Israel

Location

• Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Egypt and Lebanon
• note 1: 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)note 2: the Malham Cave in Mount Sodom is the world's longest salt cave at 10 km (6 mi); Mount Sodom is a hill about 220 m (722 ft) high that is 80% salt, with multiple salt layers covered by a veneer of rock

Population

Notable Population Centers

City	Population	Note
Jerusalem	971,800
Tel Aviv	432,892
West Jerusalem	400,000
Haifa	285,316
Rishon LeTsiyyon	258,535
Petaẖ Tiqva	253,529
Netanya	228,204
Ashdod	226,838
Bnei Brak	214,444
H̱olon	196,282

Size

• 8,019 square miles
• 20,770 square kilometers
• slightly larger than New Jersey

History

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 proposed in 1947 partitioning the British Mandate for Palestine into an Arab and Jewish state. The Jews accepted the proposal, but the local Arabs and the Arab states rejected the UN plan and launched a war. The Arabs were subsequently defeated in the 1947-1949 war that followed the UN proposal and the British withdrawal. Israel joined the UN in 1949 and saw rapid population growth, primarily due to Jewish refugee migration from Europe and the Middle East. Israel and its Arab neighbors fought wars in 1956, 1967, and 1973, and Israel signed peace treaties with Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994. Israel took control of the West Bank, the eastern part of Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, and the Golan Heights in the course of the 1967 war. It ceded the Sinai back to Egypt in the 1979-1982 period but has continued to administer the other territories through military authorities. Israel and Palestinian officials signed interim agreements in the 1990s that created a period of Palestinian self-rule in parts of the West Bank and Gaza. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005. The most recent formal efforts between Israel and the Palestinian Authority to negotiate final status issues occurred in 2013 and 2014, and 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 44,000 estimated new immigrants, mostly Jewish, in the first 11 months of 2023.Former Prime Minister Benjamin NETANYAHU returned to office in 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 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021, becoming Israel's longest serving prime minister.On 7 October 2023, HAMAS militants launched a combined unguided rocket and ground terrorist attack from Gaza into southern Israel. The same day Israel’s Air Force launched air strikes inside Gaza and initiated a sustained air campaign against HAMAS targets across the Gaza Strip. The following day, NETANYAHU formally declared war on HAMAS, and on 28 October, the Israel Defense Forces launched a large-scale ground assault inside Gaza.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 place Israel at the center of a potential regional natural gas market. In 2022, a US-brokered agreement between Israel and Lebanon established their maritime boundary, allowing Israel to begin production on additional gas fields in the Mediterranean. However, Israel's economic development has been uneven. 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 concern both economists and the general population. The current war with Hamas disrupted Israel’s solid economic fundamentals, but it is not likely to have long-term structural implications for the economy. 

Climate

temperate; hot and dry in southern and eastern desert areas

Terrain

Negev desert in the south; low coastal plain; central mountains; Jordan Rift Valley

Languages

Hebrew (official), Arabic (special status under Israeli law), English (most commonly used foreign language)major-language sample(s): ספר עובדות העולם, המקור החיוני למידע בסיסי (Hebrew)The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information.

Religions

Jewish 73.5%, Muslim 18.1%, Christian 1.9%, Druze 1.6%, other 4.9% (2022 est.)

Government

parliamentary democracy

• Constitution: history: 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)amendment process: 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
• Political Parties and Leaders: n/a
• Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal; 17 years of age for municipal elections
• Legal System: mixed system of English common law, British Mandate regulations, and Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religious laws
• Executive Branch: chief of state: President Isaac HERZOG (since 7 July 2021)head of government: Prime Minister Benyamin NETANYAHU (since 29 December 2022)cabinet: Cabinet selected by prime minister and approved by the Knessetelection/appointment process: president indirectly elected by the Knesset for a single 7-year term; 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 governmentmost recent election date: 2 June 2021election results: 2021: Isaac HERZOG elected president; Knesset vote in first round - Isaac HERZOG (independent) 87, Miriam PERETZ (independent) 26, invalid/blank 72014: Reuven RIVLIN elected president in second round; Knesset vote - Reuven RIVLIN (Likud) 63, Meir SHEETRIT (The Movement) 53, other/invalid 4expected date of next election: June 2028
• Judicial Branch: highest court(s): 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 justicesjudge selection and term of office: 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 70subordinate courts: district and magistrate courts; national and regional labor courts; family and juvenile courts; special and Rabbinical courts
• Legislative Branch: legislature name: Parliament (Knesset)legislative structure: unicameralnumber of seats: 120 (all directly elected)electoral system: proportional representationscope of elections: full renewalterm in office: 4 yearsmost recent election date: 11/1/2022parties elected and seats per party: Likud (32); Yesh Atid (24); Religious Zionism (14); National Unity (12); Shas (11); United Torah Judaism (Yahadut Hatorah) (7); Yisrael Beiteinu (6); Other (14)percentage of women in chamber: 24.2%expected date of next election: October 2026note 1: a 3.25% vote threshold is required to gain representationnote 2: following the 1 November 2022 election, the Religious Zionism Alliance split into its three constituent parties in the Knesset:  Religious Zionism 7 seats, Jewish Power (Otzma Yehudit) 6, and Noam 1

Demographic Profile

n/a

Economy

• high-income, technology- and industrial-based economy; economic contraction and fiscal deficits resulting from war in Gaza; labor force stabilizing following military reservist mobilization; high-tech industry remains resilient while construction and tourism among hardest-hit sectors
• Budget: revenues: $162.524 billion (2023 est.)expenditures: $188.905 billion (2023 est.)note: central government revenues (excluding grants) and expenditures converted to US dollars at average official exchange rate for year indicated
• Credit Rating: n/a
• Natural Resources: timber, potash, copper ore, natural gas, phosphate rock, magnesium bromide, clays, sand
• Industries: 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
• Agricultural Products: milk, chicken, potatoes, tomatoes, tangerines/mandarins, bananas, eggs, avocados, beef, carrots/turnips (2023)note: top ten agricultural products based on tonnage
• Land Use: agricultural land: 29.5% (2022 est.)arable land: 17.2% (2022 est.)permanent crops: 4.7% (2022 est.)permanent pasture: 7.6% (2022 est.)forest: 6.5% (2022 est.)other: 64% (2022 est.)
• Labor Force by Occupation: n/a
• Imports
• Imported Commodities: cars, diamonds, crude petroleum, broadcasting equipment, garments (2023)note: top five import commodities based on value in dollars
• Import Partners: China 17%, USA 12%, Germany 7%, Turkey 6%, Italy 4% (2023)note: top five import partners based on percentage share of imports
• Exports
• Exported Commodities: integrated circuits, diamonds, broadcasting equipment, medical instruments, refined petroleum (2023)note: top five export commodities based on value in dollars
• Export Partners: USA 29%, China 10%, Ireland 6%, Germany 4%, Hong Kong 4% (2023)note: top five export partners based on percentage share of exports