Israelis

{{Main|Demographics of Israel}}

As of 2013, Israel's population is 8 million, of which the Israeli civil government records 75.3% as Jews, 20.7% as non-Jewish Arabs, and 4.0% other.{{Cite web|url=http://www.cbs.gov.il/www/hodaot2013n/11_13_097e.pdf|title=65th Independence Day - More than 8 Million Residents in the State of Israel|website=www.cbs.gov.il|access-date=30 October 2013|archive-date=4 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004055837/http://www.cbs.gov.il/www/hodaot2013n/11_13_097e.pdf|url-status=dead}} Israel's official census includes Israeli settlers in the occupied territories{{cite news|title=Palestinians shun Israeli settlement restriction plan|newspaper=BBC|date=25 November 2009|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8379868.stm|access-date=23 December 2010|archive-date=24 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224210800/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8379868.stm|url-status=live}} (referred to as "disputed" by Israel). 280,000 Israeli settlers live in settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, 190,000 in East Jerusalem, and 20,000 in the Golan Heights.{{cite book|author=United Nations|title=Yearbook of the United Nations 2005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o2Va21wfwvIC&pg=PA524|date=1 October 2007|publisher=United Nations Publications|isbn=978-92-1-100967-5|page=524}}

Among Jews, 70.3% were born in Israel (sabras), mostly from the second or third generation of their family in the country, and the rest are Jewish immigrants. Of the Jewish immigrants, 20.5% were from Europe and the Americas, and 9.2% were from Asia, Africa, and Middle Eastern countries. Nearly half of all Israeli Jews are descended from immigrants from the European Jewish diaspora. Approximately the same number are descended from immigrants from Arab countries, Iran, Turkey and Central Asia. Over 200,000 are of Ethiopian and Indian-Jewish descent.{{Cite web|url=http://www.cbs.gov.il/reader/shnaton/templ_shnaton.html?num_tab=st02_23x&CYear=2005|title=שנתון סטטיסטי לישראל 2005 - מספר 56 פרק 2 - מספר לוח 23|website=www.cbs.gov.il|access-date=5 November 2008|archive-date=24 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224210836/http://www.cbs.gov.il/reader/shnaton/templ_shnaton.html?num_tab=st02_23x&CYear=2005|url-status=dead}}

The official Israel Central Bureau of Statistics estimate of the Israeli Jewish population does not include those Israeli citizens, mostly descended from immigrants from the Soviet Union, who are registered as "others", or their immediate family members. Defined as non-Jews and non-Arabs, they make up about 3.5% of Israelis (350,000),{{cite news|author=Yoram Ettinger|title=Defying demographic projections|url=http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=3913|access-date=29 October 2013|newspaper=Israel Hayom|date=5 April 2013|archive-date=19 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190719102032/http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=3913|url-status=live}} and were eligible for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return.{{cite web | url=http://jppi.org.il/uploads/Jewish_Demographic_Policies.pdf | title=Jewish Demographic Policies | publisher=The Jewish People Policy Institute | year=2011 | access-date=29 October 2013 | archive-date=8 April 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160408145557/http://jppi.org.il/uploads/Jewish_Demographic_Policies.pdf | url-status=live }}{{cite web | url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Israel_(people).aspx | title=Israel (people) | publisher=Encyclopedia.com | year=2007 | access-date=29 October 2013 | archive-date=2 February 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160202082928/http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Israel_(people).aspx | url-status=live }}

Israel's official language is Hebrew, which serves as the language of government and is spoken by the majority of the population. Arabic is spoken by the Arab minority and by some members of the Mizrahi Jewish community. English is studied in school and is spoken by the majority of the population as a second language. Other languages spoken in Israel include Russian, Yiddish, Spanish, Ladino, Amharic, Armenian, Romanian, and French.[http://www.frommers.com/destinations/israel/253129 "Language."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309030401/http://www.frommers.com/destinations/israel/253129 |date=9 March 2016 }} Frommer's. 8 March 2016.

In recent decades, between 650,000 and 1,300,000 Israelis have emigrated,Andrew I. Killgore.[http://www.washington-report.org/archives/March_2004/0403018.html "Facts on the Ground: A Jewish Exodus from Israel"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041124222836/http://www.washington-report.org/archives/March_2004/0403018.html |date=24 November 2004 }} Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, March 2004, pp.18–20 a phenomenon known in Hebrew as yerida ("descent", in contrast to aliyah, which means "ascent"). Emigrants have various reasons for leaving, but there is generally a combination of economic and political concerns.

{{See also|Doms in Israel}}

The main Israeli ethnic and religious groups are as follows:

{{Main|Israeli Jews|Jewish ethnic divisions|Gerim}}

{{Contains special characters|Hebrew}}

{{Jews and Judaism sidebar}}

File:Behatted girls with matzah (5607814995).jpg—unleavened bread traditionally eaten by Jews during Passover]]

Among the Israeli-born Jewish population, most are descended from Ashkenazi Jews, Mizrahi Jews, Sephardic Jews, Ethiopian Jews, and other Jewish ethnic divisions. Due to the historically large Mizrahi population and decades of ethnic intermixing, over 50% of Israel's current Jewish population is of at least partial Mizrahi descent.My Promised Land, by Ari Shavit, (London 2014){{Better source needed|date=May 2021}}

The CBS traces the paternal country of origin of Israeli Jews as of 2010 is as follows.{{cite web |url=http://www.cbs.gov.il/reader/shnaton/templ_shnaton_e.html?num_tab=st02_24x&CYear=2011 |title=Jews, by Country of Origin and Age |date=26 September 2011 |work=Statistical Abstract of Israel |publisher=Israel Central Bureau of Statistics |language=en, he |access-date=11 February 2012 |archive-date=5 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190105202349/http://www.cbs.gov.il/reader/shnaton/templ_shnaton_e.html?num_tab=st02_24x&CYear=2011%20 |url-status=live }}

{{Main|Arab citizens of Israel}}

A large part of Mandate-period Arab Palestinians remained within Israel's borders following the 1948 exodus and are the largest group of Arabic-speaking and culturally Arab citizens of Israel. The vast majority of the Arab citizens of Israel are Sunni Muslim, while 9% of them are Christian,{{Cite web | url=http://www.cbs.gov.il/statistical/arab_pop03e.pdf | title=The Arab Population of Israel 2003 | access-date=7 February 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071201024709/http://www.cbs.gov.il/statistical/arab_pop03e.pdf | archive-date=1 December 2007 | url-status=dead }} and 7.1% of them are Druze.{{cite web|url=https://www.cbs.gov.il/he/mediarelease/DocLib/2019/122/11_19_122b.pdf|title=The Druze population in Israel|date=24 April 2020|publisher=Central Bureau of Statistics (Israel)|access-date=17 March 2022|archive-date=16 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191216205902/https://www.cbs.gov.il/he/mediarelease/DocLib/2019/122/11_19_122b.pdf|url-status=live}}

As of 2013, the Arab population of Israel amounts to 1,658,000, about 20.7% of the population. This figure include 209,000 Arabs (14% of the Israeli Arab population) in East Jerusalem, also counted in the Palestinian statistics, although 98 percent of East Jerusalem Palestinians have either Israeli residency or Israeli citizenship.{{cite web |url=http://www.cbs.gov.il/hodaot2007n/11_07_084b.doc |title=Selected Statistics on Jerusalem Day 2007 (Hebrew) |date=14 May 2007 |publisher=Israel Central Bureau of Statistics |access-date=15 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071128143317/http://www.cbs.gov.il/hodaot2007n/11_07_084b.doc |archive-date=28 November 2007 |url-status=dead }}

According to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics census in 2010, the Arab population in Israel lives in 134 Arabic towns and villages; around 44% of them live in towns, while 48% of them in villages with the status of Local council, and around 4% live in small villages that are part of Regional council. The Arab population in Israel is located in five main areas: Galilee (54.6% of total Israeli Arabs), Triangle (23.5% of total Israeli Arabs), Golan Heights, East Jerusalem, and Northern Negev (13.5% of total Israeli Arabs).{{cite web|url=http://raphael.geography.ad.bgu.ac.il/ojs/index.php/GRF/article/view/413|title=Housing Transformation within Urbanized Communities: The Arab Palestinians in Israel|date=27 February 2016|publisher=Geography Research Forum |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191003124409/http://raphael.geography.ad.bgu.ac.il/ojs/index.php/GRF/article/view/413|archive-date=3 October 2019}} Around 8.4% of Israeli Arabs live in officially mixed Jewish-Arab cities (excluding Arab residents in East Jerusalem), in Haifa, Lod, Ramle, Jaffa-Tel Aviv, Acre, Nof HaGalil, and Ma'alot Tarshiha.{{cite web|url=https://www.iataskforce.org/sites/default/files/resource/resource-262.pdf|title=opic: Mixed Cities in Israel|date=20 June 2014|publisher=Inter-Agency Task Force on Israeli Arab Issues|access-date=26 March 2022|archive-date=12 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912142625/http://iataskforce.org/sites/default/files/resource/resource-262.pdf|url-status=live}}

{{Main|Negev Bedouin}}

{{See also|Galilee Bedouin}}

The Arab citizens of Israel also include the Bedouin. Israeli Bedouin include those who live in the north of the country, for the most part in villages and towns, and the Bedouin in the Negev, who are semi-nomadic or live in towns or unrecognized Bedouin villages. In 1999, 110,000 Bedouin lived in the Negev, 50,000 in the Galilee and 10,000 in the central region of Israel.[http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/mfaarchive/1990_1999/1999/7/the%20bedouin%20in%20israel The Bedouin in Israel: Demography] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071026125647/http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/mfaarchive/1990_1999/1999/7/the%20bedouin%20in%20israel |date=26 October 2007 }} Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs 1 July 1999 As of 2013, the Negev Bedouin number 200,000–210,000.{{cite web |url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/11/arrests-at-protest-over-israel-bedouin-plan-20131130173443568410.html |title=Arrests at protest over Israel's Bedouin plan |work=Al Jazeera English |date=1 December 2013 |access-date=9 February 2014 |archive-date=24 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224210803/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/11/arrests-at-protest-over-israel-bedouin-plan-20131130173443568410.html?xif= |url-status=live }}{{Cite web|url = http://newint.org/features/web-exclusive/2013/07/23/bedouins-face-mass-eviction/|title = Israel's Bedouin population faces mass eviction| work=New Internationalist |date = 23 July 2013|access-date = 9 February 2014|archive-date = 5 March 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160305011236/http://newint.org/features/web-exclusive/2013/07/23/bedouins-face-mass-eviction/|url-status = live}}{{cite web |url=http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/ForeignPolicy/Issues/Pages/The-Bedouin-in-the-Negev-and-the-Begin-Plan-4-Nov-2013.aspx |title=Behind the Headlines: The Bedouin in the Negev and the Begin Plan |work=Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs |date=4 November 2013 |access-date=9 February 2014 |archive-date=24 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224210759/http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/ForeignPolicy/Issues/Pages/The-Bedouin-in-the-Negev-and-the-Begin-Plan-4-Nov-2013.aspx%20 |url-status=live }}

{{Main|Israeli Druze}}

There is also a significant population of Israeli Druze, estimated at 117,500 at the end of 2006.[http://www1.cbs.gov.il/shnaton58/download/st02_02.xls Table 2.2] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120128014905/http://www1.cbs.gov.il/shnaton58/download/st02_02.xls |date=28 January 2012 }}, Statistical Abstract of Israel 2007, No. 58. All Druze in British Mandate Palestine became Israeli citizens upon the foundation of the State of Israel.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}

{{Main|Maronites in Israel}}

There are about 7,000 Maronite Christian Israelis, living mostly in the Galilee but also in Haifa, Nazareth, and Jerusalem. They are mostly pro-Israeli Lebanese former militia members and their families who fled Lebanon after the 2000 withdrawal of IDF from South Lebanon. Some, however, are from local Galilean communities such as Jish.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}

There are about 1,000 Coptic Israeli citizens.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}

{{Main|Arameans in Israel}}

In September 2014, Israel recognized the "Aramean" ethnic identity of hundreds of the Christian citizens of Israel. This recognition comes after about seven years of activity by the Aramean Christian Foundation in Israel – Aram, led by IDF Major Shadi Khalloul Risho and the Israeli Christian Recruitment Forum, headed by Father Gabriel Naddaf of the Greek-Orthodox Church and Major Ihab Shlayan. The Aramean ethnic identity encompasses all the Christian Eastern Syriac churches in Israel, including the Maronite Church, Greek Orthodox Church, Greek Catholic Church, Syriac Catholic Church and Syriac Orthodox Church. Many Israelis who advocated for and identify as Aramean today are Maronites, with Assyrians identifying as well.{{Cite web | url=http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/24936/Default.aspx | title=Israel Today - Stay Informed, Pray Informed | access-date=21 September 2014 | archive-date=7 March 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307132630/https://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/24936/Default.aspx/ | url-status=live }}{{Cite news| url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/1.616299| title=Israel Recognizes Aramean Minority in Israel as Separate Nationality| newspaper=Haaretz| first=Jonathan| last=Lis| date=17 September 2014| access-date=21 September 2014| archive-date=17 September 2014| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140917165653/http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/1.616299| url-status=live}}http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=20169 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181214122744/http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=20169 |date=14 December 2018 }}

{{Main|Assyrians in Israel}}

There are around 1,000 Assyrians living in Israel, mostly in Jerusalem and Nazareth. Assyrians are an Aramaic-speaking, Eastern Rite Christian minority who are descended from the ancient Mesopotamians. The old Syriac Orthodox monastery of Saint Mark lies in Jerusalem. Other than followers of the Syriac Orthodox Church, there are also followers of the Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholic Church living in Israel.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}

{{Main|African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem}}

The African Hebrew Israelite Nation of Jerusalem is a small religious community whose members believe they are descended from the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. Most of the over 5,000 members live in Dimona, Israel although there are additional, smaller, groups in Arad, Mitzpe Ramon, and the Tiberias area. At least some of them consider themselves to be Jewish, but Israeli authorities do not accept them as such, nor are their religious practices consistent with "mainstream Jewish tradition."{{cite book|author=Martina Könighofer|title=The New Ship of Zion: Dynamic Diaspora Dimensions of the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M-YEcgmaAdAC|year=2008|publisher=LIT Verlag Münster|isbn=978-3-8258-1055-9|page=12|quote=The African Hebrew Israelites do not practice Judaism according to mainstream Jewish tradition and have not been accepted as Jews by the Israeli authorities.|access-date=1 March 2016|archive-date=28 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928154904/https://books.google.com/books?id=M-YEcgmaAdAC|url-status=live}} The group, which consists of African Americans and their descendants, originated in Chicago in the early 1960s, moved to Liberia for a few years, and then immigrated to Israel.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}

{{Main|Armenians in Israel}}

There are about 4,000–10,000 Armenian citizens of Israel (not including Armenian Jews). They live mostly in Jerusalem, including the Armenian Quarter, but also in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jaffa. Their religious activities center around the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem as well as churches in Jerusalem, Haifa and Jaffa. Although Armenians of Old Jerusalem have Israeli identity cards, they are officially holders of Jordanian passports.Joyce M. Davis. [http://www.cnewa.org/default.aspx?ID=548&pagetypeID=4&sitecode=HQ&pageno=3 Jerusalem's Armenian Quarter] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130729081526/http://www.cnewa.org/default.aspx?ID=548&pagetypeID=4&sitecode=HQ&pageno=3 |date=29 July 2013 }}. Catholic Near East Welfare Association.

A number of immigrants also belong to various non-Slavic ethnic groups from the Former Soviet Union such as Tatars, Armenians, and Georgians.

{{Main|Circassians in Israel}}

File:Cherkess7.jpg

In Israel, there are also a few thousand Circassians, living mostly in Kfar Kama (2,000) and Reyhaniye (1,000).{{citation needed|date=October 2013}} These two villages were a part of a greater group of Circassian villages around the Golan Heights. The Circassians in Israel enjoy, like Druzes, a status aparte. Male Circassians (at their leader's request) are mandated for military service, while females are not.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}

Non-Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union most of whom are Zera Yisrael (descendants of Jews) who are Russians, Ukrainians, Moldovans and Belarusians, who were eligible to immigrate due to having, or being married to somebody who has, at least one Jewish grandparent. In addition, a certain number of former Soviet citizens, primarily women of Russian and Ukrainian ethnicity, immigrated to Israel after marrying Arab citizens of Israel who went to study in the former Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s. The total number of those primarily of Slavic ancestry among Israeli citizens is around 300,000.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}

Although most Finns in Israel are either Finnish Jews or their descendants, a small number of Finnish Christians moved to Israel in the 1940s before the independence of the state and have since gained citizenship. For the most part the original Finnish settlers intermarried with other Israeli communities, and therefore remain very small in number. A moshav near Jerusalem named "Yad HaShmona", meaning the Memorial for the eight, was established in 1971 by a group of Finnish Christian Israelis, though today most members are Israeli, and predominantly Hebrew-speaking.{{cite web|title=Front page Current Affairs Embassy Honorary Consulates Services Team Finland Finland in Israel History Finnish associations About Finland Links Feedback Contact Front page > Finland in Israel > Finnish associations Finnish Associations|url=http://www.finland.org.il/public/default.aspx?nodeid=39222&contentlan=2&culture=en-US|publisher=Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland|access-date=25 January 2014|archive-date=24 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224210756/http://www.finland.org.il/public/default.aspx?nodeid=39222&contentlan=2&culture=en-US|url-status=live}}{{cite news|last=Landers|first=Ann|title=Readers Recall Heroic War Efforts|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1997/02/07/readers-recall-heroic-war-efforts/|access-date=25 January 2014|newspaper=NYT|date=7 February 1997|archive-date=24 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224210754/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1997-02-07-9702070085-story.html|url-status=live}}

{{Main|Samaritans}}

The Samaritans are an ethnoreligious group of the Levant. Ancestrally, they are descended from a group of Israelite inhabitants who have connections to ancient Samaria from the beginning of the Babylonian captivity up to the beginning of the Common Era.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}} Population estimates made in 2007 show that of the 712 Samaritans, half live in Holon in Israel and half at Mount Gerizim in the West Bank. The Holon community holds Israeli citizenship, while the Gerizim community resides at an Israeli-controlled enclave (Kiryat Luza), holding dual Israeli-Palestinian citizenship.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}

File:Flickr - Government Press Office (GPO) - Vietnamese following the Hebrew teacher in the Ulpan at the Absorption Center in Afula.jpg, 1979]]

The number of Vietnamese people in Israel is estimated at 200–400.{{Cite web |title=35 years on, where are Israel's Vietnamese refugees? |url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/35-years-on-where-are-israels-vietnamese-refugees/ |website=The Times of Israel |access-date=31 July 2022 |archive-date=31 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220731171524/https://www.timesofisrael.com/35-years-on-where-are-israels-vietnamese-refugees/ |url-status=live }} Most of them came to Israel between 1976 and 1979, after the Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin granted them political asylum. The Vietnamese people living in Israel are Israeli citizens who also serve in the Israel Defense Forces.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}} Today, the majority of the community lives in the Gush Dan area in the center of Israel but also a few dozen Vietnamese-Israelis or Israelis of Vietnamese origin live in Haifa, Jerusalem and Ofakim.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}

{{Further|Sudanese refugees in Israel}}

File:Meeting between Sudanese refugees and Israeli students.jpg

The number and status of African refugees in Israel is disputed and controversial, but it is estimated that at least 16,000 refugees, mainly from Eritrea, Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia and the Ivory Coast, reside and work in Israel. A check in late 2011, published in Ynet reported that the number just in Tel Aviv is 40,000, which represents 10 percent of the city's population. The vast majority lives in the southern parts of the city. There is also a significant African population in the southern Israeli cities of Eilat, Arad and Beer Sheva.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}

Approximately 100–200 refugees from Bosnia, Kosovo, and North Korea live in Israel as refugees, most of them with Israeli resident status.{{cite news|last=Eichner|first=Itamar|title=North Korean couple gets refugee status in Israel|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4024363,00.html|access-date=25 January 2014|newspaper=Ynet|archive-date=6 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706230401/http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4024363,00.html|url-status=live}}

{{See also|Yerida}}

Through the years, the majority of Israelis who emigrated from Israel went to the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

It is currently estimated that there are 330,000 native-born Israelis, including 230,000 Jews, living abroad, or even more.{{cite web|title=4. MIGRATION FROM ISRAEL|url=http://jppi.org.il/uploads/Migration_from_Israel.pdf|work=JPPI|access-date=25 January 2014|archive-date=28 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170628135810/http://jppi.org.il/uploads/Migration_from_Israel.pdf|url-status=live}} The number of immigrants to Israel who later returned to their home countries or moved elsewhere is more difficult to calculate.

For many years definitive data on Israeli emigration was unavailable.Henry Kamm. "Israeli emigration inspires anger and fear;" New York Times 4 January 1981 In The Israeli Diaspora sociologist Stephen J. Gold maintains that calculation of Jewish emigration has been a contentious issue, explaining, "Since Zionism, the philosophy that underlies the existence of the Jewish state, calls for return home of the world's Jews, the opposite movement – Israelis leaving the Jewish state to reside elsewhere – clearly presents an ideological and demographic problem."Stephen J. Gold. The Israeli Diaspora; Routledge 2002, p.8

Among the most common reasons for emigration of Israelis from Israel are most often due to Israel's ongoing security issues, economic constraints, economic characteristics, disappointment in the Israeli government, as well as the excessive role of religion in the lives of Israelis.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}

{{See also|Israeli American}}

Many Israelis immigrated to the United States throughout the period of the declaration of the state of Israel and until today. Today, the descendants of these people are known as Israeli-Americans.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}} According to the 2000 United States Census, 106,839 Americans also hold Israeli citizenship, but the number of Americans of Israeli descent is around half a million.{{cite news|last=PINI HERMAN|title=Rumors of mass Israeli emigration are much exaggerated|url=http://www.jewishjournal.com/israel/article/rumors_of_mass_israeli_emigration_are_much_exaggerated_20120425|access-date=3 October 2013|newspaper=Jewish Journal|date=25 April 2012|archive-date=28 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160828112316/http://www.jewishjournal.com/israel/article/rumors_of_mass_israeli_emigration_are_much_exaggerated_20120425|url-status=live}}{{Cite book | author = Gallya Lahav | author2 = Asher Arian | title = 'Israelis in a Jewish diaspora: The multiple dilemmas of a globalized group' in International Migration and the Globalization of Domestic Politics ed. Rey Koslowski | place = London | publisher = Routledge | year = 2005 | pages = 89 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=SG3ZXGZ_VvUC&q=Gallya+Lahav+and+Asher+Arian+Diaspora&pg=RA1-PA83 | isbn = 0-415-25815-4 | access-date = 1 November 2020 | archive-date = 28 September 2023 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230928154826/https://books.google.com/books?id=SG3ZXGZ_VvUC&q=Gallya+Lahav+and+Asher+Arian+Diaspora&pg=RA1-PA83 | url-status = live }}

Moscow has the largest single Israeli expatriate community in the world, with 80,000 Israeli citizens living in the city as of 2014, almost all of them native Russian-speakers.[http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/.premium-1.575660 Russian-born Israelis chase capitalist dreams to Moscow] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150212091930/http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/.premium-1.575660 |date=12 February 2015 }} By Ofer Matan, 21 February 2014, Haaretz Many Israeli cultural events are hosted for the community, and many live part of the year in Israel. (To cater to the Israeli community, Israeli cultural centres are located in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk and Yekaterinburg.)[http://il4u.org.il/icc Israeli cultural centers (News)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190722095000/http://il4u.org.il/icc |date=22 July 2019 }} http://il4u.org.il/icc

{{See also|Israeli Canadian}}

Many Israelis immigrated to Canada throughout the period of the declaration of the state of Israel and until today. Today, the descendants of these people are known as Israeli-Canadians.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}} According to the Canada 2006 Census as many as 21,320 Israelis lived in Canada in 2006.[http://www40.statcan.gc.ca/l01/cst01/demo24a-eng.htm Immigrant population by place of birth and period of immigration (2006 Census)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309165723/http://www40.statcan.gc.ca/l01/cst01/demo24a-eng.htm |date=9 March 2012 }}, Statistics Canada

{{See also|Israelis in the United Kingdom}}

Many Israelis immigrated to the United Kingdom throughout and since the period of the declaration of the state of Israel. Today, the descendants of these people are known as Israeli-British.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}} According to the United Kingdom 2001 Census, as many as 11,892 Israelis lived in the United Kingdom in 2001. The majority live in London.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}

In 2013 a three-judge panel of the Supreme Court of Israel's headed by Court President Asher Grunis rejected an appeal requesting that state-issued identification cards state the nationality of citizens as "Israeli" rather than their religion of origin. In his opinion, Grunis stated that it was not within the court's purview to determine new categories of ethnicity or nationhood. The court's decision responded to a petition by Uzzi Ornan, who refused to be identified as Jewish in 1948 at the foundation of the state of Israel, claiming instead that he was "Hebrew." This was permitted by Israeli authorities at the time. However, by 2000, Ornan wanted to register his nationality as "Israeli". The Interior Ministry refused to allow this, prompting Ornan to file a suit. In 2007, Ornan's suit was joined by former minister Shulamit Aloni and other activists.{{cite web|title=Supreme Court rules against 'Israeli' ethnicity on ID|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/supreme-court-rules-israeli-ethnicity-doesnt-exist/|work=The Times of Israel|first=Aaron|last=Kalman|access-date=25 January 2014|archive-date=27 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140127030050/https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/articles/debate/7707-court-denial-of-israeli-nationality-reinforces-discrimination|url-status=live}} In the ruling, Justice Hanan Melcer noted Israel currently considers "citizenship and nationality [to be] separate."{{cite news|title=High court rules: It is impossible to be Israeli|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/10/high-court-rules-it-impossible-be-israeli-201310201360824801.html|work=Al Jazeera|first=Neve|last=Gordon|date=21 October 2013|access-date=25 January 2014|archive-date=2 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181002064847/https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/10/high-court-rules-it-impossible-be-israeli-201310201360824801.html|url-status=live}}

{{Expand section|date=October 2009}}

File:Declaration of State of Israel 1948.jpg proclaiming the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948]]

The term "Israelite" refers to members of the Jewish tribes and polities of the Iron Age known from the Hebrew Bible and extra-biblical historical and archaeological sources. The term "Israeli", by contrast, refers to the citizens of the modern State of Israel, regardless of them being Jewish, Arabs, or of any other ethnicity.

The modern State of Israel revived an old name known from the Hebrew Bible and from historical sources, that of the Iron Age Kingdom of Israel. The Bible differentiates between a period of tribal rule among the "children of Israel"; a Kingdom of Israel uniting all twelve biblical Israelite tribes, with the common capital known as the City of David (Jerusalem); and a period in which the northern tribes split away to form an independent Kingdom of Israel, while the southern tribes became part of the Kingdom of Judah. Archaeological research only partially agrees with the biblical narrative.{{citation needed|date=February 2018}}

According to the biblical account, the United Monarchy was formed when there was a large popular expression in favour of introducing a monarchy to rule over the previously decentralised Israelite tribal confederacy.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}} Increasing pressure from the Philistines{{Citation needed|date=April 2011}} and other neighboring tribes is said by the Bible to have forced the Israelites to unite as a more singular state.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}

The northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed in {{circa|720 BCE}} by the Neo-Assyrian Empire and its population was forcibly restructured through imperial policy. The southern Kingdom of Judah was conquered by the Neo-Babylonian Empire (586 BCE), inherited by the Achaemenid Empire, conquered by Alexander the Great (332 BCE), ruled by the resulting Hellenistic empires, from which it regained autonomy and eventually independence under the Hasmoneans, conquered by the Roman Republic in 63 BCE, ruled by the client kings of the Herodian dynasty, and finally transformed into a Roman province during the first century CE. Two Jewish revolts, the second one ending in 135 CE, led to the large-scale decimation of the Jewish population in Judea and the end of any type of Jewish territorial self-rule in the southern Levant for many centuries to come.{{fact|date=May 2025}}

Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire from 1516 until it was taken by British forces in 1918. The British establishment of colonial political boundaries allowed the Jews to develop autonomous institutions such as the Histadrut and the Knesset.Migdal, p. 135 The resulting influx of Jewish immigrants, as well as the creation of many new settlements, was crucial for the functioning of these new institutions in what would, on 14 May 1948, become the State of Israel.Migdal, p. 136 By 1960, 25% of Israelis were Holocaust survivors.{{Cite book |last= Patt |first= Avinoam J. |year= 2024 |title= Israel and the Holocaust |location= London |publisher= Bloomsbury Academic |isbn= 978-1-350-18834-1}} See p. 44. Caution is needed, however, on the definition used here of survivor; see the relevant endnote, n.17 on p. 188.

{{Main|Culture of Israel|List of Israelis}}

{{See also|Archaeology of Israel|Music of Israel|Science and technology in Israel}}

The largest cities in the country Haifa, Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem are also the major cultural centers, known for art museums, and many towns and kibbutzim have smaller high-quality museums. Israeli music is very versatile and combines elements of both western and eastern, religious and secular music. It tends to be very eclectic and contains a wide variety of influences from the Diaspora and more modern cultural importation: Hassidic songs, Asian and Arab pop, especially by Yemenite singers, and Israeli hip hop or heavy metal. Folk dancing, which draws upon the cultural heritage of many immigrant groups, is popular. There is also flourishing modern dance.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}

{{Main|Religion in Israel}}

{{See also|Holidays and events in Israel}}

File:Temple Mount Western Wall on Shabbat by David Shankbone.jpg and Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem]]

According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, at the end of 2014, 75% of Israelis were Jewish by religion (adherents of Judaism), 17.5% were Muslims, 2% Christian, 1.6% Druze and the remaining 3.9% (including immigrants) were not classified by religion.{{cite news|title=Population by Religion |url=http://www1.cbs.gov.il/reader/shnaton/templ_shnaton_e.html?num_tab=st02_02&CYear=2015 |access-date=31 December 2015 |publisher=Central Bureau of Statistics |date=9 October 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151113175654/http://www1.cbs.gov.il/reader/shnaton/templ_shnaton_e.html?num_tab=st02_02&CYear=2015 |archive-date=13 November 2015 }}

Roughly 12% of Israeli Jews defined as haredim (ultra-orthodox religious); an additional 9% are "religious"; 35% consider themselves "traditionalists" (not strictly adhering to Jewish religious law); and 43% are "secular" (termed "hiloni"). Among the seculars, 53% believe in God. However, 78% of all Israelis (and virtually all Israeli Jews) participate in a Passover seder.[http://www.jcpa.org/dje/articles2/relinisr-consensus.htm Religion in Israel: A Consensus for Jewish Tradition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806091726/http://www.jcpa.org/dje/articles2/relinisr-consensus.htm |date=6 August 2011 }} by Daniel J. Elazar (JCPA)

Unlike North American Jews, Israelis tend not to align themselves with a movement of Judaism (such as Reform Judaism or Conservative Judaism) but instead tend to define their religious affiliation by degree of their religious practice. Israeli religious life, unlike much of North American Jewish life, does not solely revolve around synagogues or religious community centers.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}

Among Arab Israelis, 82.6% were Muslim (including Ahmadis{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t7Ao8dYsCskC&pg=PA45 | title=The Arabs in Israel | access-date=4 March 2014 | author=Ori Stendel | page=45 | publisher=Sussex Academic Press | isbn=1898723249 | year=1996 | archive-date=28 September 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928154827/https://books.google.com/books?id=t7Ao8dYsCskC&pg=PA45 | url-status=live }}), 8.8% were Christian and 8.4% were Druze.{{cite web|url=http://www1.cbs.gov.il/shnaton56/st02_01.pdf |title=Population, by religion and population group |access-date=8 April 2006 |first=Government of Israel |last=Central Bureau of Statistics |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060410121622/http://www1.cbs.gov.il/shnaton56/st02_01.pdf |archive-date=10 April 2006 }}

The Baháʼí World Centre, which includes the Universal House of Justice, in Haifa attracts Baháʼí pilgrims from all over the world.{{cite web|url=http://info.bahai.org/article-1-6-0-5.html |title=The Baháʼí World Centre: Focal Point for a Global Community |publisher=The Baháʼí International Community |access-date=2 July 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070629171538/http://info.bahai.org/article-1-6-0-5.html |archive-date=29 June 2007 }}

{{main|Languages of Israel}}

File:Masada road sign.jpg

Due to its immigrant nature, Israel is one of the most multicultural and multilingual societies in the world. Hebrew and Arabic are the official languages in the country, while English and Russian are the two most widely spoken non-official languages. Yiddish (2%) and French (2%) are also spoken.{{cite news|last=Druckman|first=Yaron|title=CBS: 27% of Israelis struggle with Hebrew|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4335235,00.html|access-date=24 January 2014|newspaper=Ynet|archive-date=15 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130415064200/http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4335235,00.html|url-status=live}} A certain degree of English is spoken widely, and is the language of choice for many Israeli businesses.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}} Courses of Hebrew and English are mandatory in the Israeli matriculation exams (bagrut), and most schools also offer one or more out of Arabic, Spanish, German or French.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}} The Israeli government also offers free intensive Hebrew-language courses, known as ulpanim (singular ulpan), for new Jewish immigrants, to try to help them integrate into Israeli society.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}

• Demographics of Israel
• Culture of Israel
• Modern Hebrew (Israeli Hebrew)

{{clear}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Sister project links |n=no |q=no |s=no |b=no |v=no}}

• [http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/AboutIsrael/People/Pages/SOCIETY.aspx People of Israel] at the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20050101033711/http://www.cbs.gov.il/engindex.htm Official website] of the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics

{{Demographics of Israel}}

{{Israelis abroad and their descendants}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Israeli people

Category:Ethnic groups in Israel

Category:Society of Israel

Category:Semitic-speaking peoples