Ashkenazi Jews comprise a significant fraction of the population of Israel, and they are a rather intellectually fecund group. Ashkenazim earned roughly a quarter of Nobel prizes, Fields medals, ACM Turing awards, and over 60% of John Bates Clark medals, and account for roughly a quarter of Ivy League students.
Those figures above come from a population where Ashkenazi Jews comprise 2% of the population. They constitute at least 10x as much of the population proportionally, in Israel. (It's hard to get an exact figure due to admixture between Ashkenazi and non-Ashkenazi Jews.)
Having an abundance of such people, relative to America, has surely helped. The specific circumstances surrounding Israel and its birth help to channel its brightest people into startups and technology, and less into law, finance and policy, as in America.
Those figures above come from a population where Ashkenazi Jews comprise 2% of the population. They constitute at least 10x as much of the population proportionally, in Israel. (It's hard to get an exact figure due to admixture between Ashkenazi and non-Ashkenazi Jews.)
Having an abundance of such people, relative to America, has surely helped. The specific circumstances surrounding Israel and its birth help to channel its brightest people into startups and technology, and less into law, finance and policy, as in America.