Google, Wiz and Israel’s Innovation Heart
Why this record-breaking deal feels like more than an exit to me – it is a vote of confidence in Israeli talent, resilience and renewal, and in the country’s gift for innovating its future.
There is something about Google and Israel that has long fascinated me.
I noticed it years ago when Google snapped up Waze and effectively told the world that some of the boldest thinking in mobility, mapping and real-time data was coming out of a tiny country with a very large imagination. That deal felt significant at the time. It had romance in it, strategy in it, and no small measure of admiration. Google was not merely buying a product. It was buying Israeli instinct – that rare instinct to solve difficult problems elegantly, quickly and at scale.
Now it has done it again, only on a much grander stage.
Its acquisition of Wiz for $32 billion is not just another headline-grabbing tech transaction. It is the biggest exit in Israeli history, the largest acquisition Google has ever made, and one of those moments that says something deeper than numbers ever can. It says that even in hard times, even amid noise, uncertainty and conflict, global technology giants still look at Israel and see brilliance. They still see originality. They still see execution. They still see value.
And I must confess: I find that deeply moving.
Because this deal is not only about Google’s cloud ambitions or cybersecurity dominance, important as those are. It is also about confidence. Confidence in Israel’s people. Confidence in Israeli entrepreneurs. Confidence in an ecosystem that has learned, over decades, how to build under pressure, improvise under stress, and create under conditions that would crush less seasoned innovators.
That is why I welcome Google’s purchase of Wiz so enthusiastically.
Yes, the strategic logic is obvious. Google wants to strengthen its cloud security offerings as it battles Amazon and Microsoft in a fiercely contested global market. Wiz, with its cloud-native security platform and AI-era relevance, gives Google exactly the kind of edge it needs. The company has become one of the most admired names in cybersecurity because it understood where the world was going: to the cloud, to complexity, to........
