A Good Way To Support Israel: A New Israeli ETF

From The Shotgun Blog:

Forget Israel Bonds and foreign aid. Now you can support Israel directly by supporting its nation’s wealth creators — and hopefully make some money doing it.

State of Israel Bonds are popular among the Diaspora looking to support their homeland by lending money to the government of Israel. But when you buy an Israel Bond, you are burdening an Israeli taxpayer with the obligation to repay this money with interest at some fixed date. With every Israel Bond there’s an indentured Israeli citizen.

And foreign aid? Foreign aid to Israel burdens taxpayers at home. It has been said that foreign aid takes money from poor people in rich countries and gives it to rich people in poor countries. (Does Israel even qualify as a poor country?) I don’t know if that statement is true, but one thing is certain: aid between nations does not increase the wealth or freedom among nations. Economist Walter Block goes further and writes that foreign aid to Israel weakens its economy and handcuffs its foreign policy.

Aid doesn’t strengthen a nation, but trade does. So here’s a better way to support Israel. Yesterday a new ETF was launched. iShares MSCI Israel is geared for investors who want to invest directly and exclusively in Israel. The EFT will give investors exposure to Israeli companies traded primarily on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange — and it will provide exposure to the Shekel, which might be valuable given the recent decline of the US dollar.

This may be the best way to support Israel. I don’t know whether or not it’s a good investment, but there will be a moral rate of return for those who want to help build a Jewish homeland around its remarkable entrepreneurial class.