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Is Israel the ‘Start-Up Nation’ Because of Its Security Situation?
The State of Israel is unique — it enjoys significant economic growth while maintaining one of the highest defense burdens of any country in the world. The reason for the high defense expenditure is that Israel has been engaged in a fight for its very existence from the day of its formation. Concurrently with the ongoing threat, Israel’s economy has grown rapidly, averaging around 4% annual growth over the last two decades.
Israel’s growth strategy is directly tied to investments in research, development, and technology. Science and technology have always been perceived by Israel as key factors in the power equation between itself and its surrounding adversaries. Israel’s expenditure on research and development as a proportion of GDP is one of the highest in the world at approximately 5%. The country’s emphasis on science and technology is evident in the high density of scientists and engineers within its population, which easily competes with that of any developed European country.
In its early years, Israel attempted to address its pressing security challenges by developing a national security strategy that emphasized qualitative parameters to neutralize the quantitative gaps vis-à-vis the surrounding enemy states. Soon after the establishment of the state, David Ben-Gurion — Israel’s first prime minister and minister of defense — articulated that due to Israel’s numerical inferiority, it must strive for qualitative superiority. Israel identified science and technology as critical for the accomplishment of this strategy.
Ben-Gurion further asserted that scientific research and technological development were essential not only for security needs, but also for the development of Israel in terms of agriculture, industry, and education. His plan was to enlist the best scientific minds of the Jewish people and to motivate young scientific talents to dedicate their lives to scientific research. They were to be provided with advanced equipment and well-equipped laboratories in fields such as physics and biology, with the expectation that they would align their research efforts towards the security and development of the country.
Given that “big science” involves long development cycles, high uncertainty, substantial risk, and a considerable chance of failure, engaging in extensive private-commercial science and technology projects without state intervention was exceptionally challenging, if not impossible, in the initial decades of Israel’s existence. The necessity for government funding stands out as a primary obstacle for smaller nations seeking to cultivate such capabilities. However, despite the challenges it faced and its status as a small state, Israel managed to overcome these barriers, successfully constructing and advancing a significant technological infrastructure. Israel attributes much of this success to making technological superiority a cornerstone of its national security strategy, which led in turn to the establishment of a well-developed and technologically advanced defense sector.
The end of the 20th century saw a dramatic change in the world’s technological landscape. State-owned technological innovation led primarily by the defense sector shifted towards innovation led by the entrepreneurs and investors of the private sector, establishing what we know today as the start-up age. Today, annual investment in commercial startups worldwide is significantly higher than investment in defense R&D. The private commercial sector dominates technological innovation and the defense sector often “feeds” on these innovations for its own applications, rather than the other way around.
Following this shift in technological dominance and leveraging its highly developed science and technology infrastructure, Israel has managed to position itself as a global source of technological innovation and business entrepreneurship, and is often referred to accordingly as the “Start-Up Nation.” Israel has many hi-tech companies listed on the NASDAQ, the second-largest stock exchange in the world after the New York Stock Exchange. Israel’s presence on the NASDAQ is second only to that of the United States and China. As of the end of 2022, there were over 130 Israeli companies listed on the NASDAQ, which is comparable to those of the British, French, and German companies on the exchange combined.
In the last decade, Israel’s investment in research and development has been the highest in the world relative to GDP by a significant margin. Additionally, Israel’s venture capital fundraising rate is among the highest globally on a per capita basis, and the success rate of its unicorn companies is particularly high. Between 1999 and 2014, approximately 10,000 start-up companies were established in Israel, with 2.6% achieving an annual profit of at least $100 million. In the Global Competitiveness Report for 2018-19, which ranked 141 countries, Israel was first in entrepreneurial culture and second in availability of venture capital. In 2021, investments in Israeli startups reached an unprecedented peak of $26 billion.
Given this context, it might seem reasonable to argue that aligning Israel’s highly developed technological ecosystem with its unique security context may have been relevant in its early decades, but has grown less so with time. This might appear on the surface to be true, as Israel’s economy seems to have extricated itself over the last few decades from the clutch of the defense sector and transformed the country into the “Start-Up Nation” it is today.
But the argument is inaccurate, as the connection between the Israeli hi-tech industry and the Israeli defense sector remains robust. To appreciate why, we need to delve into the Israeli technological ecosystem.
The ties to the defense system, particularly to the IDF, play a pivotal role for the Israeli hi-tech industry. In Israel, most citizens undergo mandatory military service, and after their discharge, many continue on active reserve duty. There is thus a continual interaction between the Israeli civilian and military domains.
This ongoing connection significantly empowers entrepreneurs serving in the IDF’s technological units to introduce novel technologies and devise solutions that can benefit the defense system. These entrepreneurs possess an in-depth personal understanding of that system and can identify its needs, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities. They utilize the training and extensive knowledge they acquired during their military service in the development process to great effect.
In the Israeli hi-tech sector, many of the start-up companies specializing in intelligence and cybersecurity are predominantly staffed by graduates of military technological units like Units 8200 and 81. These start-ups are involved in advancing defense-related technological projects, delivering training to defense entities, and providing prompt responses to the system’s operational needs. In many cases, the products offered by these companies are not generic but are meticulously tailored to meet specific operational requirements. Many projects undertaken by these companies are at the forefront of technological advancement.
To comprehend just how profound is the influence of this phenomenon on the Israeli hi-tech industry, we should examine the two units mentioned above, 8200 and 81. In the late 1990s, the IDF recognized the pivotal role of the cyber domain and took on the challenge of identifying and training suitable human resources. The IDF accordingly instituted unique advanced selection processes to recruit high-quality personnel. The innovative training program and courses transformed these young recruits into true experts in their fields.
Between 2003 and 2010, 100 or so officers and soldiers who completed their service in Unit 81 established around 50 start-up companies, collectively raising over $4 billion. Many of these companies continue to yield substantial revenues, and some have achieved successful exits. Unit 8200 was a major contributor to the emergence of many cybersecurity companies, including the legendary Check Point; Adallom, acquired by Microsoft for $320 million; and Armis, acquired by Accenture for $1.1 billion.
More than 1,000 start-ups have been founded by 8200 alumni. Its graduates are involved not only in cybersecurity start-ups but in many other fields as well, ranging from Waze to Wix to SolarEdge. These examples represent only a small fraction of the broader trend. It is no exaggeration to assert that graduates of these units have significantly shaped the Israeli hi-tech sector over the past decade. These units are a true powerhouse propelling the Israeli hi-tech sector, with a significant portion of the technology they develop flowing back to defense applications.
When analyzing the unique relationship between the IDF and the private commercial hi-tech sector in Israel, we can see that Israel’s unique security situation has created a mechanism through which both parties are so interwoven as to make it difficult at times to tell them apart. It is in Israel’s best interest to continue to nurture this unique relationship, which is beneficial for Israel’s prosperity as well as its security.
Nir Reuven is a researcher at the BESA Center, an engineer, and a former officer in the Merkava development program (the main Israeli battle tank). He has held management positions in the Israeli hi-tech industry and is an expert on technology. Currently he is co-manager of the Sapir College Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center. He is working on his Ph.D. and lectures at Bar-Ilan University. A version of this article was originally published by The BESA Center.
The post Is Israel the ‘Start-Up Nation’ Because of Its Security Situation? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Meta Boots Anti-Zionist Columbia University Group From Instagram
Pro-Hamas Columbia University students march in front of pro-Israel demonstrators on Oct. 7, 2024, the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel. Photo: Roy De La Cruz via Reuters Connect
Meta Platforms, Inc. has banned the infamous Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) anti-Zionist student group from its platforms, a decision that the company says is irrevocable.
As previously reported by The Algemeiner, CUAD is responsible for spreading pro-Hamas propaganda, assaulting Jewish students, and disrupting academic study at Columbia with unauthorized demonstrations and property destruction. Its behavior, among other factors, drove the Trump administration’s cancellation in March of $400 million in federal contracts and grants awarded to Columbia.
CUAD first reported that Meta shuttered its Instagram account on Monday, denouncing the measure as being part of “a long and concerted effort from corporations and imperial powers to erase the Palestinian people.” Meta later justified the decision to Jewish Insider, explaining that CUAD had forced the company’s hand by ceaselessly transgressing the platform’s terms of use of agreement. Meta forbids groups which advocate violence to operate on Instagram, and CUAD has used its account to call for toppling the Israeli and US governments. Additionally, its Instagram account has been essential for promoting unlawful demonstrations CUAD continues to hold at Columbia University and for sharing resources that have helped its collaborators avoid punishment.
Meta told Jewish Insider that the group won’t be allowed back.
As previously reported by The Algemeiner, CUAD’s activities have been described as a threat to the civil rights and security of Jewish Columbia University students.
Last April, CUAD members commandeered a section of campus and, after declaring it a “liberated zone,” lit flares and chanted pro-Hamas and anti-American slogans. When the New York City Police Department (NYPD) arrived to disperse the unlawful gathering, hundreds of CUAD members and their affiliates reportedly amassed around them to prevent the restoration of order. During ensuing clashes with law enforcement, one student screamed “Yes, we’re all Hamas, pig!” while others shouted, “Long live Hamas!” and filmed themselves praising the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the US-designated terrorist group.
In September, during the university’s convocation ceremony, the group distributed a pamphlet which called on students to join the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s movement to destroy Israel. Several sections of the document were explicitly Islamist, invoking the name of “Allah, the most gracious” and referring to Hamas as the “Islamic Resistance Movement.” Proclaiming, “Glory to Gaza that gave hope to the oppressed, that humiliated the ‘invincible’ Zionist army,” it said its purpose was to build an army of Muslims worldwide.
In February, CUAD committed infrastructural sabotage by flooding the toilets of the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) with concrete. Numerous reports indicate the attack may have been the premeditated result of planning sessions which took place many months ago at an event held by Alpha Delta Phi (ADP) — a literary society, according to the Washington Free Beacon. During the event, the Free Beacon reported, ADP distributed literature dedicated to “aspiring revolutionaries” who wish to commit seditious acts.
Following two occupations of administrative buildings at Barnard College, Laura Rosenbury, the school’s president, denounced the group as a paranoid hate-organization.
“They [CUAD] operate in the shadows, hiding behind masks and Instagram posts with Molotov cocktails aimed at Barnard buildings, antisemitic tropes about wealth, influence, and ‘Zionist billionaires,’ and calls for violence and disruption at any cost,” Rosenbury wrote in an op-ed published by The Chronicle of Higher Education. “They claim Columbia University’s name, but the truth is, because their members wear masks, no one really knows whose interests they serve.”
Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Meta Boots Anti-Zionist Columbia University Group From Instagram first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Tlaib Set to Headline Terrorist-Connected Palestinian Event in New Jersey
US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) speaking at a press conference at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, March 11, 2025. Photo: Michael Brochstein/ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters Connect
US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) is set to headline a conference that is also hosting a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), an internationally designated terrorist organization, according to documents obtained by The Algemeiner.
The Palestinian American Community Center (PACC) in New Jersey will hold its annual conference, titled “Grounded in Action: Exploring the Power of the Palestinian Diaspora,” from Thursday through Sunday. Wisam Rafeedie, a self-admitted member of the PFLP, will address the conference virtually on the 4th day of the event.
According to PACC’s website, the conference “is a call to recommit ourselves to amplifying and supporting the Palestinian voices and advocates who have long been at the forefront of our struggle.” PACC also calls on members of the Palestinian diaspora “to leverage our unique positions and power” to “push for meaningful action.””
Tlaib is scheduled to headline the event’s “Youth Day,” in which she will host a reading and signing for her new children’s book, Mama in Congress, alongside her son Adam Tlaib. According to Harper Collins, the book’s publisher, Mama in Congress will chronicle Tlaib’s journey from Detroit to the halls of the federal government. The book will also detail Tlaib’s supposed efforts in working toward “justice for all” in Congress.
The conference will include several workshops educating attendees on “resistance,” “solidarity,” and “collective struggle.” The event will also feature a session stressing the importance of “centering Palestinian prisoners.”
This is not the first time that Tlaib has come under scrutiny for attending a pro-Palestinian conference tied to terrorists. Last May, Tlaib came under fire for speaking at the “The People’s Conference for Palestine,” which also hosted Rafeedie among other individuals connected to terrorist groups. During that event, Rafeedie praised Hamas, the terrorist group that runs Gaza and murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages on Oct. 7, 2023, as a “resistance” against Israel. He defended and downplayed Hamas’s atrocities, saying that “Zionists lie like they breathe.”
“This is not a struggle between Hamas and Israel. Hamas is part of the resistance of the Palestinian people. The core issue is between the Palestinian people and the project of settler colonialism and ethnic cleansing,” Rafeedie said.
Rafeedie also called for the complete destruction of Israel and the replacement of the Jewish state with a “democratic” Palestine.
“There is no longer a place for the two-state solution for any Palestinian. The only solution is one democratic Palestinian state on all Palestinian land, which will end the Zionist project in Palestine,” Rafeedie continued.
Tlaib, the first Palestinian American woman elected to the US Congress, has positioned herself as a fierce and outspoken critic of Israel. Since entering office, Tlaib has repeatedly accused the Jewish state of implementing an “apartheid” regime in the West Bank and turning Gaza into an “open-air prison.”
In the year following the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, Tlaib has sharpened her condemnations of the Jewish state. In the immediate aftermath of the massacre, she hesitated to release an official statement acknowledging the mass slaughter, abductions, and rapes perpetrated by Hamas. Less than two weeks after the invasion, Tlaib introduced a “ceasefire” resolution between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group. In November 2023, the House of Representatives voted to censure Tlaib over her anti-Israel rhetoric.
The progressive firebrand has also condemned Israel’s defensive military operations in Gaza, accusing the Jewish state of committing a full-scale “genocide” against the civilians of the enclave. She has also peddled the unsubstantiated claim that Israel has purposefully inflicted mass starvation against Palestinian civilians and urged the Biden administration when it was in power to impose an arms embargo on Israel. Simmering with anger over the Biden administration’s support for Israel, she refused to endorse former Vice President Kamala Harris’s failed presidential bid.
Tlaib’s office did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
The post Tlaib Set to Headline Terrorist-Connected Palestinian Event in New Jersey first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Driver Charged for Brooklyn Car Crash Killing Jewish Family Has History of Claiming CIA Follows Her
An overturned auto in a car crash flipped on its roof landing on a mother and her three children, killing two children on March 29, 2025, in Brooklyn, New York. Photo: ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters Connect
A Brooklyn woman who was charged for a car crash on Saturday that killed a Jewish woman and her two young daughters has alleged in the past on social media that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is following her, a claim she also made to first responders after the fatal accident.
Miriam Yarimi, 32, is facing multiple charges, including three counts of second-degree manslaughter, three counts of criminal negligent homicide, and four counts of second-degree assault. Yarimi — a Brooklyn resident and wigmaker who is also a Jewish mother herself – was transported to NYU Langone Hospital in Brooklyn in stable condition. She was then moved to the psychiatric ward of Bellevue Hospital, according to reports.
The car crash killed Natasha Saada, 32, and her daughters – 8-year-old Diana and 6-year-old Deborah. Saada’s son Philip, 4, was injured in the crash and hospitalized at Maimonides Medical Center in Borough Park in critical condition. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) arrested Yarimi, a single mother who has a young daughter, and she is awaiting arraignment in connection to the crash that took place Saturday afternoon at an intersection on Ocean Parkway off Quentin Road in Midwood. Police said she was driving with a suspended license at the time of the crash.
“This was a horrific tragedy caused by someone who shouldn’t have been on the road,” said Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch. “A mother and two young children killed, another child fighting for his life, a family and a neighborhood devastated in an instant. The NYPD sends its condolences to the family of the victims.”
Yarimi, who shares custody of her daughter with her ex-husband, reportedly told first responders with the Jewish-led volunteer ambulance service Hatzalah that she was “possessed” and that she believes the CIA was pursing her.
She has made similar claims about the CIA many times on Instagram, a former customer of hers told The Algemeiner on Tuesday. The source, who wishes to remain anonymous, purchased a wig from Yarimi several years ago and has been following her on social media for a number of years. Yarimi has 16,000 followers on Instagram and screenshots of her since-deleted posts, obtained by The Algemeiner, confirm she previously believed that the CIA is tracking her.
“It’s very convenient to plead insanity. But it’s not new. She is actually insane. This is [an] old topic,” the former client told The Algemeiner. “She thinks that she’s been followed by CIA for a long, long time already. She truly believes that CIA is spying on her … But only people who follow her [on social media] and know her for a long time would know this. She’s sick.”
In one since-deleted Instagram post, Yarimi wrote in part about the CIA: “They have control of EVERYONE here in this world BESIDES ME … when I went to Miami, it all clicked … once they knew that I knew, they followed me around the hotel, dressed up as young parents with a doona [stroller] and disco outfits like I was stupid and didn’t know who they were … if anything they stuck out like glue.”
“It was the government, blackjack, and the CIA who manipulated everyone and took control of everyone’s mind but because I was the catalyst and the sacrificial lamb so they did their best to break me,” she wrote in a separate post that has also been deleted. “They experimented (abused) me and that’s when they cloned my daughter and I so when I die, they could reinsert me into the crowd and make me into another person.”
Yarimi previously had a highlight on her Instagram page where she talked about demons and the CIA, but it has since been deleted, her former customer told The Algemeiner. Yarimi also wrote on her Instagram Story once that she believes Hollywood is trying to clone people to look like her.
“Why do you think most of the girls in Hollywood have similar features to me like Rita Ora & Jane the Virgin etc,” Yarimi once wrote on Instagram, as seen in a screenshot shared with The Algemeiner. “Wake up, this is not just happening in Hollywood. This is happening right here in the Jewish community in Brooklyn.”
Not long after she uploaded the Instagram posts, Yarimi was admitted to a psychiatric ward and when she returned to social media, she spoke about the experience, the source told The Algemeiner.
“After the above posts she was locked up for two weeks in a psych ward. She’s very public. She went live when paramedics broke into her house and took her. She came back online two weeks later and spoke about her psych ward experience,” Yarimi’s follower said. “And it was saved in her [Instagram] highlights as well … It was horrible.”
The Algemeiner has seen a copy of Yarimi’s Instagram video that shows police drag her out of bed after she refused their orders to get up by herself. In the clip, three police officers are seen in her bedroom and a fourth is standing by the doorway.
Another longtime Instagram follower of Yamini’s described her as “delusional” when speaking to The Algemeiner, and confirmed that Yamini has spoken online repeatedly in the past about how she believes the CIA is tracking her.
In December 2024, Yarimi won a $2 million settlement from the city of New York after she filed a lawsuit claiming that former NYPD Officer George Mastrokostas repeatedly raped her for several years after falsely arresting her.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD Deputy Chief Richie Taylor attended the funeral for Saada and her daughters on Sunday in Brooklyn before their bodies were flown to Israel for burial. Saada is survived by her husband, Sidney Saada, her sons Philip and Jacob, her parents and three siblings. Adams called the crash “a tragic accident of a Shakespearean proportion.”
“A mother going for a simple stroll on a sunny day was struck and killed. As we pray for their families and this entire community, the city mourns this loss,” he added.
Police said Yarimi was driving a blue Audi A3 sedan when she rear-ended a 2023 silver Toyota Camry with TLC plates that was carrying four passengers – a mother and three children. NYPD Commissioner Tisch said the force of the crash caused the Toyota Camry to be pushed aside, while the Audi moved forward, crashing into Saada and her children as they were crossing the street before the car overturned. Saada and her two daughters were pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the Toyota Camry, a 62-year-old man, was hospitalized in stable condition. The four passengers inside his car sustained minor injuries and were also hospitalized, according to Tisch.
Yarimi’s car had 99 parking and camera violations between August 2023 and March 2025, including 21 speed camera tickets and five red light tickets, Eyewitness News ABC 7 reported, citing a website that tracks vehicle violations using city data. She had nearly $10,500 in fines and a car with the same license plate as Yarimi’s still has $1,345 in unpaid fines, the news outlet also revealed.
The post Driver Charged for Brooklyn Car Crash Killing Jewish Family Has History of Claiming CIA Follows Her first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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