These are the headlines every government dreams of delivering to its citizens.
Israel’s fiscal deficit is shrinking. Interest rates have been cut for the third consecutive time. Gasoline prices are falling sharply after the government reduced its fuel tax.
Yet as Israel produces the economic results much of the Western world desperately wants, 12 countries are moving to restrict trade with Jewish communities in Yehuda V’Shomron.
While their own citizens struggle with government debt, expensive borrowing and punishing energy costs, their leaders have chosen to focus their economic pressure on Israel.
The contrast is impossible to ignore.
Israel’s Fiscal Deficit Continues To Narrow
Israel’s budget deficit fell to 3.2 percent of gross domestic product in August, helped by an 11.5 percent increase in tax revenue.
That would be a significant achievement in ordinary times. Israel accomplished it while financing war, missile defense, reserve duty, displaced families and sharply higher military spending.
Despite those extraordinary costs, the deficit continues to move downward.
The comparison with the United States is striking. Washington’s deficit has already reached approximately $1.97 trillion during the current fiscal year, while interest payments on the national debt consume an increasingly large share of federal revenue.
Israel still faces serious fiscal risks. Defense spending remains high, civilian expenditures could increase and another military escalation could quickly change the numbers.
But today’s headline is clear: Israel’s deficit is shrinking.
Bank Of Israel Makes Third Successive Interest-Rate Cut
The Bank of Israel lowered its benchmark interest rate by another quarter point to 3.25 percent, its third consecutive reduction and the lowest level since late 2022.
For families and businesses, lower rates can eventually mean smaller payments on variable-rate mortgages, business loans and credit lines. They can also make it less expensive for companies to finance equipment, inventory, expansion and hiring.
The central bank was able to act because inflation had fallen to 1.5 percent, comfortably inside its target range.
Across much of the Western world, central banks are confronting renewed pressure from rising oil prices, inflation concerns and higher government-bond yields. Consumers and businesses are being warned that borrowing costs may remain elevated—or climb even higher.
Israel just cut rates for the third consecutive time.
That is another headline nearly every Western government would love to claim.
Gasoline Prices Fall Sharply After Government Cuts Excise Tax
Israel also reduced its gasoline excise tax by 50 agorot per liter, bringing the maximum price of self-service 95-octane gasoline down from NIS 8.25 to NIS 7.75 per liter.
That is immediate money back in the pockets of drivers.
A motorist purchasing 50 liters saves NIS 25 on one fill-up. For delivery companies, contractors, taxi operators and businesses managing vehicle fleets, the savings multiply across every vehicle and every week.
Fuel prices do not stop at the gas station. They feed into the cost of groceries, construction materials, airline tickets, deliveries and nearly every product transported by truck, ship or aircraft.
Consumers across the United States, Canada and Europe are again being squeezed by rising oil prices and the higher cost of moving goods.
Israel acted to reduce the burden.
And The West Responds With A Boycott
On Sept. 8, Britain, France, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden announced that they intend to introduce, support or consider restrictions on goods produced by Jewish communities in Yehuda V’Shomron.
Not every country has implemented a full boycott. But all 12 placed their names behind an effort to economically isolate Jewish businesses based on where their owners live and work.
The immediate financial impact may be limited because goods from these communities represent a relatively small share of Israel’s international trade.
But the message is far larger than the numbers.
Israel is shrinking its deficit while Western deficits explode.
Israel is cutting interest rates while Western borrowing costs remain painful.
Israel is lowering gasoline prices while families and businesses elsewhere are being crushed by energy costs.
And the response of 12 countries is to target Jewish goods.
At some point, it becomes impossible to ignore the jealousy, the envy and the hatred.
A small country surrounded by enemies, carrying the cost of war and facing relentless international pressure is producing the very economic headlines Western leaders are desperate to deliver to their own citizens.
They could study Israel’s resilience.
They could expand trade with it.
They could learn from it.
Instead, they chose another boycott.
JBizNews Desk | Jerusalem
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