While you weren't looking, Israel's stock market became one of the best in the world – opinion

While you weren’t looking, Israel’s stock market became one of the best in the world. Let’s begin with a number that should stop you mid-scroll: 51. That’s the percentage gain recorded by Israel’s benchmark TA-125 Index in 2025 alone – a year, mind you, in which Israel was fighting on multiple fronts.

For context, the S&P 500 returned 16.9% over the same period. The Nasdaq gained 21%. The Nikkei rose 26%. Against every major global index, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) didn’t just hold its own; it lapped the field. This is not a fluke but a story about one of the world’s most resilient economies and why American Jews should be paying very close attention.

The performance of the TASE over the past two years has been nothing short of extraordinary. In 2024, amid the grinding first year of war following the October 7 attacks, the TA-125 surged approximately 27%, on par with the S&P 500 and far exceeding the MSCI Europe Index, which gained a mere 6% that year. Clearly, things are looking up.

What is driving all of this? Several forces are working in concert. Foreign institutional investors poured over $2.3 billion into the TASE in just the first three quarters of 2025 alone, pushing their total holdings to $19.2b., up from $11.2b. at the end of 2024. The shekel, meanwhile, strengthened dramatically against the dollar, falling from 3.65 to below 3.20 by year’s end, which is a sign of restored confidence in the Israeli economy.

The question is: why are so many American Jewish investors still on the sidelines?

The good news is that you don’t need to open a foreign brokerage account, navigate Israeli tax law, or wire money overseas to get in on the action. There are three clean, accessible ways for American investors to gain meaningful exposure to Israel’s booming economy – all of them executable from your existing US brokerage account.

1. Israel-focused ETFs: For most investors, an exchange-traded fund (ETF) is the most efficient way to gain broad exposure to the Israeli market. Several Israel-focused ETFs are available on major US brokerage platforms, tracking indexes of Israeli equities listed both domestically and on global exchanges. Some track large-cap Israeli companies; others offer broader, more globally diversified Israeli exposure. These funds are straightforward to research, competitively priced, and accessible through any standard US brokerage account. For American investors who want to participate in the Israeli bull run without picking individual stocks, Israel-focused ETFs are the most accessible vehicle available.

2. Israeli real estate developments: Israeli real estate has long been a favorite asset class among Diaspora Jews, and for good reason. Prices in Israel have risen 118% from 2006 to 2017 alone (82% in real terms), and the long-term structural case – a land-scarce country with a fast-growing population and chronic housing undersupply – remains intact.

Here is something worth considering carefully: if you are an American Jew who is not planning to make aliyah in the near term, investing in new developments (rather than purchasing a finished apartment) may actually be the more intelligent strategy. Why? The Israeli housing market is increasingly a sellers’ market. Israelis are wealthier than ever, their stock portfolios have surged, and domestic demand for finished ready-to-move-in properties is fierce. As a Diaspora buyer competing for completed units, you are entering the most competitive segment of the market, bidding against local buyers with immediate needs, local knowledge, and ready financing.

New developments, by contrast, occupy a different competitive landscape. You are buying into a project before completion, often at pre-market pricing, and you are not competing with the same urgency-driven domestic buyer who needs somewhere to live next month. A Jerusalem Post analysis published in early 2026 noted that this precise moment – just before a post-conflict recovery takes hold – represents a “rare and time-sensitive opportunity” for overseas investors, with experts predicting sharp price appreciation once market activity normalizes. For the Diaspora investor, new developments are the way to capture that upside without fighting a losing battle in the resale market.

3. Israeli companies on US exchanges: The third avenue is one that American investors already know how to navigate: buying shares of Israeli companies listed directly on US exchanges. Israel has more companies listed on the Nasdaq than any country outside the United States and China – and they are not obscure penny stocks. They include some of the most innovative technology and life sciences companies in the world, spanning cybersecurity, pharmaceuticals, AI, defense technology, fintech, and biotech. Investors interested in this approach can research Israeli-listed companies across these sectors through any major financial platform.

The beauty of this approach is its simplicity. You buy these companies exactly as you would any US stock – through any US brokerage, with full regulatory transparency, in dollars, with no currency conversion fees.

There is a certain irony in the fact that some of the most enthusiastic investors in Israel’s booming economy right now are European pension funds and Asian sovereign wealth funds – while many American Jews, who feel the deepest connection to the State of Israel, remain uninvested. The data makes the case clearly: two consecutive years of market-beating returns, a strengthening currency, surging foreign institutional inflows, and an underlying economy built on innovation that the world cannot stop buying.

Are you going to act on the data?

Yair Klyman is an investment adviser representative of Klyman Financial, a DBA of ThePartners Wealth Management, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training.