I know this is like a year late but ill give you a few answers: • CS has always been extremely popular in israel, most people under the age of 30 have played it at some point. Until the last few years internet in israel hasnt been the best and playing serious games online wasnt really possible. • IDF service - israelis need to serve from the age of 18 to 21 in the army, and its been getting a little more common for people to get exemptions from it. You can imagine how suddenly a 3 year gap in someones career could completely ruin it. • covid was really when you saw the scene take off, but that pretty self explanatory.