Israel

The State of Israel is presently a self-proclaimed and a country in the Middle East. It is currently the only country with a Jewish majority population. Although once an ancient Bible-era civilization, Israel ceased to exist after being conquered by various empires and only re-emerged as a sovereign entity in 1948. The re-establishment of a Jewish state was the historical goal of Zionism. Despite many of their neighbors disliking them, they still exist with the help of foreign powers, mainly the United States, United Kingdom and, ironically enough, Germany. 
As expected from a country with a long history of hawkish governments, Israel is involved in numerous international disputes and conflicts, partially arising from religious hostility towards it and partially arising from Israel's own aggressive and oppressive behavior. One of those disputes concerns where exactly Israel's capital really is. Most of the world recognizes the city of Tel Aviv, but Israel itself claims the city of Jerusalem as its capital and has most of its government located there. A lot of stress also arises because Israel was built on the land that many Palestinians used to live on and Israel currently occupies the Palestinian territory. The Muslim-majority Palestinians demand their own state and want Israel to stop its oppressive treatment of them. Israel also militarily occupies the Golan Heights region of Syria and is regularly in conflict with Palestinian liberation/terrorist groups. Complicating the problem is that Hamas and certain of Israel's neighbors don't want Israel to exist, so they have a habit of launching rockets at it once in a while.
Israel has been inhabited since the earliest migration of hominids out of Africa. Its civilization solidified through the unification of various tribes into the Kingdom of Israel during the Iron Age. During this time, the Hebrew people established their city of Jerusalem and built the central temple of their Jewish faith. In 586 BCE, the Neo-Babylonian Empire and its ruler Nebuchadnezzar II rolled in to smash Jerusalem and force many Hebrews into exile in Mesopotamia. The Hebrews didn't return to the region until Cyrus the Great of the Persian Empire freed them and gave them money to rebuild sometime around 550 BCE. Now a province rather than a kingdom, Judah survived under Persian rule until 167 BCE, when the successful Maccabean Revolt reestablished Judah under the Hasmonean dynasty. Unfortunately, they soon got conquered again by the Roman Empire, which turned Judah into an occupied territory under the collaborationist Herod dynasty. The Hebrews fought against Roman rule, leading to a series of devastating wars and culminating with the complete destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE and the exile of much of the Jewish population from their historical homeland.
The Israeli region became a place of religious significance to the Christians of the Roman Empire, but it was eventually conquered by the Arab followers of Muhammad. Jerusalem, you see, had also become a city of religious significance to the Muslim religion, and we're sure you're starting to see the roots of some of Israel's modern problems. The Arabs built many religious monuments in Jerusalem, but they (most notably under Saladin) still invited the Jews to live in Israel and mostly-freely practice their religion.Abraham P. Bloch (1987). "Sultan Saladin Opens Jerusalem to Jews". One a day: an anthology of Jewish historical anniversaries for every day of the year. KTAV Publishing House, Inc. p. 277. ISBN 978-0-88125-108-1. Nonetheless, the Jewish population remained small and was a minority among the Muslim Palestinian population. 
Rule over Israel passed between various Muslim powers before ending with the Ottoman Empire, which finally lost control of the region after World War I. Israel became a mandate territory under the British Empire. Meanwhile, many members of the Jewish diaspora had become influential thinkers in Europe and elsewhere, and the Zionist movement began picking up steam in the 19th century. Europeanized Jews started immigrating into Israel during British rule; the Palestinians who were already living there and didn't appreciate being edged out by foreigners began a series of violent riots. To appease them, the British harshly limited Jewish immigration and land-owning rights in Israel in 1939. The Jews retaliated by fighting a prolonged terrorist and guerrilla campaign against the British authorities, forcing them to transfer control over Israel to the United Nations in 1947. 
The UN drew up a partition plan to create a separate state of Israel and Palestine and an internationally-administered Jerusalem, an agreement accepted by the Jews and rejected by the Arabs. Israel declared its independence in 1948 before being attacked by its various Arab neighbors. Israel won and preserved its rule over the mandate territory, but subsequent wars have seen Israel dramatically expand its territory and place various chunks of its neighbors under military occupation. Although Israel has signed peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan, it still has fraught relations with most Muslim states and frequently clashes with Iran. Most Palestinian territories are now under de jure military occupation, and Israel's right-wing government doesn't give a shit about their rights. Lasting peace doesn't seem to be coming anytime soon. 
Despite the United Nations' numerous attempts to condemn them and hold them to account for their varies war crimes and oppression, the United States gives them practically infinite get-out-of-jail-free-cards with some batshit explanations and PIDOOMAs as to why. Because letting an apartheid ethnostate that is currently enacting genocide on the indigenous population of the area whilst blocking any and all attempts to allow said indigenous people any form of recognition by the international community is a surefire way to make peace between the oppressed and people oppressing them.
==History==
===Ancient Israel===
Early hominid life in the Israel region dates back at least 1.5 million years, which is a long-ass time. 
In terms of the development of early Israeli civilization, things are very unclear. Most of the problem lies in the fact that it's heavily uncertain how historically accurate the Torah and similar writings are.Dever, William (2001). What Did the Biblical Writers Know, and When Did They Know It?. Eerdmans. pp. 98–99. ISBN 978-3-927120-37-2. The Late Bronze Age saw the rise of a culture group called Canaan, composed of various tribes paying tribute to Ancient Egypt who eventually became the Israelis.Braunstein, Susan L. (2011). "The Meaning of Egyptian-Style Objects in the Late Bronze Cemeteries of Tell el-Farʿah (South)". Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. 364 (364): 1–36. doi:10.5615/bullamerschoorie.364.0001. JSTOR 10.5615/bullamerschoorie.364.0001. Around 1209 BCE, the Egyptians erected a stele referring to Israel by name for the first time. However, modern historians believe that this Israel was a loose cultural group rather than a centralized political entity. p. 206 It's also probable that the described conflicts between the Israelites and the Canaanites and Philistines really did happen in some form or another.Killebrew, Ann E. (2005). Biblical Peoples and Ethnicity: An Archaeological Study of Egyptians, Canaanites, and Early Israel, 1300–1100 B.C.E. Society of Biblical Literature. ISBN 9781589830974. p.230. Although the word's exact origin is unknown, these ancient Israelis came to be known as Hebrews.
The Hebrews had come to identify themselves as separate from their neighbors due to diverging cultures and the rise of their new religion. Monotheism, or the belief in a single, all-powerful God, seems to have developed among various small cult religions before eventually merging into Judaism as the idea became more influential. There are still scattered references in the Old Testament to this older polytheism/henotheism, such as Elohim (which is plural).
So that's about what modern historians know. Of course, Israeli legend goes much further. Legend describes how Abraham made a covenant with Yahweh promising to follow His laws in exchange for receiving divine aid in conquering Canaan.Ancient Israel. Country Studies. The Book of Exodus tells how many of these Hebrews were enslaved in Egypt during the reign of its pharaoh (who is unnamed, but Ramses II (1304-1237 BCE) is frequently thought to be the fellow referenced) before being freed by Moses and God. According to these same religious texts, Moses received the Ten Commandments and the broader Mosaic Law supposedly from God during this period. This legal code was a historically significant departure from other early law codes in the region like Hammurabi's because the Mosaic Law declared that criminals would be judged in the eyes of God and not just the authorities. In this sense, assuming this is true, Israel became the world's first theocracy.
The dynasty of King David and his son King Solomon is also thoroughly described. These kings are considered notable for establishing Israel as a kingdom and then constructing the First Jewish Temple. Indeed, this temple almost certainly existed in some form or another, and it became a critically important central feature of ancient Judaism.The Temple in Jerusalem. Ancient History Encyclopedia.
===The trouble begins===
====Babylonian exile====
Hebrew civilization only thrived when it did due to a power vacuum, as it existed between the historical agricultural heartlands of Egypt and the various Mesopotamian empires. That good luck eventually came to a decisive end when Israel came under brutal assault by first the Assyrian Empire and then the Neo-Babylonian Empire. This second invasion successfully tore down Israel as a unified entity. The Neo-Babylonians used their typical scorched earth and brutality tacticsAncient Mesopotamia. Country Studies. to raze many Israeli villages and forcibly relocate much of its population in 586 BCE.After the First Temple. My Jewish Learning. The Neo-Babylonian ruler, Nebuchadnezzar, gets a very unflattering portrayal in the Book of Daniel as a supervillain-like figure who burns people alive.Nebuchadrezzar: the builder king of Babylon. National Geographic. 
In one of history's most resounding acts of cultural warfare, the Neo-Babylonians also destroyed the First Temple in Jerusalem, the center of Jewish religious life. The destruction caused general despair among the remaining Hebrews and inspired a long-lasting determination to see the structure rebuilt, and Jerusalem reclaimed. Nebuchadnezzar would repeatedly show up in Jerusalem, forcing thousands of people who offended him into exile in the desert.Ancient tablets reveal life of Jews in Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon. Reuters. Although it was cruel to tear them away from their ancestral homeland, archaeological evidence shows that the Hebrews didn't have too bad a time once they relocated to Babylonia. They became traders, business owners, and administrators working to help Nebuchadnezzar expand his empire's economic power.
====Persian rule====
The Neo-Babylonians were raging assholes to their own people as well, and the empire quickly collapsed when Cyrus the Great rolled into town with his kickass Persian Army. Cyrus had created his Achaemenid Persian Empire on the principles of justice and regional religious liberty, and even the city of Babylon welcomed him as their ruler.Achaemenid Empire. Ancient History Encyclopedia. 
Cyrus liked to be known as a man who was generous to his enemies, and he furthered that reputation by freeing the Hebrews from exile in Babylonia. Not only did he free them, but he allowed them to retake their homeland and gave them funds to rebuild their temple. As a result, Cyrus is praised in Hebrew scriptures as a man sent by God to act as their savior.Who was Cyrus the Great? National Geographic. The Hebrews became a very loyal autonomous region within the Achaemenid Empire, and Hebrew soldiers participated in the Persian conquest and occupation of Egypt.Arnold, William R. (1912). "The Passover Papyrus from Elephantine". Journal of Biblical Literature. 31 (1): 1–33. JSTOR 3259988. 
Nonetheless, most practicing Jews remained outside of Israel even after Cyrus' decree. Many chose to stay in Babylonia rather than make the difficult desert journey back home, and the Jewish diaspora increasingly relied on the importance of their traditions in maintaining unity.
====Greek rule and the Maccabean uprising====
Persian rule was abruptly ended by the attack of Alexander the Great. However, Alexander largely ignored Israel as a politically irrelevant backwater, and the land eventually passed under the control of the Seleucid Empire, which was established by one of Alexander's heirs.Israel: Hellenism. Country Studies. The Seleucids launched a campaign to crush the Jewish religion, which involved sacking and desecrating the Second Temple. Like the First Temple, the Second Temple had become the center of Hebrew life and was considered a place where God's presence could be felt on Earth.The Maccabean Revolt. Ancient History Encyclopedia.
The attack on the temple and the regime's previous attempts to enforce Greek culture and religion on the Hebrews finally provoked an outright revolt in 167 BCE led by Jewish rabbi Mattathias, or Maccabees the Hammer. The Hebrews proved to be competent at military matters when fighting for their own freedom (this is something of a recurring theme), and they smashed multiple Seleucid armies. There was also a period of civil war, as the rebels despised those Jews who had adopted Hellenic culture and left the old traditions behind. The Maccabees destroyed Greek altars in the villages, circumcised boys, and forced Hellenized Jews into exile.Nicholas de Lange (ed.), The Illustrated History of the Jewish People, London, Aurum Press, 1997, 1-85410-530-2 
The rebels finally secured Israel's independence by striking an alliance with the Roman Empire, which had strategic reasons to be hostile to the Seleucids. They were quite happy to build a relationship against a mutual foe. After reclaiming Jerusalem, the rebels cleaned out the Second Temple and established a new kingdom under the Hasmonean dynasty.
According to legend, the rebels were besieged inside the Second Temple during the initial darkest stages of the revolt, surviving by using a one-day supply of olive oil to miraculously keep the Temple Menorah alight for eight days.What Is Hanukkah? Chabad.org That story is commemorated with the yearly Jewish Chanukah, or Hanukkah festival.
===Hasmonean Israel===
During this period, which lasted from 140 to 37 BCE, Israel started to take on many of its modern characteristics. The new state was ruled by priest-kings who were descendants of Maccabees. They combined schools and religious meeting places to create the first synagogues around the country, leading to the creation of Rabbinical Judaism. There was also a high legal court called the Sanhedrin, composed of old religious wise men who made rulings based on religious law. 
Although the new Israel regained much of the power that it had lost after the first great downfall, it was still hampered by some critical weaknesses. Political and religious divisions were extreme (many Jews like to talk about how much they argue).Conversation & Debate. My Jewish Learning. The two main political factions were the Pharisees and the Sadducees, both led by Jewish legal experts.The Difference Between Pharisees and Sadducees in the Bible. Learn Religions. Of course, the main source of contention was the interpretation of the Jewish faith. The Pharisees literally believed in the religion's supernatural elements, like angels and heaven and whatnot, while the Sadduccees were much more skeptical to the point of being quasi-secular. The other difference came from class, that eternal division, as the Sadduccees represented the wealthy nobles and the Pharisees were much more influential among the common people. 
These divisions became the Hebrew state's downfall, as the factions supported different claimants to the throne and kept the dynastic succession in perpetual instability. Eventually, one claimant appealed to Pompey the Great of the Roman Empire for military support. That created the perfect pretext the Romans needed to sweep into the region and never sweep back out again. In 37 BCE, the Roman Senate confirmed the first Herod as the new puppet-king of Israel, and he bound the kingdom closer and closer to the Roman Empire. The state eventually became nothing more than a province within the empire, even if it was technically independent.
===The trouble gets worse===
====Roman rule====
The Romans were smart enough to leave the Jews' religious rights the fuck alone, considering what had happened the last time a non-Jewish power tried enforcing religion. Thus, so long as the new Roman province of Judea paid its taxes and didn't make too much trouble, the Hebrews could basically do what they wanted.Jews and the Roman Empire. PBS. The Sanhedrin could continue enacting religious laws and making the Hebrews live under them.
Despite that autonomy, Hebrew nationalists still didn't appreciate being made into an imperial outpost, and Jewish religious leaders started preaching against the occupation. According to Christian tradition and minimal historical evidence, Brian Jesus was born into this chaotic situation and started a ministry talking about how God's Kingdom of Heaven was greater than Rome and would give hope and salvation to the faithful.Jesus. PBS. Sometime around 33 CE, according to the Gospels anyway, Jesus made himself into an even bigger problem by criticizing local Jewish leaders for conducting trade in the Second Temple; those local religious leaders retaliated by convincing the Roman occupiers that the troublemaker had to go. Hence the crucifixion and the eventual kick-starting of a new religion.
Back to the stuff historians know actually happened, tensions erupted in Judea by 66 CE when the Roman governor of Judea demanded compensation payments for a series of riots earlier in the year. That demand for money triggered a general revolt and started a war until 70 CE. The Roman Empire was extremely harsh in fighting that war, and it's estimated today that at least a million Hebrews died in the struggle for independence.The Temple and its Destruction. My Jewish Learning. Some died in the fighting, some died due to economic destruction, and others were executed, massacred, or forced into slavery. For the final act, the Roman Empire besieged Jerusalem, destroyed and looted the Second Temple, and deported the Hebrew population across the empire. The remaining Hebrews, sad and furious, rose up repeatedly until about 137 CE, resulting in more and more of their population being removed from Israel. 
Many of Judaism's greatest treasures are still missing, such as the legendary golden Temple Menorah that burned during the Maccabees rebellion.What Happened to the Jerusalem Temple’s Menorah? Daily Beast. And, of course, to add insult to injury, the Romans later converted to Christianity and decided that Jerusalem was their holy city because Jesus had died there.
===The Muslim era===
====Arab rule====
Over time, the Jewish population in Israel dwindled under Roman and then Byzantine rule as Christian pilgrims settled in the region to be close to their holy sites.Cohn-Sherbok, Dan (1996). Atlas of Jewish History. Routledge. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-415-08800-8. Over those centuries of Byzantine rule, the Samaritan ethnoreligious group launched a series of revolts that resulted in constant warfare and devastation in the region. Hundreds of thousands of people died, and the region's population declined dramatically.
These conflicts were one of the factors that significantly weakened the Byzantine Empire and made it a military pushover when the Muslims came knocking. For context, Muhammad died after unifying Arabia in 632 CE, and Israel was wholly conquered by the Arab caliphate in 638 CE.Israel: Palestine. Country Studies. The Muslims, heavily influenced by Abrahamic traditions, considered Jerusalem a holy city. Their story goes that Muhammad was taken to Jerusalem to meet God and the other prophets.Why is Isra’ Mi’raj Important to Muslims?. BeliefNet. Caliph Umar of the Rashidun Caliphate officially declared Jerusalem Islam's third-holiest city. The Arabs built the Dome of the Rock on the site of the former Second Temple. 
Although the early Muslim rulers were known to treat their non-Muslim subjects reasonably well, this wasn't the case in Israel, now Palestine. Umar II, who came to power in 717 CE, imposed totalitarian lifestyle restrictions on non-Muslims in the Holy Land that encouraged a wave of conversions. Whether true or not, the new converts rapidly changed the religious landscape there in favor of Islam. 
Palestine was a coveted territory, and through the ages and the different caliphates, it came under attack by various factions, including the Qarmatians, the Byzantines, various Bedouin tribes, and the Seljuk Turks.Gil, Moshe (1997). A History of Palestine, 634–1099. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-59984-9. Palestine was a constant battlefield, but things only got worse when the Catholics decided to jump into the fray. Following a string of Byzantine territorial losses to the Seljuk Turks, the Catholic pope delivered a sermon calling for a Christian holy war to reclaim the holy sites in Palestine.The Crusades (1095–1291) Metropolitan Museum of Art] Enter the Crusades. 
Although the Jews had no love for their Muslim rulers, at least the Muslims weren't interested in wholesale massacring them like the Crusaders were doing. Jews helped the Muslims try to hold Jerusalem against the Crusaders during the 1099 siege, and the Crusaders punished them by massacring most of the city's Jewish population.Allan D. Cooper (2009). The geography of genocide. University Press of America. p. 132. ISBN 978-0-7618-4097-8. 
By all accounts, the Jews fought bravely alongside Muslim soldiers throughout the Crusades.Moshe Gil (1992). A History of Palestine, 634–1099. Cambridge University Press. p. 829. ISBN 978-0-521-40437-2. Saladin, the Kurdish sultan who came to rule much of the Middle East, rewarded them for this loyalty by recapturing Jerusalem in 1187 and inviting Jews to reestablish their communities and worship freely.Abraham P. Bloch (1987). "Sultan Saladin Opens Jerusalem to Jews". One a day: an anthology of Jewish historical anniversaries for every day of the year. KTAV Publishing House, Inc. p. 277. ISBN 978-0-88125-108-1. Sure enough, Jews started arriving from Europe to settle in Palestine, especially from France and England.Alex Carmel; Peter Schäfer; Yossi Ben-Artzi (1990). The Jewish settlement in Palestine, 634–1881. L. Reichert. p. 31. ISBN 978-3-88226-479-1. Sure, the journey was long and dangerous, but it sucked less than being a Jew in fucking Medieval Europe.
In 1260, the rule of Jerusalem passed to the Mamluk rulers of Egypt, who continued tolerating foreign Jewish immigration into the region.Kramer, Gudrun (2008). A History of Palestine: From the Ottoman Conquest to the Founding of the State of Israel. Princeton University Press. p. 376. ISBN 978-0-691-11897-0. With Sephardic Jews from Spain also starting to enter the area, the Jewish population in and around Jerusalem had increased to about 10,000.Fannie Fern Andrews (1976). The Holy Land under mandate. Hyperion Press. p. 145. ISBN 978-0-88355-304-6.
====Ottoman rule====
In 1517, the rising Ottoman Empire conquered the Mamluk Sultanate in its entirety, both to dominate the Middle East's spice trade and to conquer the holy cities in Palestine. Meanwhile, Spain and Portugal finished conquering the formerly Muslim-held areas in Iberia and began to forcibly expel and persecute Jews during the Spanish Inquisition. Jews fleeing or forced to leave their homes in Iberia found the Ottomans quite welcoming; the Turks only required that the Jews pay extra taxes and publicly acknowledge the superior power of Islam.The Sephardic Exodus to the Ottoman Empire. My Jewish Learning. 
By the mid-16th century, the Ottomans had the largest Jewish community globally. The empire benefited directly from the Jewish presence in Palestine. Jewish refugees moving in came pre-packaged with European knowledge and languages, and they had no reason to feel any affection whatsoever for their former Christian oppressors.Early Modern Jewish History. Fordham University. As a result, Jews generally became international businessmen, spies, and diplomats. Jewish communities prospered and were allowed to explore and develop their own unique culture.
Of course, it's common knowledge that the Ottoman Empire started going down the tubes by the 18th century. Much of that was due to Western imperialism elsewhere in the world, as the naval trade routes they established reduced Ottoman domination of trade and therefore reduced Ottoman finances. The Ottomans also entered into a brutal series of wars that lasted centuries and resulted in more and more of the empire's territory being lost to Russia. As the prosperity and power of the empire declined, so did the well-being of the empire's Jewish communities. Unfortunately, as time went on and the empire was surrounded by increasingly powerful enemies, the Turks became more and more suspicious of the empire's minority populations, including the Jews. Things got even worse after the 1908 revolution of the Committee of Union and Progress, better known as the Young Turks. Once in power, they started plotting the forced assimilation and possible extermination of minorities. This program began with implementing a wide variety of social programs designed to forcibly assimilate minorities, including renaming children and requiring instruction in schools to be conducted only in Turkish.Üngör, Uğur Ümit (2008). "Geographies of Nationalism and Violence: Rethinking Young Turk 'Social Engineering'". European Journal of Turkish Studies (7).
===The trouble is really bad now===
====Zionist movement====
Any discussion about the development of Zionism should start with Napoleon Bonaparte, who was almost as influential in Jewish history as Cyrus the Great. Before the French Revolution and the subsequent continent-wide destruction of the old order, European Jews were denied citizenship, equal rights, and the right to join the government or own property.Anti-Semitism In Medieval Europe. Britannica. Throughout the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Era, Jews faced waves of violence such as the slaughters during the Crusades or the horrific Chmielnicki Pogrom. Jewish emancipation, or the process by which Jews started to gain civil equality, began in principle during the early French revolutionary regimes but didn't really become a reality until Bonaparte seized control of France and started rampaging around Europe.Napoleon and the Jews. By Ben Weider, CM, PhD. International Napoleonic Society. Napoleon was basically Godzilla in that he destroyed Europe's old laws and conventions and replaced them with his own legal code and Jewish emancipation policies.Napoleon scholar details Emancipation of European Jews. STL Jewish Light. These events set the stage for Jews to become more influential in European society as they gained access to education and journalist professions.Napoleon Bonaparte. Jewish Virtual Library.
That didn't mean the end of antisemitism; the opposite was true, as poor non-Jews in Europe resented that they couldn't look down on the Jews anymore. The same process that caused race riots during America's Reconstruction saw a rapid increase in anti-Jewish pogroms and harassment. The combination of increased access to society and more fear of violence led many Jews to wonder if it might just be possible to rebuild their own nation on the soil where it once stood.Origins of Zionism. Country Studies. 
Zionism is curious in that it was both a secular and a deeply religious movement. Much of Europe's Jewish population had been forced to secularize to fit in with Europeans. Still, many other Jews were concerned about the implications for their religion and were convinced that only a return to their Holy Land could reverse this. That characteristic of Zionism helps explain Israel's paradoxically secular-yet-fundamentalist nature.
====British rule====
By World War I, it was clear to just about everyone that the Ottoman Empire was doomed to split into a litany of successor states. Zionists were thrilled by this idea, but so were Arab nationalists who wanted to incorporate Palestine into an Arab super-state.Israel: World War I. Country Studies. At this point in time, British statesman and politician Chaim Weizmann was the chief advocate for Zionism, and he knew that it was the will of the empires rather than the will of the people that mattered. Thus, he pointed out that Palestine was quite proximate to the British Suez Canal and how nice it would be to use that territory to protect Britain's lifeline to colonial India. 
British diplomacy during the war concerning the Middle East was a truly disgusting display of two-faced bastardry. The British won the allegiance of Arabs revolting against Ottoman rule by promising to help them establish a unified Arab state. Then the British struck a secret agreement with the French to carve up the Middle East in 1916 and issued the Balfour Declaration stating support for a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine. Long story short, the British decided that keeping the Jews and Arabs at each others' throats would enable them to keep Palestine under control more easily. After the war, the League of Nations placed Palestine under British rule as a mandate territory, figuring that the British could keep it peaceful and prepare it for eventual independence.The Trusteeship Council - The mandate system of the league of nations. Nations Encyclopedia. Both of those last two things represent disastrous miscalculations. 
thumb|right|300px|British troops enforce curfew in Tel Aviv to prevent Zionist terrorism, 1946.
The British generally considered the Jews their political allies in the region, especially since the Jewish Legion of Zionist volunteers helped them conquer the area during World War I.Schechtman, Joseph B. (2007). "Jewish Legion". Encyclopaedia Judaica. 11. Detroit: Macmillan Reference. p. 304. Mass Jewish immigration into Palestine began almost immediately, as the chaos of the Russian Revolution had culminated in a series of horrific pogroms against Jews.Maurice Wolftal, introduction to Nokhem Shtif, The Pogroms in Ukraine, 1918-19: Prelude to the Holocaust, Open Book Publishers, 2019.978-1-783-74747-4 Meanwhile, the Palestinian Arabs realized that they had been screwed out of Pan-Arabism by British colonialism and saw that the Jews were being shipped in by the British, seemingly to displace the Palestinians. This unsurprisingly culminated in a series of bloody riots in Jerusalem in 1920. More riots followed in 1921 and 1929, followed by a full Arab revolt in 1936, so the Jews organized their own militia called "Haganah" to help protect their own interests.
By 1937, the British realized that the Jews and Arabs weren't getting along, and they proposed partitioning Palestine between them.The Palestinian Revolt. Country Studies. The Jews rejected the borders but accepted the principle of partition, while the Palestinians furiously rejected the entire proposal. In 1939, the British decided to end Palestinian revolts by caving to their demands. British authorities announced that they would limit Jewish immigration over the next five years and make any further immigration subject to Arab approval.World War II. Country Studies. David Ben-Gurion, then the leader of Jewish advocacy, declared that the Jews would support the British in the war against Adolf Hitler but would still fervently resist the new policy. Once fascist Italy joined the war in 1940, British leader Winston Churchill decided it was a crucial strategy to keep the Arabs compliant. Thus, he harshly restricted Jewish immigration into Palestine right at the point where Jewish immigration out of Europe was more essential than it had ever been before. Although thousands of Jewish volunteers served in the British military in World War II, Jewish loyalty to London was rapidly fading. Zionists increasingly turned to the United States and American Jews for support.
====Insurgency and UN partition====
thumb|right|225px|Ruins of the King David Hotel after the Zionist bombing.
About 1.5 million Jews fought the Axis in various allied military forces, meaning that the Jews had a lot of militarily-experienced men.Jewish Soldiers in the Allied Armies. Yad Vashem. Meanwhile, the Holocaust changed everything about how power worked in Palestine. US president Harry Truman felt morally obliged to support the Jews in whatever they wanted. Meanwhile, the British Labour government continued to abide by immigration restrictions out of fear that the empire could collapse if too many anti-colonial revolts happened at once. Unfortunately for them, that policy triggered a whole different kind of revolt. The Jews were enraged, and David Ben-Gurion organized Jewish militias to coordinate illegal immigration into Palestine and armed warfare against British colonial authorities.Prelude to Statehood. Country Studies. 
Zionist forces utilized terrorist tactics against the British, although it's important to note that they generally focused their efforts on government and military targets.How terrorism helped found Israel. Washington Post. Nonetheless, civilians definitely died in Zionist attacks. Most infamous was the bombing that destroyed the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, which had become a British colonial headquarters. The Zionists warned of the impending explosion, but not soon enough to give the British time to escape. The bombing killed 91 people.
All in all, the insurgency and terror campaign was highly effective. By 1947, the British had been forced to dispatch about 100,000 troops into Palestine, an expense they just couldn't afford after the Second World War. Finally, the British threw their hands up and said "fuck it" and shoved the issue at the UN for them to figure out. 
The United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) drew up a partition plan for an independent Israel and Palestine and an internationally-governed Jerusalem; this plan was approved by both the United States and the Soviet Union in a rare show of cooperation. In fact, the Soviet delegation came out in support of the plan first after their UN ambassador Andrei Gromyko shocked the hell out of everybody by reversing decades of Soviet policy and endorsing a Jewish state. He had done this on the orders of Joseph Stalin. The latter figured that since the Jews were fighting against the British, a Jewish state in Palestine would naturally be an enemy of the British Empire and a potential regional ally for the USSR. The Zionists were thrilled by the idea of getting their Jewish state at long last, but the Arab League and the Palestinians were enraged by the plan. 
Although violent Palestinian resistance to partition began immediately, Ben-Gurion was able to use his Zionist militias to gain control of the UN-mandated territories and proclaimed the establishment of an independent Israel in 1948. The US, the Soviets, and the UN-recognized Israel days later. Unfortunately for Israel, its independence wouldn't be a sure thing until it dealt with the imminent military threat presented by the Palestinians and the Arab League. A month after Israel's declaration of independence, Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen mobilized troops to invade. Oh boy.
===War of Independence===
Open warfare between Jews and Arabs began even before the British withdrawal, and the British did nothing to put an end to the rising conflict that ended up killing 2,000 in its early stages.Yoav Gelber, Palestine 1948, Sussex Academic Press, Brighton, 2006, ISBN 978-1-84519-075-0 p.85 The Israelis were vastly outnumbered by their enemies, evidenced by most Jewish population centers being under siege early in the war and having to be liberated.
Although outnumbered, the Israelis had a few crucial advantages that proved decisive in this war. Palestinian Arabs had no professional soldiers or military structure, and the Arab states backing them were far from politically unified.Weakness into Strength: Overcoming Strategic Deficits in the 1948 Israeli War for Independence. The Strategy Bridge. By contrast, the Israelis were fighting for the survival of their new nation, and many were experienced soldiers who had fought in the world war. Within a handful of months, though, the Israeli state had to perform the frankly impressive feat of transforming the disorganized Jewish militias into a competent and professional military. In fact, by mid-1948, Israel's superior mobilization strategy paid off when they raised a larger armed force than the Arab opposition. In terms of numbers, the Israelis mobilized their entire able-bodied adult population for an army of more than 100,000 to face off against about 25,000 Arab soldiers.
That being said, Israel would have had a much worse time had the Eastern Bloc not stepped up to the plate for them once more. The Soviet Union, through its puppet Czechoslovakia, sold a shitload of weaponry to Israel that the communists had captured from Nazi Germany during the world war.Why did the USSR help to create Israel, but then became its foe. Russia Beyond. Ben-Gurion later expressed his view that the guns from the commies were essential in ensuring Israel's victory in the war. 
Meanwhile, the Arab League states expected an easy victory that they could use for propaganda purposes. Thus, they didn't put much effort into coordinating or planning their offensive.Why the Arabs were defeated. Al Jazeera. They were also crippled by the competing political goals of the various leaders, as Egypt's king wanted to be the ruler of the Arab world, and Jordan wanted to occupy Jerusalem for itself. Not only did the Arab forces suffer humiliating military defeats against the Israelis, but they also started turning against each other. 
The war ended with an armistice between the parties, which benefited Israel greatly. Israel ended up with 50% more land than was initially allocated under the UN partition plan, creating Israel's modern borders. The remainder of Palestine effectively ceased to exist, as the West Bank came under Jordanian occupation, and the Gaza Strip was under Egyptian occupation.Israel’s War of Independence. My Jewish Learning. After the Kingdom of Jordan took over Jerusalem and the West Bank, their authorities expelled Jews from East Jerusalem, destroyed many Jewish holy sites, and forbade Jews from praying at the Western Wall.
With those territorial expansions for most parties, it wasn't the Arab states that lost the war. No, it was the poor goddamn Palestinians who lost out. The widespread destruction of Arab villages and various war crimes committed by radical Israeli militias forced about 700,000 Palestinians to flee their homes into the neighboring Arab states. Once comprising villages and cities, Palestine was effectively wiped off the map.Bardi, Ariel Sophia (March 2016). "The "Architectural Cleansing" of Palestine". American Anthropologist. 118 (1): 165–171. doi:10.1111/aman.12520. Palestinians refer to this mass exodus as the Nakba, or "catastrophe."William L. "A History of the Modern Middle East," Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2004, p. 270. ISBN 978-0-8133-4047-0 In their absence, the Israelis passed a series of laws stripping the fleeing Arabs of their property and making it illegal for them to return. Many of those Palestinian families remain refugees to this day. 
There was also a second refugee crisis, as the various Arab states, in turn, forced their Jewish population out of their homes. Israel's population swelled by hundreds of thousands as a result.
===State of Israel (and more trouble with the Arabs)===
====Consolidation====
Israel focused a lot on attracting foreign Jewish immigration, hoping that the state could expand territorially, although the hoped-for mass influx from the West never really materialized.Why 'Greater Israel' Never Came to Be New York Times Most Jews who arrived were from the Middle East or Africa, and they were generally treated worse and had fewer opportunities than those Jews who came from Europe.Israel: Challenges to Identity, Democracy, and the State. By Clive Jones, Emma Murphy. Google Books.
Israel's early days were defined by the economic crisis. Food and other goods had to be rationed, and the economy got so bad that Ben-Gurion actually signed the reparations deal with West Germany to get some much-needed cash.Shindler, Colin (2002). The Land Beyond Promise: Israel, Likud and the Zionist Dream. I.B.Tauris Publishers. ISBN 978-1-86064-774-1. pp. 49–50 That deal pissed off a lot of Jews who thought that Ben-Gurion was putting a monetary value on the lives lost in the Holocaust. 
Meanwhile, the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, previously instrumental to Israel's establishment, quickly 180'd back into hostility towards the Zionist cause. This happened when Golda Meir, Israel’s envoy to the Soviets, proposed that the Soviet Union allow and encourage its Jewish population to emigrate to Israel. As that whole Berlin Wall thing demonstrated, the Soviets weren't too keen on the concept of people leaving their communist utopia. Soviet Jews were pleased under the leadership of Comrade Stalin, thank you very much. Combined with Israel's friendly attitude towards the US, that issue cemented the Soviet Union as an enemy. 
The country also suffered attacks from Palestinian raiders from across the borders; these attacks were almost always met with Israeli counter-raids.Kameel B. Nasr (1996). Arab and Israeli Terrorism: The Causes and Effects of Political Violence, 1936–1993. McFarland. pp. 40–. ISBN 978-0-7864-3105-2. Israel also committed an act of aggression against Egypt in 1952 alongside the UK and France, when Israel agreed to invade to support the imperialists' scheme to regain the Suez Canal.An affair to remember The Economist 7.26.06 For the first and probably last time, the US actually turned against Israel when president Dwight Eisenhower threatened sanctions if Israel didn't get the fuck out of Egypt, as the USSR (who backed Egypt) was threatening nuclear warfare against them, and the UK and France.In 1956, Russia Almost Launched a Nuclear War against Britain, France and Israel The National Interest
In 1960, Israel also shocked the world by sending Mossad to Argentina to kidnap the escaped Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann.The True Story of “Operation Finale” Smithsonian Magazine. This news caused consternation in the CIA, which had known about Eichmann's location and didn't say anything out of fear that Eichmann's testimony might spill some embarrassing beans over Why Israel's capture of Eichmann caused panic at the CIA The Guardian. Israel later put Eichmann on trial, found him guilty, and executed him for being banal an evil fucker. Eichmann, to this day, holds the dubious distinction of being the only person executed on the order of an Israeli civilian court.Shlomo Shpiro (2006). "No place to hide: Intelligence and civil liberties in Israel". Cambridge Review of International Affairs. 19 (44): 629–648. doi:10.1080/09557570601003361.
====Six-Day War====
Although Israel was undergoing a tumultuous period, it wasn't like their Arab neighbors were faring much better. The humiliating military smackdown inflicted on them by Israel led to domestic unrest and coups in Syria and Egypt, which installed nationalist military strongmen as dictators.1967 war: Six days that changed the Middle East. BBC News. The Arabs made no secret that they wanted to avenge themselves upon Israel, and Israel continued stockpiling for the inevitable next war. Making things worse, Cold War tensions played into the situation as well, as the Soviets happily sold modern weapons to Egypt and the Israelis bought equipment from the West.
By 1967, Israel was controlled by its new home-born generation, convinced that the old Jewish diaspora had suffered because they failed to fight back. The new generation was determined to kick ass first and ask questions later. In the end, the situation exploded into a war that same year based on - well, this thing remains a hot potato:
*The Arab interpretation: Israeli hardliners noticed that people were getting stressed that Egypt was building up its military, so they cooked up a story that Egypt was massing for imminent war across the Sinai.A 50-Year Occupation: Israel’s Six-Day War Started With a Lie. The Intercept.
*The Israeli interpretation: Given that Arab leaders around them were chanting "Death to Israel" pretty much every day and that Egypt had closed one of Israel's lifelines, the Strait of Tiran, it was pretty obvious they were going to attack. Better safe than sorry.Statement to the General Assembly by Foreign Minister Meir
Israel basically did a Pearl Harbor to start the war, smashing most of Egypt's air force before it even got off the ground.Six Day War: Shaping the Modern Middle East. NPR. Egyptian leader Nasser immediately declared a jihad, but the second wave of the attack came when Israeli tanks poured into the Sinai Peninsula and killed 10,000 Egyptian soldiers in 48 hours. Despite Israel's attempts to keep the conflict just between them and Egypt, Syria and Jordan joined the war to limit Israeli aggression. Although hoping to avoid that situation, Israel pushed the Arabs out and conquered the West Bank. When in control of Jerusalem, jubilant Israeli soldiers celebrated by blowing ram horns and singing.
Eventually, the UN managed to broker a ceasefire, but it could hardly be called anything other than a decisive Israeli victory. Israel had more than tripled the land under its control, gaining control of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, and the Golan Heights. True to its name, the war lasted only six days. Unfortunately, the short conflict was still disastrous for the Palestinians. (Bet you didn't see that coming!)
====War of attrition====
Now under military occupation, Palestinians still living in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip faced immediate hardship under Israeli rule. Palestinians were blocked from traveling abroad or conducting foreign trade, making them prisoners inside their own communities.Six-Day War was 'totally devastating' for Palestinians. Deutsche Welle. Another 300,000 Palestinians became displaced in the immediate aftermath of the war. In a sinister foreshadowing of what was to come, the Israeli government bulldozed an entire Muslim neighborhood to create a large praying plaza in front of the Western Wall in Jerusalem.How a Small Group of Israelis Made the Western Wall Jewish Again. Haaretz.Gorenberg, Gershom (2007). The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967-1977. Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 978-1-466-80054-0. p 42 
This poor treatment and second defeat further radicalized Palestinians and Arabs alike. The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), created in 1964, escalated its attacks on Israelis and declared that its goal was to destroy Israel and replace it with a unified Palestinian state.What is the Palestinian Liberation Organization? How about Fatah and the Palestinian Authority? Vox. The late 1960s and early 1970s saw a huge wave of political violence from Palestinians who were pissed off about being under Israeli occupation.Silke, Andrew (2004). Research on Terrorism: Trends, Achievements and Failures. Routledge. p. 149 (256 pp.). ISBN 978-0-7146-8273-0. Perhaps the most infamous incident was the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre, in which Palestinian terrorists took eleven Israeli athletes and one West German police officer hostage and eventually killed them. 
The Arab League also held a summit after the war, which resulted in the Khartoum Resolution, a declaration that there would be no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, and no negotiations. Israel also retaliated for the Munich massacre by bombing PLO installations the Arab League states hosted. Between 1969 and 1970, low-scale hostilities between Israel and its neighbors were constant, resulting in thousands of dead soldiers and civilians. This period is called the "War of Attrition".
====Yom Kippur War and Camp David Accords====
Under its new and more pragmatic ruler Anwar Sadat, Egypt offered Israel a peace deal in the early 1970s in exchange for returning the Sinai Peninsula.The October Arab-Israeli War of 1973: What happened? Al Jazeera. Israeli prime minister Golda Meir rejected the offer, so Sadat turned to a different regional player. He met with Syria's recently-risen dictator Hafez al-Assad, and the two leaders struck a secret accord promising to unite their forces against Israel. Despite that agreement, though, the two leaders had very different goals. Sadat only wanted to force Israel to the bargaining table to get Sinai back, while Assad wanted to militarily recapture the Golan Heights and avenge Syria's former defeats.
To maximize their chances of victory, the two leaders chose to launch their attack on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, the "Day of Atonement". During that holiday, Israel shut down entirely for prayer and fasting to the point that traffic was halted and broadcasts were ceased.Legacy of 1973 Arab-Israeli war reverberates 40 years on. BBC News. The attack caught the Israelis by surprise, and the Arabs were in much better shape than the last two attempts. Egypt's crossing of the Suez Canal went smoother than expected, and Israel's military reserves were quickly depleted.Yom Kippur War.] Britannica. With no other choice, Israel asked the US to save them. Richard Nixon answered the call by supplying US arms and supplies, although the US paid for it when .Oil Embargo, 1973–1974. US State Department. 
Once reinforced with foreign weapons, the Israelis could get back on their feet. Peace came with a UN ceasefire and an agreement to just let things go back to how they were. It was, however, clear to the Israelis that they needed to fix their issues with at least some of their neighbors once and for all.
Finally, in 1978, Sadat's attempt to force Israel into bargaining with him paid off. In 1977, Sadat had made a show of goodwill by traveling to Jerusalem and speaking before the Israeli legislature, the first time an Arab leader had recognized Israeli sovereignty.Bregman, Ahron (2002). A History of Israel. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-333-67631-8. p. 171–174 Although that made some progress, the Egyptians and the Israelis still couldn't find common ground on the Sinai. To make things move a bit faster, US president Jimmy Carter invited both Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat to meet on US soil and hash out their differences with Carter as a mediator.Camp David Accords and the Arab-Israeli Peace Process. US State Department.
Over two weeks, the summit finally broke the diplomatic deadlock and created of some "framework documents". In 1979, Israel and Egypt translated that framework into a working peace treaty that saw Israel withdraw from the Sinai and Egypt agree to keep the region demilitarized. The peace treaty has lasted just fine so far, and Israel now considers Egypt one of its closest regional allies.Israeli concern for peace partner. The Courier. 
Hooray for not killing each other! Too bad things went sour elsewhere again.
====Escalation in Palestine, the war in Lebanon====
In early 1978, the PLO decided to remind everyone that they were still around and pissed off by hijacking a bus and murdering 38 Israelis, including 13 children. As it's known now, the Coastal Road bus massacre failed to sabotage the Israeli-Egyptian peace process but sure did piss Israel right the hell off. Israel retaliated by launching a full invasion of Lebanon, which was known to host PLO terrorists and bases. The short invasion resulted in about 1,000 Arab deaths and was condemned by the UN.Litani Operation (1978). Encyclopedia.com That condemnation began an ongoing pattern of anger between Israel and the UN.
Amid escalating conflict with the PLO, Israel also became much more aggressive towards poor Joe Sixpack of Palestine, who just wanted to live his goddamn life. First came the official Israeli policy to encourage the establishment of many illegal Jewish settlements in Palestinian areas. This policy began the current trend of harsher military occupation and virtual apartheid in the region.Cleveland, William L. (1999). A history of the modern Middle East. Westview Press. p. 356. ISBN 978-0-8133-3489-9. Then came the 1980 Jerusalem Law, which effectively announced the annexation of East Jerusalem. That's been a bit of a sore point for Palestinians too. 
Then, amid much international screaming, Israel unilaterally annexed the Golan Heights in 1981.Golan Heights profile. BBC News. After that, amid even more international screaming, Israel launched another invasion of Lebanon in 1982 because the first invasion apparently hadn't been enough. Lebanese Christian militias used the opportunity to rise up and commit horrific massacres against the Muslim population. Israel earned the world's disgust when the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) stood by and allowed mass murder right in front of their faces.1982 Lebanon invasion. BBC News. Israel declared "mission accomplished" and left Lebanon in 1985, leaving behind a country in ruins that would be embroiled in religious civil war until 1990.
In 1987, the First Intifada, a series of Palestinian protests and riots, broke out and was met with a massively disproportionate response from the Israelis.Tessler, Mark A. (1994). A History of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Indiana University Press. p. 677. ISBN 978-0-253-20873-6
====Beginning and sabotage of the peace process====
In 1992, Yitzhak Rabin was elected prime minister on a platform calling for compromise with the Palestinians.Bregman, Ahron (2002). A History of Israel. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-333-67631-8. p. 236 The following year, Israel and the PLO signed the Oslo Accords, which created the Palestinian Authority as an autonomous regional government with the acknowledged right to govern the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Unfortunately, the ongoing Oslo process can't be completed without resolving the vital questions of Israel's illegal annexation of East Jerusalem, illegal Israeli settlements, and the Palestinian right of return (comparable to the Jewish right of return).
Unfortunately, Israel's government has since used the Oslo agreement as a cover to seize increasing degrees of control over Palestinian land. The agreement temporarily ceded a large amount of Palestinian land to what was supposed to be Israeli custodianship and gradual transference to Palestinian governance. Instead, peacemaker Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a hardline Jew in 1995, and elections saw him succeeded by the hardline rightist Benjamin Netanyahu.Remembering Rabin. The Guardian. The Netanyahu government immediately suspended all plans of returning Palestinian land granted by the Accords for custodianship and instead effectively annexed them, beginning the long-running policy of constructing illegal Israeli settlements there.It's now clear: the Oslo peace accords were wrecked by Netanyahu's bad faith. The Guardian. Since then, Netanyahu's bad faith has sabotaged and transformed what was supposed to be a peace process into a flimsy legal cover for land grabs and oppression.Area C, the chunk of the West Bank the Israeli right has long coveted. France24.
Not a whole lot of progress has materialized on these issues since then. There's probably a Nobel Prize for you if you can figure that shitstorm out. Good luck.
In 1994, Israel signed a peace agreement with Jordan that has lasted so far. Part of the agreement stipulates that Jordanian authorities get to administer Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, which controversially includes Temple Mount.Amid Temple Mount tumult, the who, what and why of its Waqf rulers. Times of Israel.
====More war in Palestine and Lebanon====
Unfortunately for the Palestinians, things went bad again. Another round of diplomatic talks in 2000 fell through on the issue of what exact borders an independent Palestine might have.Gelvin, James L. (2005). The Israel-Palestine Conflict: One Hundred Years of War. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-85289-0. p. 240 Both sides blamed the other for the failure. Shortly after, Palestinians were enraged by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's visit to Temple Mount. That triggered the Second Intifada, an even more intense bout of violence that lasted until about 2005 and killed thousands on both sides. During that period of violence, Israel constructed the controversial wall near the West Bank border. Israel claims it is a defensive measure. However, Palestinians see it as racial segregation. It mostly cuts into the West Bank rather than being built on the Israel - West Bank border or inside Israel proper.
Meanwhile, the chickens scattered in Lebanon by Israel came home to roost when Iranian-backed Shia militia Hezbollah started launching attacks on Israel. Israel invaded Lebanon again in 2006, conducting a war that is widely considered a failure. The IDF failed to locate and destroy most of Hezbollah's strength, failed to prevent missile attacks on Israeli soil, and failed to eliminate any of Hezbollah's leaders.The Second Lebanon War: Failures, Lessons Learned and the Future. Small Wars Journal. Israel had been humiliated in a lost war for the first time, despite claiming victory.
Back at home, the year 2005 saw the terrorist group Hamas oust the Palestinian Authority and take control of the Gaza Strip.Profile: Hamas Palestinian movement. BBC News. Political differences between the PLO and Hamas escalated into violence in 2007. Hamas also started using the Gaza Strip as a base from which to launch rocket attacks against Israel, provoking an Israeli invasion of the territory in 2008. Israel again earned the world's disgust by indiscriminately using white phosphorous explosives during the war, a weapon generally acknowledged as a WMD. This resulted in the intentional killing of Palestinians, which is forbidden under international law and is classed as a war crime. Israel has never been brought to justice at an international court despite this blatant war crime. Alongside deadly white phosphorous chemical incendiaries, Gazan civilians were killed by Israeli missiles, bombs, heavy artillery, tank shells, and small arms fire directed at populated areas.Rain of Fire: Israel’s Unlawful Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza. Human Rights Watch. This also contributed to the resulting death of many Palestinian civilians.
Israel attacked Gaza again in 2014, massacring hundreds of people. During this attack, Israeli troops randomly fired their weapons, resulting in the death of numerous civilians, including women and children. No fewer than 2,251 Palestinians (of which at least 65% were civilians) "Report of the detailed findings of the Commission of Inquiry on the 2014 Gaza Conflict". were intentionally killed by the Israeli military during this atrocious massacre. Gaza: Israeli Soldiers Shoot and Kill Fleeing Civilians. Human Rights Watch. Israel Gaza conflict: 'Most of our shooting was random... we didn't think about civilian casualties'. YouTube video on the 2014 Gaza War uploaded by The Guardian.
===Strengthening diplomatic position===
Israel's diplomatic status is better today than it's ever been. Israel has trade agreements with most of EuropeIsrael's Trade Agreements. Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce. and a big chunk of Latin America.Israel signs free trade agreement with MERCOSUR. Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Israel's peace agreements with Jordan and Egypt seem stable, and its relations with Saudi Arabia are improving due to their shared enemy, Iran.Saudi Arabia to 'upgrade' relations with Israel after peace deal is reached, says minister. Middle East Eye.
Israel has previously benefited from the close personal alliance between former U.S. President Donald Trump and Israel's then prime minister and notorious wingnut Benjamin Netanyahu. In 2017, President Trump moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to East Jerusalem, thus signaling that the US would recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.The controversial US Jerusalem embassy opening, explained. Vox. The decision triggered a flurry of violence and crackdowns but noticeably didn't cause too much diplomatic unrest among the Arab states. That's probably explained by the fact that the Arab world now seems to view Israel as an uncomfortable ally helping them fight against Iranian influence. Trump also released a "peace plan" to end the Israel-Palestine conflict, which was referred to by Netanyahu as the "deal of the century"; it was created without ever speaking to Palestinians (don't look so shocked). While the plan did technically offer Palestinians a sovereign state, it would, in practice, be nothing more than an isolated, partially self-governing territory of Israel. It was widely compared to Indian reservations and bantustans. It would have also allowed Israel to continue to construct settlements in the West Bank and required the State of Palestine to concede control of crucial parts of the West Bank in exchange for isolated, worthless pieces of land in the desert. Unsurprisingly, this proposal was immediately and vehemently rejected by the Palestinian leadership. However, many believe that it was, in fact, never intended to be accepted and was made horrible on purpose so that Palestinians would immediately reject it. Thus, a person who knew nothing about the plan could believe it was rejected because those damn Arabs don't want peace. Of course, the plan was ultimately so terrible that it was hated even by many hardline Zionists. 
 
Warming ties with the Arab world were confirmed in September 2020 when Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates signed an agreement with Israel to recognize the Israeli state and normalize diplomatic relations.Five reasons why Israel's peace deals with the UAE and Bahrain matter. BBC News. Behind the peace deals was the offer from the US of generous arms sales; the UAE has already gone and purchased Reaper drones, EA-18G Growler jets, and F-35 fighter planes.Trump 'peace' deals for Israel, UAE and Bahrain are shams. They boost oppression, not amity. Noura Erakat. NBC News. Opinion piece. In October 2020, Sudan's post-Bashir government followed their example in normalizing relations with Israel in exchange for the US removing them from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list.Sudan And Israel Agree To Normalize Relations In U.S.-Brokered Deal. NPR.
In 2021, the worst violence since 2014 broke out, once again dashing any foolishly optimistic hopes that the region could be heading towards peace. Tensions spiked dangerously when Israel's "Jerusalem Day" holiday (commemorating the 1967 victory) coincided with a series of forced evictions of Palestinians from a neighborhood in East Jerusalem, sparking first peaceful protests and then clashes with Israeli police,Palestinians fear loss of family homes as evictions loom. Associated Press. and then escalated into riots, a freaking police raid on the Al-Aqsa Mosque (which is the third-holiest site in Islam),Israeli police storm al-Aqsa mosque ahead of Jerusalem Day march. The Guardian. and finally, rocket attacks and airstrikes carried out between Israel and Hamas.[reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/violence-erupts-al-aqsa-mosque-israel-marks-jerusalem-day-2021-05-10/ Jerusalem violence leads to rockets, air strikes]. Reuters. Israel took the opportunity to pound Gaza with airstrikes,Gaza conflict rages as Israeli PM says air strikes will continue. Reuters. flattening many buildings and murdering many civilians. Israeli forces also destroyed a business tower housing various media outlets like the Associated Press and Al-Jazeera. Despite Israel's insistence that the tower housed Hamas combatants, Israel's government has failed to provide literally any evidence of that claim,Blinken hasn’t seen any evidence on AP Gaza building strike. Associated Press. making it dubious. Since 2022 there has been a drastic increase in violence within the West Bank. In 2022, Israeli Forces killed 170 Palestinians, including 30 children, making it the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since 2006. And in the first half of 2023 Israel has killed 160 Palestinians, including 26 children. This is due to nearly daily Israeli raids within the West Bank.Five Palestinians killed as Israeli forces raid West Bank camp. Al Jazeera.
===2023-24 Gaza War===
Then, months later the unthinkable happened: on October 7th, 2023 Hamas militants briefly invaded parts of central Israel, killing an estimated 1,400 civilians and abducting a further 250 people, both numbers including foreign nationals.Videos of Hamas-Led Attacks VerifiedTW: Some may find the videos in this source disturbing. Based on the paragraphs above, you can imagine what happened to Gaza after that. You see, Gaza is currently under a brutal siege, which has caused a rapidly-deteriorating humanitarian crisis and the destruction of the urban exclave's healthcare infrastructure; though figures vary widely, they generally agree that said siege has claimed the lives of several times that number already, estimated at around 15,000- including journalists, who of course were often deliberately targeted.Journalist casualties in the Israel-Gaza conflict As of November 24th, it was confirmed that 13 of these hostages have been released in prisoner swaps,First group of Israelis and Palestinians freed under breakthrough Israel-Hamas truce a cautiously promising breakthrough thus far. 
South Africa has filed a lawsuit against Israel on accusations of genocide in the Gaza strip alongside the 75 years of apartheid rule. South Africa to Take Israel to Top UN Court on Genocide Claim in Gaza. Voice of America.. To the surprise of literally nobody, Israel vehemently rejected this case and labelled the ICJ and South Africa as being affiliated with Hamas. In response to further ICC and ICJ rulings that Israel should stop its assault on the Gaza strip, Israel intensified its bombing campaign and deliberately struck a refugee camp in Rafah, a purported safe zone, killing dozens of Palestinians, including infants.Global shock after Israeli airstrike kills dozens in Rafah tent camp. The Guardian. 27 May 2024. On July 2024, the International Court of Justice ruled Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories to be illegal, and they also ruled that Israel was violating international prohibitions against apartheid and institutionalized racial discrimination."Can Palestinians expect changes after ICJ ruling on Israel’s occupation?" Al Jazeera"World Court Finds Israel Responsible for Apartheid," Human Rights Watch, 19 July 2024"Top UN court says Israel’s presence in occupied Palestinian territories is ‘illegal’ and should end as rapidly as possible," Mike Corder, PBS"World Court Finds Israel Responsible for Apartheid, says its Presence in Palestinian Territories is Illegal," Human Rights Watch via Informed Consent"ICJ opinion declaring Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories unlawful is historic vindication of Palestinians’ rights," Amnesty International
==Government and politics==
===Democracy and elections===
Israel has been called "the only democracy in the Middle East". Unfortunately, that's not quite true. While Israel is certainly the most democratic least undemocratic state in the region, , the closest one to a proper democracy, certain failings have created a situation in which Israel's parliamentary system fails to represent the will of its people. Elections, for instance, are overseen by a partisan electoral commission.Israel’s democracy: A Systemic Problem. The Interpreter. Following the 2022 legislative election Netanyahu and his coalition partners have sought to weaken the High Court of Israel. [https://www.timesofisrael.com/justice-minister-unveils-plan-to-shackle-the-high-court-overhaul-israels-judiciary/ Justice minister unveils plan to shackle the High Court, overhaul Israel’s judiciary
]. Times of Israel. Many right wing Israelis have sought to weaken the High Court of Israel due to perceived protection of Palestinian rights, and upholding secularism. [https://www.timesofisrael.com/120-israeli-academics-express-support-for-governments-judicial-overhaul-plan/ 120 Israeli academics express support for government’s judicial overhaul plan
]. Times of Israel. Proposed legislation from the Netanyahu government would be an expansion of use of administrative detention under the control of Ben Gvirs control.State attorney: Ben Gvir’s administrative detention bill a threat to democracy. Times of Israel. 
Israel's ongoing military occupations have resulted in a cultural shift towards authoritarianism. Under the rule of Benjamin Netanyahu, the nationalist right has mounted an assault on liberal institutions by declaring Israel to be a Jewish state, bribing the media for favorable coverage, and attempting to make Netanyahu immune from any kind of prosecution.The war on Israeli democracy. Vox. In March 2020, Netanyahu's Likud Party took the extraordinary action of shutting down the Knesset for a few days to prevent a vote to appoint a new Knesset Speaker of another party.Israel’s democratic crisis deepens. Times of Israel. Even with the Knesset shut down, the Netanyahu administration continued business without parliamentary oversight.
Meanwhile, Israeli colonization of the West Bank has significantly altered its political landscape. Israeli settlers on Palestinian land campaign and run for seats in the Knesset during election seasons, while Palestinians living on that same land don't even have the right to vote.The Israeli and Palestinian elections offend democracy – each in their own way. The Guardian. This means the Israeli government rules most aspects of Palestinian life entirely unchallenged. Instead, Palestinians vote for the Palestinian Authority, a regime that controls around 40% of Palestinian land and is entirely reliant on Israel for its continued functioning.
===Occupied Palestine===
Although right-wing Israelis call Palestine a "disputed" territory, the reality is that Palestine is under military occupation. Former prime minister Ariel Sharon admitted it before the Knesset before explaining his view that the occupation was unsustainable.Democrats Echo Israel’s Far-Right by Refusing to Even Use the Word “Occupation”. The Intercept. Sharon was succeeded by Netanyahu, who seems to have made it his mission to make the occupation sustainable by accelerating settlement construction and increasing military presence.Netanyahu announces new settlements days before Israeli election. The Guardian.
Since 1967, Israel's military has been responsible for administration and governance in the Palestinian territories.THE ISRAELI OCCUPATION. Amnesty International. Since the Oslo Accords, Israel has handed partial administrative rights to the Palestinian Authority. However, the Israeli military reigns supreme in the region, and most rural areas are still under Israeli civil authority.
Israeli rule in the region is arbitrary and uncaring at best. Israeli forces' human rights violations include:
* Home demolitions and forced evictions. 
* Lack of access to water.
* Punitive arrests. 
* Unfair trials.
* Ill-treatment and torture of detainees.
* The use of lethal force to suppress nonviolent demonstrations.ISRAEL AND OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES. Amnesty International. 
Despite Hamas' best efforts, Israel also maintains partial control of the Gaza Strip and is considered by the international community to be the de facto occupying power in Gaza. It controls all of Gaza's border crossings, except the Rafah crossing to and from Egypt, in addition to Gaza's airspace, coastal waters, and the no-go "buffer zone" of 300 meters (as of 2021) between the Gaza Strip and Israel. On top of that, Israel maintains a population registry to determine who may leave and enter Gaza. Since 2007, Israel, with the shameful support of Egypt's current President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, has used that control to enforce a tight blockade on almost all goods into or out of Gaza, including medical supplies. While Israel and Egypt claim that this blockade is necessary on security grounds, the actual purpose is to collectively punish Gazans for the actions of Hamas. This is though Israel and Egypt have no basis for behaving in that manner, and collectively punishing civilians is expressly forbidden by international law.
===Ultra-Orthodox influence and the coming demographic disaster===
Even within Israel, there's increasing nervousness and anxiety over the Haredi Jews' outsized role in Israeli society and politics, seen often in their relentless bullying of prime ministers into acquiescing to their demands."The haredi parties' impact on Israel's religious life under Netanyahu," Jeremy Sharon, Jerusalem Post Haredi Jews, often labeled "Ultra-Orthodox", see it as their holy obligation to spend as much of their lives as possible studying Jewish scriptures, and they also believe in gender segregation and shun the internet.How anger over taxes and conscription is widening split among Israel’s Jews. The Guardian. Haredi political parties have managed to make themselves kingmakers within the Israeli right-wing, and they flexed that power in 2019 by sinking a coalition agreement over the issue of conscripting religious students into the military, forcing another election. The Haredi electorate has also trended sharply to the right in recent years, and their demographic support notably helped propel far-right anti-secular politician Itamar Ben-Gvir into the national spotlight.Israel’s Haredi voters drift hard right in leadership vacuum. Associated Press. This trend is unlikely to change soon. A larger percentage of young Israelis is Haredi Orthodox and religious Zionist than in previous generations. As a result, unlike countries like the US and the UK, the youth in Israel is extremely right-wing. Over 60% of the voters below 35 identify as right-wing, while less than 50% of the older identifying as such. 
Seventy years prior, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion granted draft exemptions to students at yeshivot, which initially applied to only a few hundred scholars.Pressure mounts to end draft exemption for Israel’s ultra-Orthodox. Reuters. Over time, this number grew to tens of thousands of young men who also received state handouts so they could devote themselves to studying Jewish scriptures. By 2010, Israeli university students had become quite resentful towards the roughly 600,000 Ultra-Orthodox religious students who not only didn't pay for education but also lived almost entirely on state benefits.Israeli students incensed by ultra-Orthodox benefit. Reuters. Worst of all, Haredi religious schools are pretty shitty. That's not our opinion, by the way; that comes from Professor Dan Ben-David of the Shoresh Institution for Socioeconomic Research, who notes that very few Haredi children learn core subjects like math, English or science.Israel ‘under threat’ by lack of basic education for ultra-Orthodox children. Jerusalem Post. Ben-David also considers it a security threat, as uneducated children raised in gender-segregated environments wouldn't be effective in Israel's military even if they wanted to join. 
Lack of education makes Haredi essentially unemployable in a modern economy, which would be a problem for them were the average Haredi man not completely uninterested in employment. In 2011, the Bank of Israel reported that more than 60% of Haredi men don't work and that most lived well below the poverty line and had an average of 8 children per family.Jobless ultra-Orthodox weigh on Israel's economy. Reuters. The huge number of children per household is also a major problem since it means the Haredi population is rapidly increasing. Professor Ben-David predicted in 2019 that some 49% of all children in Israel aged 0 to 14 will be ultra-Orthodox by 2065. Economics professor Omer Moav from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem noted that, "They are a real danger to Israel. If we go bankrupt it’s the end of the story for us. Our strong army rests on a strong economy." Efforts to reform Haredi education have always been met with fierce opposition from the religious community.
During COVID-19, Haredim, much like the right-wing in America, refused to follow lockdown procedures; they kept schools open and large gatherings for prayers, weddings, or funerals, "ending up with spectacularly high infection rates (exacerbated by crowded living conditions) that contributed to Israel being the 2020 world leader in national lockdown days." Haredim are also known to interfere with public transportation and commerce on Shabbat, prevent women from singing in public, enforce gender segregation, and hold a monopoly on formal marriage (they refuse to marry gay Israelis) and conversions. Many Russian-speaking immigrants are not recognized as Jews, and "mixed couples in general are driven to the absurdity of traveling abroad to marry.""Haredim, not Arabs or Iran, are the biggest threat to Israel - opinion," Dan Perry, Jerusalem Post"For Years, This City Failed to Remove 'Modesty' Signs. Israel's Top Court Now Gave It 120 Days," Netael Bendel, Haaretz"The madness of Israel's ultra-Orthodox parties," Nahum Barnea, YNet News"Haredi demonstrators harass Women of Wall worshipers, tear their prayer books," Toi Staff, Times of Israel
By June 2024, Israel's Supreme Court ruled that the military draft exemption no longer applies to Ultra Orthodox Jews,"Israeli Supreme Court rules that the military must begin drafting ultra-Orthodox men," NPR over the bitter objections of the community and religious parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition. This led to clashes between the Ultr Orthodox and Israeli police in August 2024. "Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Israelis clash with police over conscription order," Reuters The court also "banned financial aid to religious institutions whose students refused military service." "Ultra-Orthodox Jews clash with Israel police near army's recruitment office," Middle East Monitor
==Ongoing disputes and crises==
===Status of Palestine===
The Oslo Accord was never meant to be a permanent arrangement. Yet, it has remained in force ever since its adoption, largely thanks to the efforts of the extremist Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Benjamin Netanyahu: Putting “an End to the Oslo Accords” & the Two-State Solution. Institute for Middle East Understanding. Under the 1993 agreement, Palestine is split into three regions. Area A, which consists of the primary Palestinian urban areas, has most of its internal affairs and security controlled by the Palestinian Authority.Map of Palestinian Autonomy. Jewish Virtual Library. Originally, Israeli forces were supposed to be legally barred from entering Area A, but Israel unilaterally dissolved this provision while hunting militants during the Second Intifada.The IDF in the West Bank. Ynet. Entry is still barred to Israeli citizens. Area B, which consists of more rural Palestinian villages, are under the Palestinian Authority's internal jurisdiction but has a nominal Israeli security presence. However, this is limited to non-existent in practice, meaning crime and disorder are rife in these areas. Israel does not give a shit about that because its government does not see this as being its problem, so it would rather just save a few shekels and leave the Palestinians without law and order.
Area C is the real problem, consisting of about 60% of Palestinian territory. Much of it is uninhabited by anyone.What are areas A, B, and C of the occupied West Bank?. Al Jazeera. The Oslo Accords gave Israel full administrative control and a free hand to do whatever was necessary for its security in Area C. Still, the area was meant to be transferred to Palestinian control in 1999. However, as the transfer never happened, Israel maintained de facto control. It holds extensive power in Area C. An estimated 300,000 Palestinians live in Area C, along with some 400,000 Israeli colonists living in settlements constructed there.What are Area A, Area B, and Area C in the West Bank? Anera.org 
Along with using its administrative control to construct settlements, Israel also regularly demolishes Palestinian homes that they have not seen fit to authorize (Israel authorizes very few Palestinian construction requests).Palestinian Hamlet Embodies Fight for the West Bank’s Future. New York Times. 30% of Area C is also barred from Palestinian entry, and 70% of existing Palestinian homes there lack water infrastructure access.Area C: Key Humanitarian Concerns. UN OCHA. Nearly half of the Area C communities report that their access to emergency and basic health care is hampered by the long distances to the nearest clinic and/or the need to pass a checkpoint.
Violence is still sporadic in Palestine, with protests becoming uncontrolled and the IDF responding with often lethal force. Amid these various grievances, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced in 2015 that Palestine no longer considered the Oslo Accords legitimate.Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Council on Foreign Relations. Israel's harsher treatment of Palestinians has also helped the PLO reconcile with Hamas and form a unity agreement against their common enemy.Rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah reach unity plan after 10-year split. Washington Post.
As far as anyone has been able to envision, there are really only two broad ways for the conflict to end. The "two-state solution" would create an independent Israel and Palestine and is the most widely accepted idea internationally.What are the “two-state solution” and the “one-state solution”? Vox. It's based on the idea that the two sides are irreconcilable and thus deserve to make their own way. Unfortunately, to make a two-state solution work, you'd need to figure out exactly where the border of those two states would lie. That's the root of the problem, as Israel has been building settlements on Palestinian land, and both sides claim East Jerusalem. 
Then there's the "one-state solution", which would merge Israel and Palestine. Many hardliner Israelis don't want that since annexing Palestine and granting them citizenship would mean that Israeli Jews would be outnumbered by Arabs, thus meaning the end of Israel as a Jewish state. Alternatively, there's the ethnic cleansing version, where Israel either forces out the Palestinians or outright kills them all and takes the land anyways. That solution is deemed unacceptable to everyone, bar former Prime Minister Netanyahu, and then Prime Minister Bennett, and then Netanyahu again with an even more radical right-wing government. Unfortunately, it's hard to deny that this is the direction Israel is heading with widespread settlement-building, violence against Palestinians, including massacres, and the denial of Palestinian development rights.Israel's ethnic cleansing in Palestine is not history - it's still happening. Middle East Eye."Ethnic cleansing" is shockingly popular in Israel: Almost half of Israeli Jews want to kick out Arabs — Pew study. Salon.
===Status of East Jerusalem===
Before 1967, Israel only controlled the western chunk of Jerusalem, but the Six-Day War saw Israel conquer the eastern half. Israel's unilateral annexation of East Jerusalem is considered illegal under international law, and Palestine claims it as the capital of their proposed independent state.Jerusalem conflict. BBC News. That, by the way, is why much of the international community continues to insist that Tel Aviv is Israel's capital and not Jerusalem.Why Jerusalem Isn't Recognized as Israel's Capital. TIME. It's also why Palestinians freaked the fuck out when Trump moved the US embassy to Jerusalem; they don't view Israel's hold over the eastern half of the city as legitimate.
Right now, East Jerusalem is highly militarized, and Palestinians there live in fear. Israeli ministers occasionally demand the destruction of all Palestinian homes built in East Jerusalem without permits, a threat that targets nearly 40 percent of the city’s Palestinians because of restrictive zoning.Mismanaging the Conflict in Jerusalem. International Crisis Group. Jewish mobs chanting “Death to Arabs” have paraded through the streets, nightly police raids target Palestinian neighborhoods, and people on both sides of the religious divide are occasionally shot or stabbed. 
East Jerusalem is also sectioned off from the rest of the West Bank by the infamous wall, which rightly angers Palestinians. Walls are even going up inside that part of the city, as Israel has responded to the violence by building concrete barriers between Jewish and Palestinian neighborhoods.With Violent Clashes On The Rise, Israel Builds Wall In East Jerusalem. NPR. So it goes.
===Gaza blockade and violence===
Since the beginning of the current Gaza conflict in about 2007, Israel has enforced a harsh blockade against the entirety of the Gaza Strip in the hopes that it will weaken Hamas and end the terrorist group's rocket attacks on Israel. It hasn't worked so far, and the UN denounces the measure as "collective punishment" and a "medieval siege".Guide: Gaza under blockade. BBC News. Hamas demands an easing of the closure in exchange for a halt in rocket fire. Still, Israel doesn't seem interested in sitting down at the negotiating table, and Hamas won't even communicate with them until that main demand is met.Israel's Gaza blockade under scrutiny after latest violence. Associated Press. Egypt, which also shares a border with Gaza, has cooperated with the blockade effort despite anger from fellow Muslim nations.Israel, Gaza tensions: Why Egypt helps maintain the blockade. Christian Science Monitor.
More than a decade of economic warfare and boom boom warfare have turned Gaza, a dense city with about two million people, into a dystopian nightmare. About half of the population is unemployed and faces acute food insecurity; about one million people.Timeline: the humanitarian impact of the Gaza blockade. Oxfam International. Only minimal amounts of fuel and cooking gas are ever available, and Gaza's citizens are only permitted to fish right off the shore. That has the implications you'd expect on medical care, electricity, and general health. Water is also scarce in Gaza, as Gaza's coastline is polluted with sewage, and it's unable to build the necessary infrastructure to pipe in drinkable water. Some 80% of the area's population relies on international aid to survive, and the UN warns that conditions are so extreme here that Gaza could imminently become uninhabitable.How Israel’s 10-Year Blockade Brought Gaza to the Brink of Collapse. The Nation. 
Israelis and Palestinians both seem to view Gaza as a giant prison. Palestinians may go to Gaza, but they aren't allowed to leave.By 2020, the UN said Gaza would be unliveable. Did it turn out that way? The Guardian. They certainly aren't permitted to go to the West Bank, where Netanyahu seems determined to limit Palestinian population growth as much as possible. As a result, the only real hope for Palestinians in Gaza is being able to illegally emigrate out of there and move to a different country. 
Palestinians in Gaza occasionally protest against Israel, but Israeli forces are known to respond violently. In 2018, the IDF killed about 300 Gazans during that year's wave of protests and injured at least 35,000 others.The UN said Gaza would be uninhabitable by 2020. But the truth is that Gaza has long been uninhabitable. The Independent. Gaza's health system could not deal with the many injuries and had to resort to amputations for hundreds of people.
===Hostility with Iran===
Israel and Iran are on infamously bad terms with each other. It's weird, considering that Israel has historically fought much more devastating wars against Egypt and Jordan and is now on good terms with them. Iran has viewed Israel as a puppet of the West, a neo-colonial occupier state, and a religious abomination since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.Iran-US-Israel’s 40 years of hostility with no end in sight - analysis. Jerusalem Post. On the other hand, Israel hates Iran for repeatedly threatening to "wipe Israel off the map". However, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claims that only means destroying Israel's current government.‘Not anti-Semitic’: Khamenei defines Iran’s goal of ‘wiping out Israel’. Times of Israel.
Whatever the reason, Israel and Iran have been unrelentingly hostile for decades. Part of the issue is the general fear that Iran might develop a nuclear weapon and use it against Israel. That fear motivated Israeli intelligence's various assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientistsUS official says Israel was behind assassination of Iranian scientist. CNN. December 2, 2020 and Netanyahu's fierce public opposition to Barack Obama's touted nuclear deal with Iran.How demise of Iranian nuclear deal rekindles Israel’s dilemma. Christian Science Monitor.In Speech To Congress, Netanyahu Blasts 'A Very Bad Deal' With Iran. NPR. 
That hostility has also extended into other frames of warfare. The Syrian Civil War is rapidly evolving into a proxy conflict between Israel and Iran,Iran prepares to confront Israel in Syria via Hezbollah - report. Jerusalem Post. and both countries occasionally hit each other with cyberattacks.Iran Struck First. 'Israel' Retaliated Massively. Behind the Cyber War Rattling the Middle East. Haaretz. There's also evidence that the infamous Stuxnet virus was created by Israel to unleash against Iranian nuclear sites.Clues emerge about genesis of Stuxnet worm. Christian Science Monitor.
It's also widely believed that Israel has a nuclear weapons stockpile numbering between 80 and 400 warheads. Under its "strategic ambiguity" policy, Israel refuses to confirm or deny its ownership of nuclear weapons.Israel's nuclear capability and policy of strategic ambiguity. The Guardian. Israel has also not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
===Golan Heights===
The Golan Heights is a small chunk of Syria that has been under Israeli military occupation since the conclusion of the Six-Day War in 1967. Israel then unilaterally annexed the region, and the United States is the only country that recognizes that claim after Trump made that policy in 2019. Israel has thanked Trump for his diplomatic recognition by unveiling a plan to build a new settlement in the region named "Trump Heights."Israel announces new Golan Heights settlement named 'Trump Heights'. CNN. 
There are a few reasons why Israel has been so determined to hold on to the region. The Golan Heights serves as a rugged defensive region against Syria, and it wraps around the Sea of Galilee to ensure Israel's ability to secure that water source.The Golan Heights: What’s at Stake With Trump’s Recognition. Council on Foreign Relations. 
The Golan Heights' residents became the victims of forced depopulation, as many fled during the war without being permitted to return. Israel often demolishes depopulated villages to make way for illegal Jewish settlements.
==Human rights==
===Apartheid===
 
Israel's harsh policies towards Palestinians have provoked comparisons with South Africa's infamous apartheid regime against black Africans. Ronnie Kasrils, a Jewish activist known for fighting against apartheid in South Africa, explained that Israel's land seizure, military occupation, and forced home demolition policies remind him of ethnic cleansing and apartheid.I fought South African apartheid. I see the same brutal policies in Israel. The Guardian. Desmond Tutu also voiced his support for the "Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions" movement, saying that systemic humiliation and harassment of Palestinian civilians reminded him of conditions in apartheid South Africa.Tutu: Israel's Humiliation of Palestinians 'Familiar to Black South Africans'. Haaretz. In 2021, Human Rights Watch released a report accusing Israel of committing apartheid against Palestinians, stating, "Israeli authorities have carried out a range of inhumane acts in the OPT". Human Rights Watch, April 27, 2021 
However, the Anti-Defamation League rejects the comparison, stating that there is no Israeli ideology, policy or plan to segregate, persecute, or mistreat the Arab population.Response To Common Inaccuracy: Israel is an Apartheid State. Anti Defamation League. Critics of the comparison note that Israeli law requires that citizens be treated the same regardless of race or religionIsrael has its faults, but apartheid isn't one of them. Washington Post., although so does the U.S. and we all know how well that works for blacks and minorities (also, Palestinians are, conveniently, not Israeli citizens)
By 2018, the Knesset under Netanyahu passed a law that explicitly declares Israel as a "Jewish nation-state," recognizes Hebrew as Israel's official language, strips Arabic of its designation as an official status (now it is a "special" language below that of Hebrew), endorses the establishment of Jewish settlements on Palestinian land, and explicitly says national self-determination in Israel is "exclusive" to the Jewish people. As critics have stated, "defining sovereignty and democratic self-rule as belonging solely" to a specific people over others is one of the hallmarks of an apartheid state."Israel’s Nation-State Law: Apartheid is a process," 972mag."Israeli 'Nation-State' law a 'clear form of apartheid', says Barenboim," Middle East Eye"Israel passes controversial ‘Jewish nation-state’ law," Al Jazeera
The increasingly powerful Israeli anti-miscegenation group, Lehava, protests weddings between Palestinians and Jews that attract many hundreds of angry Lehava supporters.WATCH: Ultra-Zionists protest Muslim-Jewish wedding saying miscegenation is ‘gravest threat to the Jewish people’. Mondoweiss. Lehava receives indirect funding from the Israeli government through its sister organization Hemla.
In December 2015, the Israeli education ministry rejected Borderlife, by the Israeli writer Dorit Rabinyan, from High School curricula, a book about a Palestinian and an Israeli who fall in love with each other.As interest soars, author of banned Jewish-Arab romance deflects spotlight. Times of Israel. The stated reason by senior officials was that the theme "is perceived by large segments of society as a threat to a separate identity" and that today's Israeli adolescents are not sufficiently concerned about "considerations involving maintaining the identity of people and the significance of assimilation”.Officials ban book depicting love story between Israeli and Palestinian from Israeli classrooms. The Telegraph.
===Freedom of movement===
Israel maintains strict limits on Palestinians' right to travel within the West Bank, let alone outside of it. These restrictions are designed to keep Palestinians away from illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank. This is to prevent Palestinian violence against the illegal settlers there. On top of that, they also force Palestinians to take time-consuming detours during their daily lives and have even restricted, or denied, their access to their own agricultural land.Israel World Report 2020. Human Rights Watch. Restrictions are enforced by military checkpoints and perpetual troop presence.
Then there's the issue of the separation barrier that walls off much of the West Bank from the rest of Israel. Unfortunately, that wall doesn't lie on Israel's side of its border with the West Bank. Instead, it substantially infringes on the Palestinian side of the West Bank. About 11,000 Palestinians are separated from the West Bank by a wall. On top of that, they are also prevented from going to Israel proper and East Jerusalem. They're basically shit out of luck.
===Torture and prisoner abuse===
thumb|right|275px|Ktzi'ot Prison, Israel's largest detention facility by land area.
On the order of its high court, Israel has admitted to the use of torture for much of the country's history,Clarke, Benjamin (2013). "Terrorism, Torture and the Rule of Law". In Clarke, Benjamin; Mooney, T Brian; Imre, Robert (eds.). Responding to Terrorism: Political, Philosophical and Legal Perspectives. Ashgate Publishing. pp. 183–227. ISBN 978-1-409-49867-4. but torture is still practiced in the occupied territories. Thousands of Palestinian prisoners are held in Israeli facilities and exposed to horrific conditions. 
Unfortunately, prison conditions are already awful. Prisoners are often denied food and medical care, beaten and tortured, and kept in solitary confinement.Tales of torture from Israel's prisons. Al Jazeera. Reported torture methods include beating, slapping, painful shackling, sleep deprivation, use of stress positions, and threats.Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territories. Amnesty International. Some cases are bad enough to be brought to the attention of Israeli courts, such as an instance where 20 men were gagged and bound and had their limbs broken with clubs.Graff, James A. (2015). "Targeting Children: Rights versus Realpolitik". In Kapitan, Tomis (ed.). Philosophical Perspectives on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (2nd ed.). Routledge. pp. 157–184. ISBN 978-1-317-46285-9.
===Collective punishment===
Human rights organizations have strongly denounced Israel's practice of demolishing the homes of the families of those considered to be Arab terrorists. Human Rights Watch has called this common collective punishment a war crime.Razing homes of terrorists’ families a war crime, rights group says. Times of Israel.
In November 2015, Israel legislated a three-year mandatory minimum prison sentence for throwing rocks at Israeli troops, civilians, or vehicles. The law also allows Israel to cancel national health insurance and other benefits for the parents of an imprisoned minor. The government purports that the legislation is temporary, passed in response to increased Palestinian protests — including rock-throwing — against Israel's ongoing occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.Israel passes 'minimum sentence' for stone-throwers. Al Jazeera.
===Demolitions and land appropriation===
Home demolitions are also used arbitrarily and as a means of collective punishment. The Israeli occupation regime in Palestine demolishes hundreds of homes per year, displacing the Palestinian residents and offering no compensation. The stated justification is to preserve the IDF's "operational freedom". The courts repeatedly support the military's right to clear out houses even in areas under the nominal "full control" of the Palestinian Authority, where Israel has no legal jurisdiction.Court okays demolition of 100 East Jerusalem homes under Palestinian control. Times of Israel. 
Along with the military, many demolitions are illegally initiated by Israeli settler organizations, which like to clear Palestinians off of prime neighborhood-building land (). Homeless Palestinians have no choice but to build "unrecognized" villages that Israel refuses to provide with municipal services and are at constant risk of demolition.
===Women's rights===
The centrality of religion to Israel's identity leads to particular tensions for women. Israeli women enjoy all rights and social mobility that one would expect in a liberal democracy. They are also subject to obligations that women in most other states are free or barred from, namely conscription — though the period of conscription is shorter for women than for men at two years instead of three (which is still longer than in most other countries with conscription). However, the strong social influence of and legal control by Orthodox Judaism means that women in Israel are sometimes faced with official and unofficial sexism justified by religious dogma in places where fundamentalist communities are predominant, such as Mea Shearim in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak, where some buses and public utilities serving these areas are sex-segregated."Israeli woman refuses ultra-Orthodox dictate to move to back of bus", Haaretz 12 December 2011Shimon Peres urges Israelis to rally against extremism. BBC News.
===Freedom of expression and association===
Israeli authorities use various measures, including raids, incitement campaigns, movement restrictions, and judicial harassment, to target human rights defenders, journalists, and critics of Israel's policies. Israel publishes lists of Palestinian human rights activists, calling them "terrorists in suits", and encourages law enforcement to subject these people to legal harassment. 
Israel has directly targeted Human Rights Watch, ordering many of its officials to be deported. Foreign human rights activists are routinely prevented from entering occupied Palestinian territory as Israel is trying to avoid news of the conditions in these regions from getting out. 
Allies of Israel have moved to suppress the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement abroad. The UK and many US states have introduced legislation restricting the ability of private interests from attempting to financially sever ties with Israel.BDS: UK to pass law banning anti-Israel boycott, official says. Middle East Eye. This is a blatant use of government power to compel financial decisions from non-government entities.
thumb|right|250px|Pro-LGBT rights signs in Israel, 2012.
===Gay rights and pinkwashing===
Israel is the only state in the Middle East to extend gay rights. However, Palestinian gay rights groups resent being used as "cover" for Israel's treatment of Palestinians in general.What I Learned About Pride as a Gay Jew in Palestine. Huffington Post.Why #Pinkwashing Insults Gays and Hurts Palestinians. Slate. Moreover — and as is true in many countries — there are still significant homophobic members of the Israeli parliament and government.Bezalel Smotrich: Israel’s far-right demagogue, drawing fringe beliefs to the centre. The Guardian.Health Minister Litzman likens gays to sinners as Knesset votes down LGBT rights bills. Jerusalem Post.Israeli education minster Rafi Peretz slammed for ‘homophobic’ interview. The Jewish Chronicle.
Israel's relatively positive stance on homosexuality is often used by its supporters as evidence that it is an inherently progressive country.Pinkwashing Is Not Black and White. Forward. There is, however, no gay marriage in Israel because Israeli marriage law falls firmly under the control of the Orthodox rabbinate. Therefore, neither Reform nor Conservative rabbis may perform marriages in Israel, although Israel recognizes both gay and straight marriages entered abroad.Marriage, gay marriage: Just how liberal is Israel? +972 Magazine. Israel's 2020 attempt to ban conversion therapy is also under threat from member parties of the Netanyahu ruling coalition and opposition from ultra-Orthodox Jews.Israel: 'Gay conversion' therapy ban bill passed by MPs. BBC News.
Some have pointed out how gay rights have been used to "pinkwash" Israel's oppressive policies toward Palestinians. During one of the Freedom Flotillas made up mostly of Americans who set out to break the controversial blockade of Gaza, an anonymous gay man named Mark posted a YouTube video, claiming to be shocked by widespread homophobia among those on the flotilla. The Israeli government initially promoted this video; however, it turned out that "Mark" was actually an Israeli actor. The video was tweeted by Guy Seemann, an employee of the prime minister of Israel. Seemann denied that he had posted the video in any official capacity.Mr. Seemann goes to Tel Aviv. Jerusalem Post.
===Discrimination against Ethiopian Jews===
Ethiopian Jews face many systemic disadvantages in Israeli society. Ethiopian Jews have the highest poverty rate among all Jewish groups in Israel, and they face a disproportionate level of imprisonment and police brutality.Thousands rally in Israel against racism and police brutality toward Ethiopian Jews by Andrew Freedman (May 03, 2015) Mashable.Ethiopian Jews suffer racism in Israel, Mustafa Devici, AA 9 July 2019 Additionally, they face significant barriers in employment, having a considerably lower salary on average and facing difficulty even being hired, resulting in Ethiopian Jews having a high unemployment rate.Ethiopian Israeli Women Suffer Racism, Discrimination at Work, Study Finds, Bar Peleg, Haaretz 19 August 2021 They often live segregated in their own communities, and some in the religious establishment argue that they are not true Jews.The plight of Ethiopian Jews in Israel, Prof Yossi Mekelberg, 25 May 2015 There have been cases of systemic housing discrimination by landlords.Janey Mitchell (January 19, 2012). "Protest against discrimination of Ethiopian Jews". BBC News.
==Legitimate criticism vs. antisemitism==
Many antisemites use what would be valid criticisms of Israel as a veil for their antisemitism. Rabbi Jill Jacobs, executive director of the human rights organization T'ruah, has described some of these tactics.How to tell when criticism of Israel is actually anti-Semitism: Calling out human rights violations shouldn’t stray into bias against Jews. by Jill Jacobs (May 18, 2018) The Washington Post. Some of these tactics and signs of antisemitism include:
*Seeing an international Jewish conspiracy
*Using code-words like "globalists" or "elites" (right-wing), or "Zionists" particularly to refer to all Israelis or all Jews (left-wing)
*Rejecting Jewish history
*Dismissing the humanity of Israelis
*Assuming that the Israeli government speaks for all Jews
*Referring to Israel as Palestine (or part of Palestine)
However, some on the pro-Israel side conflate actual, valid criticism of Israel with antisemitism to quash any opposition to Israel and its treatment of Palestinians. An example of this would be United States Representative Ilhan Omar, smeared by many pro-Israel conservatives and liberals as an antisemite because she criticized the horrific crimes against humanity perpetrated by Israel as well as the influence that pro-Israel lobbying groups like (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) have in steering public opinion and government policy towards Israel in the United States. Another example is former UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and a few others who were purged by the Blairites from the party for supporting Palestinians under the vague notion of eliminating antisemitism in the party. These tactics are especially ironic given the Likud government's open association and collaboration with antisemitic governments and politicians in countries like Hungary, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan and elsewhere (not to mention Israel's covert and increasingly overt support of anti-Iranian Wahhabi jihadis, such as the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front in Syria) Even Netanyahu, who throws spurious accusations at anyone who would criticize his party or government, has posed for pictures with actual neo-Nazis in Hungary. 
Unsurprisingly, given the amount of anti-Semitism, bigotry and discrimination Jews have experienced throughout the centuries, there are a lot of anti-Semitic tropes. As such, for those who want to legitimately criticize particular policies the Israeli government has taken on, endorsed or tacitly allowed, it is easy to accidentally run afoul of some dog whistle used by Neo Nazis. It is therefore best to be very specific about the policy, about the segment of Israeli society/government and about why they deserve criticism for that policy. Yes, this takes more thought and effort, but tough luck; get over your entitlement; you don't get to be lazy here (This is similar to care needed criticizing some stance by somebody claiming to speak in the name of the BLM movement)
==Gallery==
File:Israel Supreme Court.jpg|Israeli government buildings in West Jerusalem.
File:Food in Israel.jpg|Israeli platter of falafel, hummus and Israeli salad.
File:Cyclist with Procession of Palestinian Women and Cat - Tel Aviv Promenade - Israel (5713574059).jpg|Arab women and some cyclists travel Tel Aviv.
File:Karnei-Hitin-MT-521.jpg|Site of the , with the Sea of Galilee in the background.
File:WOW Torah Reading.jpg|Jewish Israeli women reading the Torah at the Western Wall.
File:Tel Aviv - panoramio - Ocean Star.jpg|Skyline of Tel Aviv.
File:Arayes (2).jpg|Grilling meat-stuffed pitas.
File:Billy Rose Art Garden (14755133799).jpg|The Shrine of the Book, home of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
File:אליפות תל אביב בכדורעף חופים.jpg|Beach volleyball on Tel Aviv Beach.
==See also==
*Jerusalem
*Greater Israel
*Ten Lost Tribes
*Solomon
*International Jewish conspiracy
*Antisemitism
*Holocaust denial
*Book of Revelation
*Apartheid - A modern day example according to international law.
*Benjamin Netanyahu - The current prime minister who also doubles as a war criminal.
==Notes==
==References==
 
Category:Apartheid
Category:Authoritarian regimes
Category:Conspiracy theories
Category:Conspiracy theorist scapegoats
Category:Crimes against humanity
Category:Fascism
Category:Genocide
Category:Government incompetence
Category:International relations
Category:Islamophobia
Category:Judaism
Category:Middle Eastern countries
Category:Ongoing armed conflicts
Category:Socialism
Category:Territorial disputes
Category:War crimes
Category:Irredentism