Venture Capitalist Judah Taub Launches Moonshots for Israel: 12 Big Ideas for a Small Nation

New book by Hetz Ventures Managing Partner and former IDF intelligence officer maps actionable proposals for Israel's defense, energy, education, governance and Jewish future 

NEW YORK, Oct. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Israel has repeatedly achieved what once seemed impossible. In Moonshots for Israel: 12 Big Ideas for a Small Nation, published today by Wicked Son Books, venture capitalist Judah Taub argues that Israel must move beyond incremental fixes and apply its entrepreneurial ingenuity to the nation's most consequential challenges.

With a foreword by Start-Up Nation co-author and podcaster Dan Senor, Moonshots for Israel presents 12 ambitious proposals spanning defense, diplomacy, energy, education, healthcare, governance, demography and Israel-Diaspora relations. Each represents a genuine step change, carries the potential to create approximately $100 billion in value for Israel—more than $1 trillion collectively—and has been stress-tested with experts in the field.

"The State of Israel itself was a moonshot: an improbable idea made real through courage, ingenuity and relentless execution," Taub said. "We are at a turning point. The human capital ready for meaningful action is enormous, and the desire to leap ahead is only growing. These are not proposals for academic discussion, but for action—each capable of dramatically changing the trajectory of Israel and the world."

Taub's moonshots include:

• The Abraham Canal: A sea-to-sea commercial corridor linking the Red Sea and Mediterranean, positioning Israel as an indispensable regional crossroads.
• The Eighth Battlefield: A new model for the information war, using real-time data, sentiment analysis and measurable outcomes instead of conventional public diplomacy.
• An Iron Dome for Defense Exports: A strategy to expand Israel's defense industry until embargoes become economically and strategically costly for the countries considering them.
• A Fund to Reverse Jewish Demographic Decline: A plan to reduce the cost of observant Jewish life ("the Jewish tax") and strengthen Diaspora communities for generations to come.
• From Water Scarcity to Water Superpower: A plan to export desalinated Israeli water across the Middle East, transforming scarcity into economic opportunity, regional cooperation and strategic influence.
• Cheap Energy, Strong Hand: A strategy to turn Israel's natural gas, solar resources and technology sector into lasting energy abundance and geopolitical leverage.

Taub is founder and managing partner of Hetz Ventures, an Israeli early-stage venture-capital firm focused on cybersecurity, data and AI infrastructure, with nearly $500 million under management. A former IDF intelligence officer who received the IDF Creative Thinking Award, he serves in the reserves at the intersection of AI and national security and lectures at Wharton, Yale and Harvard Business School on creative thinking, problem-solving and AI-driven innovation. His writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Semafor, Newsweek and Haaretz.

Moonshots for Israel builds on Taub's bestselling Hebrew book, HaPotential HaYisraeli, and applies at a national scale the "local maximum" framework introduced in his first English-language book, How to Move Up When the Only Way Is Down.

President Isaac Herzog has publicly cited and discussed ideas from Moonshots for Israel, calling Israel's unrealized potential "tremendous" and saying, "It is crucial to catch this wave."

Publication Information

Title: Moonshots for Israel: 12 Big Ideas for a Small Nation
Author: Judah Taub
Foreword: Dan Senor
Publication date: October 5, 2026
Publisher: Wicked Son Books
ISBN: 979-8904670238
Formats: Hardcover, trade paperback, eBook and audiobook
Availability: Wherever books are sold

Learn more at www.JudahTaub.com.

Review copies, interviews, excerpts and event appearances are available upon request.

Media Contact
Judy Tashbook Safern
(516) 200-3805
[email protected]

SOURCE Hetz Ventures