Thanks to climate change, fungal infections, and other factors, cocoa prices have in the past few years increased from about $2,500 per ton to $10,000. Ellen Graber, an Israeli scientist who studies soil chemistry, recently began researching cocoa plants, hoping to find ways to cultivate varieties that will be able to withstand these threats, much as Israeli agronomists have done with other crops. Sue Surkes documents Graber’s discovery:

On October 4 last year, she sent 140 of a planned 300 plants, aged around five months, to a research and development station a few kilometers from the Gaza border in southern Israel. Three days later, on October 7, thousands of Hamas terrorists invaded border communities. . . . The area where the R&D center is located became part of a closed military zone.

“There was no electricity, and the plants received no fertilizer or water until mid-January,” Graber said. “It rained a bit, but not much and not regularly. They were in a net house left to their own devices. We expected to find 140 dead cocoa plants.”

But when the staff scientist Talli Ilani returned, she discovered that twenty of the plants had survived and were even having new leaf flushes. “Most of the survivors came from one of five or six varieties that I had sent. This indicates that this variety has a huge ability to survive under severe drought conditions.”

She added, “I call them superheroes.”

Graber . . . said that despite keen interest from Israeli farmers, the country is too small to become a chocolate superpower. But it could become a key global supplier of cocoa plants and cultivation know-how.

For more than a year, the Iran-backed Houthis have been launching drones and missiles at ships traversing the Red Sea, as well as at Israeli territory, in support of Hamas. This development has drastically curtailed shipping through the Suez Canal and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, driving up trade prices. This week, the Trump administration began an extensive bombing campaign against the Houthis in an effort to reopen that crucial waterway. Burcu Ozcelik highlights another benefit of this action:

The administration has a broader geopolitical agenda—one that includes countering China’s economic leverage, particularly Beijing’s reliance on Iranian oil. By targeting the Houthis, the United States is not only safeguarding vital shipping lanes but also exerting pressure on the Iran-China energy nexus, a key component of Beijing’s strategic posture in the region.

China was the primary destination for up to 90 percent of Iran’s oil exports in 2024, underscoring the deepening economic ties between Beijing and Tehran despite U.S. sanctions. By helping fill Iranian coffers, China aids Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in financing proxies like the Houthis. Since October of last year, notable U.S. Treasury announcements have revealed covert links between China and the Houthis.

Striking the Houthis could trigger broader repercussions—not least by disrupting the flow of Iranian oil to China. While difficult to confirm, it is conceivable and has been reported, that the Houthis may have received financial or other forms of compensation from China (such as Chinese-made military components) in exchange for allowing freedom of passage for China-affiliated vessels in the Red Sea.