Political situation 2. International support has been weakened, due to the brutal colonization of Palestinian territory. Israel has a large freedom of press, and with more than 25 newspapers the country has an open debate of central questions. Israel has two court systems, civil and religious.
Religious courts deal with central issues related to marriage and family.
The Israeli army has 180,000 standing troops, and 430,000 reserve troops. The air force has 32,000 personnel, while the navy has 10,000. Both men and women are inducted to serve in the military forces. The power of the prime minister is strengthened from May 1996 off, when Israel introduced a system of direct elections for prime minister. With the present system, the parliament, no longer has the right to remove a prime minister from office.