Western Asia · ISR

Israel

The story · 12 chapters

How it was drawn

Ancient kingdoms, then Roman, Arab, crusader and Ottoman rule. Israel was declared in 1948 on part of the British mandate for Palestine, and its final borders remain unsettled.

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Through the ages

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Israel fought or stood against, from the first to today.

Philistines1150 BC to 700 BC
Newcomers linked to the Sea Peoples who settle the southern coast at Gaza, Ashkelon and Ashdod. The Bible describes long wars between them and the Israelites under Saul and David. Their cities later fall under Assyrian rule.
Neo-Assyrian Empire734 BC to 701 BC
Tiglath-pileser III annexes much of the north from 732 BC, and Samaria falls in 722 BC, ending the Kingdom of Israel. In 701 BC Sennacherib ravages Judah and takes Lachish, but Jerusalem is not taken.
Neo-Babylonian Empire597 BC to 586 BC
Nebuchadnezzar II captures Jerusalem in 597 BC and deports its king. After a revolt he destroys the city and the First Temple in 586 BC and exiles much of Judah's elite to Babylon.
Seleucid Empire167 BC to 141 BC
Antiochus IV bans Jewish practices and desecrates the Temple, sparking the Maccabean revolt in 167 BC. Judah Maccabee rededicates the Temple in 164 BC, remembered at Hanukkah, and by 141 BC the Hasmoneans rule an independent state.
Roman Empire66 to 135
Two great Jewish revolts against Rome: the first ends with Jerusalem and its Temple destroyed in 70 AD and Masada taken a few years later, and the second, led by Bar Kokhba, is crushed in 135.
Ayyubid Sultanate1169 to 1192
Saladin, ruler of Egypt and Syria, destroys the crusader army at Hattin in 1187 and retakes Jerusalem. The Third Crusade under Richard I wins back the coast, and the Treaty of Jaffa in 1192 leaves Jerusalem to Saladin.
Mamluk Sultanate1260 to 1291
After stopping the Mongols at Ain Jalut in 1260, the Mamluks of Egypt take the crusader castles and ports one by one under Baybars and his successors. The fall of Acre in 1291 ends the crusader states.
Egypt1948 to 1979
Egypt fights Israel in 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973, and holds Gaza from 1949 to 1967 apart from a few months after the Suez war. The 1979 peace treaty, the first between Israel and an Arab state, returns Sinai to Egypt.
Jordan1948 to 1994
Jordan's Arab Legion takes the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1948, and Jordan annexes them in 1950. It loses them to Israel in 1967. After years of secret contacts, the two states sign a peace treaty in 1994.
SyriaSince 1948Still open
Syria fights Israel in 1948, 1967 and 1973 and loses the Golan Heights in 1967. Israel applies its law there in 1981, a move most states do not recognise. No peace treaty has ever been signed.
Palestine Liberation Organization1964 to 1993
Founded in 1964, the PLO wages an armed struggle from Jordan and then Lebanon, from where Israel's 1982 invasion expels its fighters. In 1993 Israel and the PLO recognise each other in the Oslo Accords.
IranSince 1979Still open
After its 1979 revolution Iran cuts ties with Israel and backs Hezbollah and Hamas. A long shadow war over Iran's nuclear programme turns into direct missile and drone attacks between the two countries in April and October 2024.
Hezbollah1982 to 2024
The Lebanese Shia movement forms after Israel's 1982 invasion and fights its occupation of the south until 2000. It wars with Israel in 2006 and again from October 2023 until a ceasefire in November 2024.
HamasSince 1987Still open
The Islamist movement, founded in 1987, rejects the Oslo Accords and carries out suicide bombings. It takes control of Gaza in 2007, fights several wars with Israel, and leads the 7 October 2023 attack that starts the war in Gaza.

Today

Israel now

Israel has become a regional economic and military powerhouse, leveraging its prosperous high-tech sector, large defense industry, and concerns about Iran to foster partnerships around the world. The State of Israel was established in 1948. The UN General Assembly proposed in 1947 partitioning the British Mandate for Palestine into an Arab and Jewish state. The Jews accepted the proposal, but the local Arabs and the Arab states rejected the UN plan and launched a war.

Capital: Jerusalem
Government: parliamentary democracy
Head of government: Benjamin Netanyahu
Head of state: Isaac Herzog
Languages: Hebrew
Area: 22,070 km²

Through time

Then and now

Population9.3 million2023 · 1.3 million in 1950
Life expectancy82.4 years2023 · 69.9 years in 1950
GDP per person$36,6482022 · $4,490 in 1950
Living in cities92%2025 · 72% in 1950
Literacy92%1983 · 93% in 1950
Political regimeElectoral democracy2025 · Electoral democracy in 1950
Military alliancesNone of these2024 · None of these in 1950
Military spending7.8% of GDP2025
War deaths0.4 per 100,0002025

Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.

Relations

Close partners and tensions

Close partners

United States
France
Bahrain

Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 23 October 2026.

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Israel fought or stood against, from the first to today.

Philistines1150 BC to 700 BC

Newcomers linked to the Sea Peoples who settle the southern coast at Gaza, Ashkelon and Ashdod. The Bible describes long wars between them and the Israelites under Saul and David. Their cities later fall under Assyrian rule.

Neo-Assyrian Empire734 BC to 701 BC

Tiglath-pileser III annexes much of the north from 732 BC, and Samaria falls in 722 BC, ending the Kingdom of Israel. In 701 BC Sennacherib ravages Judah and takes Lachish, but Jerusalem is not taken.

Neo-Babylonian Empire597 BC to 586 BC

Nebuchadnezzar II captures Jerusalem in 597 BC and deports its king. After a revolt he destroys the city and the First Temple in 586 BC and exiles much of Judah's elite to Babylon.

Seleucid Empire167 BC to 141 BC

Antiochus IV bans Jewish practices and desecrates the Temple, sparking the Maccabean revolt in 167 BC. Judah Maccabee rededicates the Temple in 164 BC, remembered at Hanukkah, and by 141 BC the Hasmoneans rule an independent state.

Roman Empire66 to 135

Two great Jewish revolts against Rome: the first ends with Jerusalem and its Temple destroyed in 70 AD and Masada taken a few years later, and the second, led by Bar Kokhba, is crushed in 135.

Ayyubid Sultanate1169 to 1192

Saladin, ruler of Egypt and Syria, destroys the crusader army at Hattin in 1187 and retakes Jerusalem. The Third Crusade under Richard I wins back the coast, and the Treaty of Jaffa in 1192 leaves Jerusalem to Saladin.

Mamluk Sultanate1260 to 1291

After stopping the Mongols at Ain Jalut in 1260, the Mamluks of Egypt take the crusader castles and ports one by one under Baybars and his successors. The fall of Acre in 1291 ends the crusader states.

Egypt1948 to 1979

Egypt fights Israel in 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973, and holds Gaza from 1949 to 1967 apart from a few months after the Suez war. The 1979 peace treaty, the first between Israel and an Arab state, returns Sinai to Egypt.

Jordan1948 to 1994

Jordan's Arab Legion takes the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1948, and Jordan annexes them in 1950. It loses them to Israel in 1967. After years of secret contacts, the two states sign a peace treaty in 1994.

SyriaSince 1948Still open

Syria fights Israel in 1948, 1967 and 1973 and loses the Golan Heights in 1967. Israel applies its law there in 1981, a move most states do not recognise. No peace treaty has ever been signed.

Palestine Liberation Organization1964 to 1993

Founded in 1964, the PLO wages an armed struggle from Jordan and then Lebanon, from where Israel's 1982 invasion expels its fighters. In 1993 Israel and the PLO recognise each other in the Oslo Accords.

IranSince 1979Still open

After its 1979 revolution Iran cuts ties with Israel and backs Hezbollah and Hamas. A long shadow war over Iran's nuclear programme turns into direct missile and drone attacks between the two countries in April and October 2024.

Hezbollah1982 to 2024

The Lebanese Shia movement forms after Israel's 1982 invasion and fights its occupation of the south until 2000. It wars with Israel in 2006 and again from October 2023 until a ceasefire in November 2024.

HamasSince 1987Still open

The Islamist movement, founded in 1987, rejects the Oslo Accords and carries out suicide bombings. It takes control of Gaza in 2007, fights several wars with Israel, and leads the 7 October 2023 attack that starts the war in Gaza.

Israel now

Capital

Jerusalem

Government

parliamentary democracy

Head of government

Benjamin Netanyahu

Head of state

Isaac Herzog

Languages

Hebrew

Area

22,070 km²

Then and now

Population9.3 million2023 · 1.3 million in 1950

Life expectancy82.4 years2023 · 69.9 years in 1950

GDP per person$36,6482022 · $4,490 in 1950

Living in cities92%2025 · 72% in 1950

Literacy92%1983 · 93% in 1950

Political regimeElectoral democracy2025 · Electoral democracy in 1950

Military alliancesNone of these2024 · None of these in 1950

Military spending7.8% of GDP2025

War deaths0.4 per 100,0002025