While pessimists cite an array of reasons to argue that the Jewish state’s extraordinary economic growth over the past two decades might fizzle out, the Canadian businessman Lorne Abony has no such doubts. He explains why:

First, Israeli start-ups have the best track record of success. Israel now has 41 unicorns [private companies valued at over $1 billion], the most per capita in the world. . . . Foreign investment in Israel has skyrocketed over the past decade, from $9 billion to $27.76 billion. Matam Park, in Haifa, is an international tech R&D hub, playing host to Amazon, Intel, Microsoft, Apple, and Google, just to name a few. And speaking of Intel—it’s building another factory in the country that will cost $25 billion and open in 2027.

[Moreover], Israeli companies are uniquely positioned to pioneer the technologies of the future. In fields from artificial intelligence to blockchain to water and sustainable energy to cultured meat, Israelis bring together a density of expertise, bold attitudes that allows for risk-taking and experimentation, and a unique pipeline connecting world-renowned academic institutions with business. It is a potent mix, unlike anything I’ve seen elsewhere.

Take, for instance, Pluri, a biotech company that’s applying its twenty years of expertise in regenerative medicine to massive new opportunities for cell-based manufacturing—whether by growing cultivated meat in a lab, or developing the first effective treatment that could be deployed at scale for acute radiation syndrome (the disease you get from the fallout from a nuclear weapon or nuclear-plant meltdown).

Robert Satloff has some harsh words for the U.S. government in this regard, words I take especially seriously because Satloff is someone inclined to political moderation. Why, he asks, have American diplomats failed to achieve anything in their endless rounds of talks in Doha and Cairo? Because

there is simply not enough pressure on Hamas to change course, accept a deal, and release the remaining October 7 hostages, stuck in nightmarish captivity. . . . In this environment, why should Hamas change course?

Publicly, the U.S. should bite the bullet and urge Israel to complete the main battle operations in Gaza—i.e., the Rafah operation—as swiftly and efficiently as possible. We should be assertively assisting with the humanitarian side of this.

Satloff had more to say about the hostages, especially the five American ones, in a speech he gave recently:

I am ashamed—ashamed of how we have allowed the story of the hostages to get lost in the noise of the war that followed their capture; ashamed of how we have permitted their release to be a bargaining chip in some larger political negotiation; ashamed of how we have failed to give them the respect and dignity and our wholehearted demand for Red Cross access and care and medicine that is our normal, usual demand for hostages.

If they were taken by Boko Haram, everyone would know their name. If they were taken by the Taliban, everyone would tie a yellow ribbon around a tree for them. If they were taken by Islamic State, kids would learn about them in school.

It is repugnant to see their freedom as just one item on the bargaining table with Hamas, as though they were chattel. These are Americans—and they deserve to be backed by the full faith and credit of the United States.