Israel Active

France blocked access to the displays of five Israeli companies: at the Paris Air Show - Elbit, Rafael, Israel Aerospace Industries, UVision, and Aeronautics. The publicity only gave publicity to the Israeli companies who attracted much business to their “battle-tested” systems.

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Qualcomm’s of UK’s Alphawave includes Israeli semiconductor Banias Labs, which was by Alphawave in 2022 and now has 90 Israeli employees (mainly optical networking and digital signal processing engineers). Israel’s has acquired Israel’s for . Israel’s acquired Israel’s for ;

The Israeli owners of Cyprus-based TUS Airways and Greece-based Bluebird Airways have received a commercial license to start TUS IL. It will become the fifth Israeli carrier, aiming to begin operations from Tel Aviv in 2026. It will focus on the European market and later add flights to the Gulf region.

Bank Leumi has arranged a Mano cruise liner to bring back some 1,500 Israelis stranded abroad. Registration for the cruise will be open to everyone at a subsidized fee (600 euros per person), and to bank customers at a discount (300 euros per person).

Israel’s Consumer Price Index fell 0.3% in May, below analysts' expectations. It brings annual inflation in Israel down to 3.1%. The largest fall (2.4%) was in transport and communications. Israel’s fiscal deficit fell to 5.1% due to a NIS 1.6 billion dividend by state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries.

Israel's fiscal deficit narrowed in the twelve months to the end of April 2025, for the seventh consecutive month, to 5.1% of GDP, or NIS 104.7 billion from 5.2% at end of March.

Israel's defense exports in 2024 were a record $14.8 billion, up about 11.7% from 2023 and double the amount five years ago. 54% of exports went to Europe (up from 35% in 2023 - UK, France, Spain, and Ireland take note). Exports to Abraham Accords countries increased to 12% (3% in 2023).

Only an opinion piece, but the facts are undeniable. The shekel is as strong as pre-Oct 7 2023; so is Israeli credit spending and house purchases; Israel’s unemployment is low; and the Tel Aviv Stock market has outperformed New York’s.

Israeli-US venture capital fund Merlin Ventures (see previously) has closed its $75 million second fund, which will focus on investments in growth stage Israeli cybersecurity companies. In addition, Merlin’s Genesis Program will grow the startups in its portfolio.