I have watched Israel’s defense story for many years with a mixture of fascination, admiration, and quiet amusement. Not because war is ever something to celebrate. It is not. War is tragic, costly, painful, and morally heavy. But there is something extraordinary about the way Israel, a small country surrounded by determined enemies, repeatedly turns danger into discipline, pressure into invention, and isolation into leverage.

That is why I pay close attention to one particular metric: Israel’s defense exports.

Not slogans. Not speeches. Not angry resolutions. Not diplomatic theatre. Sales.

And when Israel’s Defense Ministry released its latest figures showing that defense exports reached a record $19.2 billion in 2025, up from $14.8 billion in 2024, I smiled quietly. Fifth year in a row. A record again. During war. During diplomatic hostility. During protests. During attempted boycotts. During the Gaza war. During conflict with Iran. During the latest US-Israel military campaign against Iran. During one of the most difficult strategic periods in Israel’s modern history.

Still, Israeli defense exports rose.

That, to me, is not merely a business story. It is a national story. It is a story of resilience and renewal. It is a story of a country that refuses to be defined by the rage of others. It is also a story of the strange, almost comic contradiction at the heart of Europe’s relationship with Israel.

Western Europe may scold Israel in the morning, sanction Israeli firms in the afternoon, and quietly study Israeli military technology by evening.

It may bar Israeli companies from defense exhibitions. It may allow hostile activism to intimidate Israeli-linked businesses. It may issue statements full of moral thunder. Yet when drones appear over airports, when Russia menaces the continent, when Iran’s missiles change the security equation, when European armies suddenly remember that security is not an academic seminar, they still come knocking.

And where do they come?

This is the part I find so fascinating. Europe’s political class often wants the luxury of condemning Israel while enjoying the protection of Israeli innovation. It wants the applause of the activist class and the assurance of Israeli battlefield-tested........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)