TEL AVIV, Israel – Unicorns may be mythical creatures, yet in Israel, they are very real. In the tech world, it refers to a privately held startup company valued at more than $1 billion, and Israel produces them at one of the highest rates anywhere.

Even in a time of war, Israel's "unicorn economy" continues to surprise the world. The nation's tech sector, known as the Startup Nation, has proven remarkably resilient, driven by innovation, determination, and faith in the future.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu observed, "The Israeli economy is very strong. I have terrific confidence in it. It weathered two economic crises, the Coronavirus crisis, and the two-year war, where we have an enormous amount of investments. People are coming, and they'll continue to come."

The prime minister's confidence is shared by many investors who continue to put money into Israeli technology firms. The stock market index for these firmst is up 55 percent in the last 12 months.

Entrepreneur and investor Michael Fertik believes this performance is nothing short of historic.

He told CBN News, "Whatever your faith is, this is the moment when you're going to see a Renaissance flourishing, from this moment on – this day, this exact moment on, as you've never seen before in the history of Israel right now. If you balance them, if you take a wave of measures, yeah, Israel has as many unicorn exits as Europe. Okay? So, Israel's worth all of Western Europe combined."

Innovators such as Elad Raz, CEO of Next Silicon, are stepping into this moment, driven by years of development and strengthened through key partnerships in the U.S.

I'm a technologist. I'm a software engineer," Raz told us. "I had a brilliant idea that I didn't even know which direction to take it, but I said to myself, this is what I want to innovate. This is what I want to do. So I set up a Google (account), started running with that. Fast forward: eight years later, we are building supercomputers with the NSA (National Security Agency).

Next Silicon is helping put Israel on the map for next-generation computing, with the Torah as its secret weapon.

"We found a new way to accelerate code like nowhere (that) existed before in history. If you find a new way to accelerate the AI machine, learning those AI factors in a smart way," Raz stated.

We asked Raz, "What is it about this city, Israelis in general, that brings about so many unicorns?

He replied, "Look, since the inception of the Israeli state, when multinationals, even before the startup, since Motorola, Solution, IBM, Intel, that started in 1974, the chip on your phone, the Apple Silicon, is developed here. The amount of innovation that happens here, the amount of talent, is insane. And I think that part of it is from the Jewish tradition, you know, to teach the kids, to learn the Torah, to land, like to be highly educated."

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The U.S.-Israel connection remains vital. America's venture capital continues to fuel the innovation coming from this land.

Fertik, who began investing in Israel in 2015, now invests in 15 Israeli companies.

He also manages a VC firm, a private investment company that pools money from various investors to fund potentially high-growth startups and early-stage companies in exchange for equity. He says "about 65" startups are networked in the VC firm, a large percentage of his portfolio based in Israel.

"Yes. Unintentionally," Fertik explained. He added, "So, I think Israel is going to be an enormously important part of any serious investor's portfolio. I'm a very public Zionist. I'm a very overt Zionist. But I don't invest here because I'm a Zionist. I invest here because I'm a capitalist. It's impossible for this Israeli people to do what they do without some help. And I know it's not controversial."

Fertik continued, "It's fact. It's objectively observable. They do it every day with fewer resources. All the challenges and war and enemies and living in a jungle surrounded by a jungle of enemies. I know who, on October 7th of 2023, you all know that Israel came under savage attack from a group of people who are against civilization. That is everything we represent. And on October 9th, two days later, I was publicly announcing that I'm going to invest more in Israel."

He contends, "There is no population that's more resilient, more forward thinking, more self-reliant, and more relentlessly optimistic than Israelis. And they're doing it in the face of all this difficulty. People say, 'Michael, why do you keep doing it?' I said, "Well, there's the reason on the ground, which is I'm here to make money.' So there's also, you know, there's a reason for them up top."

Prime Minister Netanyahu had some advice for global investors: "Basically, my call to you, the investors of the world, get on board now, because we are about to take off."