"text":"Israel has become a regional economic and military powerhouse, leveraging its prosperous high-tech sector, large defense industry, and concerns about Iran to foster partnerships around the world. The State of Israel was established in 1948. The UN General Assembly had proposed to partition the British Mandate for Palestine into an Arab and Jewish state. Arab states rejected the UN plan and were subsequently defeated militarily in the 1948 war that followed the withdrawal of the British on 14 May 1948. Israel was admitted as a member of the UN in 1949 and saw rapid population growth, primarily due to migration from Europe and the Middle East, over the following years. Israel and its Arab neighbors fought wars in 1967 and 1973 and Israel signed peace treaties with Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994. Israel took control of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the course of the 1967 war, and subsequently administered those territories through military authorities. Israel and Palestinian officials signed interim agreements in the 1990s that created an interim period of Palestinian self-rule in parts of the West Bank and Gaza. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005. While the most recent formal efforts between Israel and the Palestinian Authority to negotiate final status issues occurred in 2013-2014, the US continues its efforts to advance peace. Israel signed the US-brokered normalization agreements (the Abraham Accords) with Bahrain, the UAE, and Morocco in 2020 and reached an agreement with Sudan in 2021. Immigration to Israel continues, with more than 73,000 estimated new immigrants, mostly Jewish, in 2022.<br><br>The Israeli economy has undergone a dramatic transformation in the last 30 years, led by cutting-edge, high-tech sectors. Offshore gas discoveries in the Mediterranean, most notably in the Tamar and Leviathan gasfields, place Israel at the center of a potential regional natural gas market. In late 2022, a US-brokered agreement between Israel and Lebanon established their maritime boundary, allowing Israel to begin production on additional gasfields in the Mediterranean. However, Israel's economic prosperity is not consistently mirrored in the Israeli public's financial stability. Structural issues such as low labor force participation among religious and minority populations, low workforce productivity, high costs for housing and consumer staples, and high-income inequality, remain a concern for many Israelis and an important consideration for Israeli politicians. Former Prime Minister Benjamin NETANYAHU returned to office in late 2022 continuing his dominance of Israel's political landscape at the head of Israel's most rightwing and religious government. NETANYAHU previously served as premier from 2009 to June 2021, becoming Israel's longest serving prime minister."
"text":"Mitspe Shlagim 2,224 m; note - this is the highest named point, the actual highest point is an unnamed dome slightly to the west of Mitspe Shlagim at 2,236 m; both points are on the northeastern border of Israel, along the southern end of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range"
"text":"Dead Sea (shared with Jordan and West Bank) - 1,020 sq km<br>note - endorheic hypersaline lake; 9.6 times saltier than the ocean; lake shore is 431 meters below sea level"
"text":"population concentrated in and around Tel-Aviv, as well as around the Sea of Galilee; the south remains sparsely populated with the exception of the shore of the Gulf of Aqaba"
},
"Natural hazards":{
"text":"sandstorms may occur during spring and summer; droughts; periodic earthquakes"
"text":"<strong>note 1:</strong> Lake Tiberias (Sea of Galilee) is an important freshwater source; the Dead Sea is the second saltiest body of water in the world (after Lake Assal in Djibouti)<br><br><strong>note 2:</strong>the Malham Cave in Mount Sodom is the world's longest salt cave at 10 km (6 mi); its survey is not complete and its length will undoubtedly increase; Mount Sodom is actually a hill some 220 m (722 ft) high that is 80% salt (multiple salt layers covered by a veneer of rock) <br><br><strong>note 3:</strong> in March 2019, there were 380 Israeli settlements,to include 213 settlements and 132 outposts in the West Bank, and 35 settlements in East Jerusalem; there are no Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip, as all were evacuated in 2005 (2019)"
"text":"9,043,387 (2023 est.) (includes populations of the Golan Heights or Golan Sub-District and also East Jerusalem, which was annexed by Israel after 1967)",
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> approximately 227,100 Israeli settlers live in East Jerusalem (2019); following the March 2019 US recognition of the Golan Heights as being part of Israel, <em>The World Factbook</em> no longer includes Israeli settler population of the Golan Heights (estimated at 23,400 in 2019) in its overall Israeli settler total"
"text":"population concentrated in and around Tel-Aviv, as well as around the Sea of Galilee; the south remains sparsely populated with the exception of the shore of the Gulf of Aqaba"
"text":"<p><strong>note: </strong>on 22 March 2023, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Travel Alert for polio in Asia; Israel is currently considered a high risk to travelers for circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPV); vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV) is a strain of the weakened poliovirus that was initially included in oral polio vaccine (OPV) and that has changed over time and behaves more like the wild or naturally occurring virus; this means it can be spread more easily to people who are unvaccinated against polio and who come in contact with the stool or respiratory secretions, such as from a sneeze, of an “infected” person who received oral polio vaccine; the CDC recommends that before any international travel, anyone unvaccinated, incompletely vaccinated, or with an unknown polio vaccination status should complete the routine polio vaccine series; before travel to any high-risk destination, the CDC recommends that adults who previously completed the full, routine polio vaccine series receive a single, lifetime booster dose of polio vaccine</p>"
"text":"limited arable land and restricted natural freshwater resources; desertification; air pollution from industrial and vehicle emissions; groundwater pollution from industrial and domestic waste, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides"
"text":"Dead Sea (shared with Jordan and West Bank) - 1,020 sq km<br>note - endorheic hypersaline lake; 9.6 times saltier than the ocean; lake shore is 431 meters below sea level"
"text":"named after the ancient Kingdom of Israel; according to Biblical tradition, the Jewish patriarch Jacob received the name \"Israel\" (\"He who struggles with God\") after he wrestled an entire night with an angel of the Lord; Jacob's 12 sons became the ancestors of the Israelites, also known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel, who formed the Kingdom of Israel"
"text":"Jerusalem; note - the US recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017 without taking a position on the specific boundaries of Israeli sovereignty"
"text":"Jerusalem's settlement may date back to 2800 B.C.; it is named Urushalim in Egyptian texts of the 14th century B.C.; <em>uru-shalim</em> likely means \"foundation of [by] the god Shalim\", and derives from Hebrew/Semitic <em>yry</em>, \"to found or lay a cornerstone\", and <em>Shalim</em>, the Canaanite god of dusk and the nether world; Shalim was associated with sunset and peace and the name is based on the same S-L-M root from which Semitic words for \"peace\" are derived (Salam or Shalom in modern Arabic and Hebrew); this confluence has thus led to naming interpretations such as \"The City of Peace\" or \"The Abode of Peace\""
"text":"14 May 1948 (following League of Nations mandate under British administration)"
},
"National holiday":{
"text":"Independence Day, 14 May (1948); note - Israel declared independence on 14 May 1948, but the Jewish calendar is lunar and the holiday may occur in April or May"
},
"Constitution":{
"history":{
"text":"no formal constitution; some functions of a constitution are filled by the Declaration of Establishment (1948), the Basic Laws, and the Law of Return (as amended)"
"text":"proposed by Government of Israel ministers or by the Knesset; passage requires a majority vote of Knesset members and subject to Supreme Court judicial review; 11 of the 13 Basic Laws have been amended at least once, latest in 2020 (Basic Law: the Knesset)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> Israeli law (Law of Return, 5 July 1950) provides for the granting of citizenship to any Jew - defined as a person being born to a Jewish mother or having converted to Judaism while renouncing any other religion - who immigrates to and expresses a desire to settle in Israel on the basis of the Right of aliyah; the 1970 amendment of this act extended the right to family members including the spouse of a Jew, any child or grandchild, and the spouses of children and grandchildren"
"text":"president indirectly elected by the Knesset for a single 7-year term; election last held on 2 June 2021 (next to be held in June 2028); following legislative elections, the president, in consultation with party leaders, tasks a Knesset member (usually the member of the largest party) with forming a new government"
"text":"<p><em>2021:</em> Isaac HERZOG elected president; Knesset vote - Isaac HERZOG (independent) 87, Miriam PERETZ (independent) 26, invalid/blank 7<br><br><em>2014:</em> Reuven RIVLIN elected president in second round; Knesset vote - Reuven RIVLIN (Likud) 63, Meir SHEETRIT (The Movement) 53, other/invalid 4</p> <p></p>"
"text":"unicameral Knesset (120 seats; members directly elected in a single nationwide constituency by closed-list proportional representation vote, with a 3.25% vote threshold to gain representation; members serve 4-year terms)"
"text":"percent by party - Likud 23.4%, Yesh Atid 17.8%, Religious Zionism (electoral alliance of Religious Zionist Party, Jewish Strength, and Noam) 10.8%, National Unity 9.1%, Shas 8.2%, UTJ 5.9%, Yisrael Beiteinu 4.5%, United Arab List 4.1%, Hadash-Ta'al 3.8%, Labor 3.7%, Meretz 3.2%, other 1.6%; seats by party - Likud 32, Yesh Atid 24, Religious Zionism 14, National Unity 12, Shas 11, UTJ 7, Yisrael Beiteinu 6, Hadash-Ta'al 5, United Arab List 5, Labor 4; composition - men 91, women 29, percentage of women 24.2%; note - following the 1 November 2022 election, the Religious Zionism Alliance split into three parties in the Knesset: Religious Zionism 7 seats, Jewish Power (Otzma Yehudit) 6, and Noam 1 "
"text":"Supreme Court (consists of the president, deputy president, 13 justices, and 2 registrars) and normally sits in panels of 3 justices; in special cases, the panel is expanded with an uneven number of justices"
},
"judge selection and term of office":{
"text":"judges selected by the 9-member Judicial Selection Committee, consisting of the Minister of Justice (chair), the president of the Supreme Court, two other Supreme Court justices, 1 other Cabinet minister, 2 Knesset members, and 2 representatives of the Israel Bar Association; judges can serve up to mandatory retirement at age 70"
"text":"Balad [Sami Abu SHEHADEH]<br>Blue and White [Benny GANTZ]<br>Hadash [Ayman ODEH]<br>Jewish Power (Otzma Yehudit) [Ben GVIR]<br>Joint Arab List [Ayman ODEH] (alliance includes Hadash, Ta’al, Balad)<br>Labor Party or HaAvoda [Merav MICHAELI]<br>Likud [Binyamin NETANYAHU]<br>Meretz [Zehava GAL-ON]<br>National Unity [alliance includes Blue and White and New Hope]<br>New Hope [Gideon SA'AR]<br>Noam [Rabbi Dror ARYEH]<br>Religious Zionism [Bezalel SMOTRICH](election alliance of Religious Zionist Party, Jewish Power (Otzma Yehudit), and Noam)<br>Religious Zionist Party [Bezalel SMOTRICH]<br>SHAS [Aryeh DERI]<br>Ta'al [Ahmad TIBI]<br>United Arab List [Mansour ABBAS]<br>United Torah Judaism or UTJ [Moshe GAFNI] (alliance includes Agudat Israel and Degel HaTorah)<br>Yamina [Ayelet SHAKED]<br>Yesh Atid [Yair LAPID]<br>Yisrael Beiteinu [Avigdor LIEBERMAN]"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> on 14 May 2018, the US Embassy relocated to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv; on 4 March 2019, Consulate General Jerusalem merged into US Embassy Jerusalem to form a single diplomatic mission"
"text":"white with a blue hexagram (six-pointed linear star) known as the Magen David (Star of David or Shield of David) centered between two equal horizontal blue bands near the top and bottom edges of the flag; the basic design resembles a traditional Jewish prayer shawl (tallit), which is white with blue stripes; the hexagram as a Jewish symbol dates back to medieval times",
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> the Israeli flag proclamation states that the flag colors are sky blue and white, but the exact shade of blue has never been set and can vary from a light to a dark blue"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> adopted 2004, unofficial since 1948; used as the anthem of the Zionist movement since 1897; the 1888 arrangement by Samuel COHEN is thought to be based on the Romanian folk song \"Carul cu boi\" (The Ox Driven Cart)"
"text":"Masada; Old City of Acre; White City of Tel-Aviv - the Modern Movement; Biblical Tels - Megiddo, Hazor, Beer Sheba; Incense Route - Desert Cities in the Negev; Bahá’i Holy Places; Sites of Human Evolution at Mount Carmel; Caves of Maresha and Bet-Guvrin; Necropolis of Bet She’arim"
"text":"high-income, technology- and industrial-based economy; highly dense, fast-growing labor force; recent debt spikes; persistent inequality and poverty; significant tariff and regulatory burdens, especially in agriculture; quantitative easing in effect"
"text":"high-technology products (including aviation, communications, computer-aided design and manufactures, medical electronics, fiber optics), wood and paper products, potash and phosphates, food, beverages, and tobacco, caustic soda, cement, pharmaceuticals, construction, metal products, chemical products, plastics, cut diamonds, textiles, footwear"
"text":"United States 27%, China 8%, India 4%, Germany 3%, Ireland 3% (2021)",
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> Approximately, 6% of Israel's exports went to the Gaza Strip and West Bank, but official data are not available individually for the Palestinian territories."
"text":"Israel’s developed economy largely revolves around high technology products and services, primarily used in the medical, biotechnology, agricultural, materials, and military industries; the country also attracts investment in its cyber-security industry, and has established itself as a hub for thousands of start-up companies; to underpin these developments, Israel has developed a robust telecoms sector; household broadband subscriptions is high, with a focus on fiber-network deployment; LTE services are almost universally available, while the August 2020 multi-frequency bands also enabled the MNOs to provide services based on 5G; 5G will be supported by moves to close down GSM and 3G networks in stages through to the end of 2025, with the physical assets and frequencies to be repurposed for LTE and 5G use (2023)"
"text":"country code - 972; landing points for the MedNautilus Submarine System, Tameres North, Jonah and Lev Submarine System, submarine cables that provide links to Europe, Cyprus, and parts of the Middle East; satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (2 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean) (2019)"
"text":"the Israel Broadcasting Corporation (est 2015) broadcasts on 3 channels, two in Hebrew and the other in Arabic; multi-channel satellite and cable TV packages provide access to foreign channels; the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation broadcasts on 8 radio networks with multiple repeaters and Israel Defense Forces Radio broadcasts over multiple stations; about 15 privately owned radio stations; overall more than 100 stations and repeater stations (2019)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> paved runways have a concrete or asphalt surface but not all have facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control; the length of a runway required for aircraft to safely operate depends on a number of factors including the type of aircraft, the takeoff weight (including passengers, cargo, and fuel), engine types, flap settings, landing speed, elevation of the airport, and average maximum daily air temperature; paved runways can reach a length of 5,000 m (16,000 ft.), but the “typical” length of a commercial airline runway is between 2,500-4,000 m (8,000-13,000 ft.)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> unpaved runways have a surface composition such as grass or packed earth and are most suited to the operation of light aircraft; unpaved runways are usually short, often less than 1,000 m (3,280 ft.) in length; airports with unpaved runways often lack facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control"
"text":"Israel Defense Forces (IDF): Ground Forces, Israel Naval Force (IN, includes commandos), Israel Air Force (IAF, includes air defense) (2023)",
"note":"<strong>note 1:</strong> the national police, including the border police and the immigration police, are under the authority of the Ministry of Public Security<br><br><strong>note 2:</strong> the Israeli Security Agency (ISA) is charged with combating terrorism and espionage in Israel and the West Bank and Gaza Strip; it is under the authority of the Prime Minister; ISA forces operating in the West Bank fall under the IDF for operations and operational debriefing"
"text":"the majority of the IDF's inventory is comprised of weapons that are domestically produced or imported from Europe and the US; the US has been the leading supplier of arms in recent years; Israel has a broad defense industrial base that can develop, produce, support, and sustain a wide variety of weapons systems for both domestic use and export, particularly armored vehicles, unmanned aerial systems, air defense, and guided missiles (2023)"
"text":"18 years of age for compulsory military service; 17 years of age for voluntary military service; Jews and Druze can be conscripted; Christians, Circassians, and Muslims may volunteer; both sexes are obligated to military service; conscript service obligation is 32 months for enlisted men and about 24 months for enlisted women (varies based on military occupation); officers serve 48 months; Air Force pilots commit to 9 years of service; reserve obligation to age 41-51 (men), age 24 (women) (2023)",
"note":"<strong>note 1:</strong> women have served in the Israeli military since its establishment in 1948; as of 2021, women made up about 35% of IDF personnel; more than 90% of military specialties, including combat specialties, were open to women and more than 3,000 women were serving in combat units; the IDF's first mixed-gender infantry unit, the Caracal Battalion, was established in 2004<br><br><strong>note 2:</strong> conscripts comprise about 70% of the IDF active-duty ground forces<br><br><strong>note 3:</strong> the IDF recruits non-Israeli Jews and non-Jews with a minimum of one Jewish grandparent, as well as converts to Judaism; each year the IDF brings in about 800-1,000 foreign recruits from around the world"
"text":"the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) has operated in the Golan between Israel and Syria since 1974 to monitor the ceasefire following the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and supervise the areas of separation between the two countries; UNDOF consists of about 1,000 military personnel<br><br>the IDF is responsible for external defense but also has some domestic security responsibilities; its primary operational focuses include the threat posed by Iran, instability in Syria, and terrorist organizations, including HAMAS and Hizballah, both of which are backed by Iran, Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham; it has considerable experience in conventional and unconventional warfare; since the country’s founding in 1948, the IDF has been in conflicts against one or more of its Arab neighbors in 1948-49, 1956, 1967, 1967-70 (“War of Attrition”), 1973, 1982, and 2006; it bombed nuclear sites in Iraq in 1981 and Syria in 2007, and since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, has conducted numerous air strikes in Syria against Iranian, Iranian-backed militia, and Hizballah forces, and Syrian Government targets; over the same period, the IDF has carried out strikes against Hizballah in Lebanon in response to attacks on Israeli territory; these strikes followed an Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 2006, also to suppress Hizballah attacks; the IDF has conducted operations against HAMAS and PIJ, which operate out of the Gaza Strip and have launched numerous rocket attacks against Israel; HAMAS and Israel fought an 11-day conflict in 2021, which ended in an informal truce, although sporadic clashes continue; the IDF also has conducted security operations against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territories of East Jerusalem and the West Bank<br><br>since its creation from armed Jewish militias in the midst of the First Arab-Israeli War in 1948-49, the IDF, particularly the Ground Force, has been guided by a requirement to rapidly mobilize and defend the country’s territory from numerically superior neighboring countries; the Ground Force has a relatively small active combat force of approximately 10 armored, mechanized infantry, paratrooper, and commandos/special forces brigades, plus an artillery corps, that is backed up by a large force of trained reserves—more than 400,000 personnel—that can be mobilized rapidly into dozens of combat brigades; the Ground Force also controls Israel’s ballistic missile force; the Air Force has approximately 250 modern US-made combat aircraft, as well as one of the world’s most advanced theater missile defense systems; the Navy is largely a coastal defense force with a small but growing and largely modern inventory; its primary surface warships are 7 German- and US-built corvettes, supplemented by a small flotilla of missile attack vessels and 6 German-made attack submarines<br><br>Israel’s primary security partner is the US; consistent with a 10-year (2019-2028) Memorandum of Understanding, the US annually provides over $3 billion in military financing and cooperative military programs, such as missile defense; the US also provides Israel access to US-produced military weapons systems including advanced fighter aircraft; Israel has Major Non-NATO Ally status with the US, a designation under US law that provides foreign partners with certain benefits in the areas of defense trade and security cooperation (2023)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> details about the history, aims, leadership, organization, areas of operation, tactics, targets, weapons, size, and sources of support of the group(s) appear(s) in Appendix-T"
"text":"<p><em>Israel-Gaza Strip</em>: Israel withdrew its settlers and military from the Gaza Strip and from four settlements in the West Bank in August 2005</p> <p><em>Israel-Syria</em>: Golan Heights is Israeli-controlled (Lebanon claims the Shab'a Farms area of Golan Heights); in March 2019, the US Government recognized Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights; since 1948, about 350 peacekeepers from the UN Truce Supervision Organization headquartered in Jerusalem monitor ceasefires, supervise armistice agreements, prevent isolated incidents from escalating, and assist other UN personnel in the region<br><br><em>Israel-West Bank</em>: West Bank is Israeli-occupied with current status subject to the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement - permanent status to be determined through further negotiation; in 2002, Israel began construction of a \"seam line\" separation barrier along parts of the Green Line and within the West Bank; as of mid-2020, plans were to continue barrier construction</p>"
"text":"increasingly concerned about ecstasy, cocaine, and heroin abuse; drugs arrive in country from Lebanon and, increasingly, from Jordan; money-laundering center"
