengths are in cybersecurity, financial technology and AI, but defence technology is growing in importance. Existential threats faced by Israel, almost continuously since its creation, have emphasized the need to develop a weapons capability that is always at least one step ahead of its adversaries. Israeli technology protects Israeli tanks from Hamas antitank missiles in Gaza, while new laser-based systems were effective in protecting Israeli civilians and civilian infrastructure from dangerous Hezbollah drones and Iranian drones.

The international community has taken note. In 2024, Israeli arms exports reached a record  $14.8 billion dollars. Also, the Iron Dome defense system was sold to Romania for 2.2 billion dollars, the first sale of the system to a European country. (Germany and Finland purchased the Arrow 3 and David’s Sling missile interceptor systems in 2023.)

Jewish achievements are usually attributed to factors such as literacy and the emphasis on education, strong community bonds, and the values expressed in the Judaism. However, external factors are equally important. Many of the staggering achievements by Jews, both in Israel and in the Diaspora, can be related to the same underlying basis–extreme pressure from a hostile environment. Moreover, as a reminder of the conspiracy theories and accusations Jews have faced in previous centuries, as well as today, Israel’s recent show of military strength in Iran, neutralizing Iranian air defenses and intercepting most of Iran’s missiles and drones, has been attributed to the occult and supernatural spirits.

By consistently outperforming expectations, and not only surviving but also thriving in spite of the hostile forces that surround it, Israel can be described as the Jew among the nations.

Jacob Sivak, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, is a retired professor, University of Waterloo.