Written by: Aaron Katsman | January 12, 2009
It turns out that aside from bringing in missiles and other weaponry from Egypt via tunnels in the Gaza strip, these tunnels were a huge source of economic commerce for Gazans. In a report on Ynet :”Economic groups in the Gaza Strip claim that income created as a result of smuggling via the tunnels averaged about $30 million a year until 2006 and reached $650 million the first year Hamas came to power. These massive sums found their way into the pockets of the tunnel owners and the Hamas government.”
This is huge and it’s just another way that Hamas members klined their pockets. For the avaerage Gazan, the smuggling of goods has resulted in higher prices.
It appears that the Israeli attack on these tunnels wont just hurt Hamas defense forces but their bank accounts as well.
Written by: Aaron Katsman | August 8, 2008
Without much fanfare or notice, the US dollar is continuing its strong turnaround against the Israeli Shekel. It wasn’t to long ago that the greenback fell, intraday, to 3.21 against the Shekel. Today the Dollar is up to over 3.58 against the Israeli currency.
Why? Some will point to continued Bank of Israel intervention in the forex market. It’s one thing to say that they can impact the market for a day or two. It’s quite another thing to say that they can continue to impact a currency for a few weeks continuously.
I think that a bit of rationale has come back to the market. There really was no reason that the Shekel was so strong. How could it be that when Iran tested their missiles a month or so ago, that the Shekel actually strengthened? The Iranians were testing missiles that could threaten Israel’s very existence, and the local currency got stronger? Hard to believe.
Additionally, with investors realizing that the US isn’t going out of business and the fact that recent economic data coming out of Israel shows the beginnings of a slowing currency, the market is in the midst of repricing the Shekel to bring it more in line to where it actually should be in relation to the USD.
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Aaron Katsman is Managing Editor of the Israel Opportunity Investor newsletter. He is lead portfolio manager for the Israel Growth Portfolio and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. For more information, go to www.israelnewsletter.com or call 1-888-327-6179, or email aaron@profile-financial.com.
