Last month, Israel used its Arrow 3 long-range air defense system for the first time. When the Yemen-based Houthis fired rockets toward southern Israel in the name of religious camaraderie with Hamas and Iran, Israelis were prepared, having started to develop their state-of-the-art defense system back in the 1980s. Meanwhile, Iron Dome, which was also developed by an Israeli company, has been protecting Israelis from short-range rockets fired with increased frequency from Lebanon and Gaza. Reports say Israel has also accelerated the development of Iron Beam, another revolutionary air defense system that would use laser technology to bring down incoming drones and rockets.

Last month, Israel used its Arrow 3 long-range air defense system for the first time. When the Yemen-based Houthis fired rockets toward southern Israel in the name of religious camaraderie with Hamas and Iran, Israelis were prepared, having started to develop their state-of-the-art defense system back in the 1980s. Meanwhile, Iron Dome, which was also developed by an Israeli company, has been protecting Israelis from short-range rockets fired with increased frequency from Lebanon and Gaza. Reports say Israel has also accelerated the development of Iron Beam, another revolutionary air defense system that would use laser technology to bring down incoming drones and rockets.

It is no secret that billions of dollars in annual military aid from the United States has helped Israel build its military. But the war against Hamas has demonstrated that the foundation of Israel’s military might be the unparalleled collaboration between its military and its technology companies. In Israel, the tech economy has assumed responsibility for keeping Israelis safe and the nation standing.

Technology and national security have been tightly bound in Israel since its founding in 1948. “We lost 10 percent of our population” in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War against the joint forces of Syria, Egypt, and Jordan, said Isaac Ben-Israel, a former head of weapons development at the Israeli Defense Ministry. That led the country’s founding fathers to conclude that Israel didn’t have the numbers to beat an Arab army or a united force from........

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