ISRAEL - Economy Grew 1% in 2024
Despite the war Israel’s GDP grew by 1% in 2024, above initial forecasts, the Central Bureau of Statistics reports in its first assessment.
The Central Bureau of Statistics notes that the GDP level is still lower than the pre-war period. The final growth figures for 2024 are higher than the latest forecasts of economic institutions.
Along with positive growth in the overall level of GDP, there has been significant damage to key industries and business sector activity.
The construction sector was severely hit, with a sharp decline of 13% in the sector’s GDP, against the backdrop of the severe shortage of workers during the war.
Some signs of recovery were evident in the fourth quarter of 2024: the 2.5% annualized growth was driven primarily by a 9.5% jump in private consumption by and a 14.7% increase in fixed asset investment.
-en.globes.co.il, 17 February 2025
Arno's Commentary
The Israeli government is responsible for the well-being of its citizens. Thus, instead of sowing hate against terrorists, they continue to teach their children the basics: reading, writing, arithmetic, and in higher levels, advanced science and engineering. Thus, not surprisingly, the war initiated by Hamas murderers had only little effect on Israel’s well-organized and executed economy.
Quite tangibly, Gaza residents have not learned from the past. They still educate their people to hate Israel and Jews by any and all means.
The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) writes: “[There is] significant support for Hamas despite the suffering caused by the war: ‘The support for Hamas comes from various sources, but the most important one is because Palestinians share Hamas’ values.’”
According to the Hamas covenant of 1988, published online by the Yale Law Library, Article 7 concludes with a quote from the Quran: “The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews.” Any and all peaceful attempts to negotiate with Hamas and their sympathizers is doomed to fail, for its religion says, “There is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.”
Will the Muslim world, aside from some small exceptions, learn from the past? Will they change their intention and make peace with the Jews? We think not.
Not until the Prince of Peace arrives. Then Zechariah 8:23 will be fulfilled: “Thus saith the Lord of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.”
Arno Froese is the executive director of Midnight Call Ministries and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed prophetic magazines Midnight Call and News From Israel. He has authored a number of well-received books, and has sponsored many prophecy conferences in the U.S., Canada, and Israel. His extensive travels have contributed to his keen insight into Bible prophecy, as he sees it from an international perspective.
