I've written before about how Israel's genocidal war will destroy their economy. While it hasn't happened yet, the trend is indeed happening.

The Lebanese economy, meanwhile, could contract by up to 5% this year due to cross-border attacks between Hezbollah and Israel, according to BMI, a market research firm owned by Fitch Solutions.

Israel’s economy could shrink even more than that, based on a worst-case estimate by the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University.

Even in a more benign scenario, its researchers also see Israel’s gross domestic product per head — which in recent years overtook the United Kingdom’s — falling this year, as Israel’s population grows faster than the economy and living standards decline.

Before the October 7 attack and ensuing Israel-Hamas war, the International Monetary Fund forecast that Israel’s economy would grow by an enviable 3.4% this year. Now, economists’ projections range from 1% to 1.9%. Growth next year is also expected to be weaker than earlier forecasts.

Yet Israel’s central bank is not in a position to cut interest rates to breathe life into the economy because inflation is accelerating, propelled by rising wages and soaring government spending to fund the war.

The Bank of Israel estimated in May that costs arising from the war would total 250 billion shekels ($66 billion) through the end of next year, including military outlays and civilian expenses, such as on housing for thousands of Israelis forced to flee their homes in the north and south. That is equivalent to roughly 12% of Israel’s GDP.

The important thing to note is that this is only a measurement of short-term trends. The long-term trends are much, much worse.

In the immediate aftermath of Oct. 7 there was a staggering 285% increase in Israelis leaving the country permanently, according to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics. Although this rate has since stabilized, the outflow of Israelis remains significant, underscoring deeper concerns about safety, governance, and social cohesion. The migration trend predates the war, with departures surging by 51% in the months leading up to the Oct. 7 attacks, amid widespread protests against the government’s controversial judicial overhaul.

Notably, the demographic profile of those leaving reveals the departure of Israel’s most educated and economically mobile citizens. Data indicates that many are married professionals working in tech, medicine, academia, and business—key sectors vital to Israel’s economy.
...The phenomenon isn’t limited to Jewish Israelis. Arab Israelis, who have traditionally faced social and economic challenges, are also expressing a heightened desire to emigrate. A recent report from the Ruppin Academic Center found this sentiment has doubled to 14% of all Arab Israelis since Oct. 7. However, for Arab Israelis lacking the dual citizenship many Jewish Israelis possess, leaving is a more complex endeavor.

The good news for Israel is that BDS in the United States has yet to catch on. It's not just your federal taxes that are flowing to Israel. Your state taxes are too.

According to Brown University’s Watson Institute, the US government provided Israel with almost $18bn in weapons and military aid in the first year of Israel’s war.
Between October 7, 2023 – when the Palestinian group Hamas attacked Israel and the latter subsequently began its war on Gaza – and April 18 this year, nearly three dozen states and counties have bought $1.7bn worth of bonds, according to Israel Bonds, a US-based company that raises foreign funds for Israel.

This money has gone straight into Israel’s general fund, where it can then be funnelled into Israel’s ballooning military budget. An email from Israel Bonds to an Ohio county treasurer noted the bonds were used in part to “refund the United States Government for security equipment”.

The world’s single largest purchaser of Israel’s war bonds is Palm Beach County – the wealthy Florida county home to President-elect Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. Palm Beach holds a startling $700m worth of Israel bonds – a loan large enough to cover the purchase of multiple F-15 fighter jets.