Israel

Normally, one doesn't refer to the "12 Jewish Tribes of Israel", but rather simply

to the "12 Tribes of Israel", since the word Jewish comes from Judah, one of the tribes.

The modern Jewish people (for the past 2,500 years or so) is mostly descended

from the tribe of Judah. However, there are also some Jews who are descended

from the tribe of Levi - they may be named some variation of Levy or Cohen.

Jews know what tribe they come from through written records in the form of

their parents' ketubot (marriage contracts).

came from, you can use the following technique.

1. Obtain decorated ossuaries with their original bones, provenanced to the standard required by specialists. With archival analysis of the symbolic decorations identify and create sample groups of the Twelve Tribes with the application of these hieroglyphs: {refer: Testament of Judah}

Levi, cherubim; Judah, key; Simeon, pillars; Reuben, heaven; Issachar, earth; Zebulun, sea; Joseph, mountains;Benjamin, tabernacle; Dan, luminaries; Naphtali, Eden; Gad, sun; Asher, moon.

Methodology aid: Rosette circles and outer bounds identify tribes in their lined interior. Zigzags, called rafter cuts, are steep for Joseph; sea-like for Zebulun; fiery for Gad; and key shaped for Judah. Layers as heavens for Reuben. Verdant for Naphtali. Clay ossuary for Issachar.

2. Acquire specific genetic markers for each Tribe, from DNA testing on the bones or alternative material, to the standards required.

3. Quantify the specific genetic markers that you have in relation to the Twelve Tribes by undergoing DNA testing.

Technique Aid:

Private owners of ossuaries can provide a exploratory data base if they desire. They may have in their possession the means to identify the Twelve Tribes using the mechanism above.

Your ossuary may have on it, as an example, what you discern is a big round circle, but it also depicts the moon, and thereby it represents the tribe of Asher - and the original bones placed in that ossuary are authenticated as a member of the tribe of Asher, by the engraved decoration, and by any engraved inscription on that ossuary.

A decorated ossuary found in situ with the bones inside is of most value - of great importance for DNA evidence, are uncontaminated samples.

Untouched bones would therefore be best for testing. Although bones placed in ossuaries are handled, they are gathered by relatives, and so the specific genetic marker for the tribe would likely be intact. (bone gathering ref: - Klein, Semahot texts; quoted in Decorated Jewish Ossuaries by Pau Figueras.)

With a substantial exploratory data base, an analysis of the specific genetic marker trends can provide the statistics for determining the specific identity markers for each of the Twelve Tribes, providing the mechanism described to find your tribe through quantitative inheritance.

Technique Result:

The dominant specific genetic marker of the Twelve Tribes that you have, is the Tribe that you came from.

To answer the original question: you don't. The great majority of Jews no longer possess specific information as to their tribe (except Levites & Cohens), and we simply leave it at that. Most of us are from Judah.

Note that although some Jewish graves and ossuaries have designs, motifs or decorations, the number of those having specific tribal markers is vanishingly small (except for kohens). And even then, such graves are invariably ancient and almost no one today has unbroken 2000-year old family trees. So the entire subject is wholly hypothetical.

The Ten Tribes originally split from Judah voluntarily (1 Kings ch.12-13) and formed a separate monarchy; but (later) they didn't leave their homeland voluntarily. They were exiled by the Assyrians. What has happened to them since then is not the topic of the question and is a matter of conjecture.

Simple Answer

Israel has a warm climate. Closer to the Mediterranean Sea, in places like Tel Aviv and Netanya, the climate is more humid, whereas in the interior of the country and Negev Deserts, it is more arid.

More Detailed Answer

The State of Israel is located between 29 degree and 33 degree north of the equator. It is considered as a sub-tropical region situated between the temperate zone and the tropical zone. Compared to its size, Israel has a wide range of climate and weather ranging from temperate to tropical. Huge difference exists in Israel's climate. The northern and the southern part of Israel have varied differences in climate.

The northern part of the country experiences a typical Mediterranean climate, with long, hot, dry summers and mild rainy winters. Summer season ranges from mid-April to October. In the coastal areas the temperature rises to over 30 °C making the weather severely humid. The sea breezes in the evening tend to moderate the climate. In the Negev, the summer temperatures soar above 34 °C in Beersheva and 40 °C in Eilat. Israel also experience The Sharav or Khamsin, the scorchingly hot, dry desert wind which blows from the Arabian Desert from May to mid-June and from September to October. The wind last for two to five days at a time.

The rainy season extends from October to early May. Rainfall peaks in December till February receiving about three-quarters of the annual rainfall. Rainfall varies considerably from the Northern regions to the Southern regions. Highest rainfall is observed in the North and Central parts and decreases in the southern part of the country. Galilee, the wettest region, receives over 1,000 mm (40 inches) of rain annually. Rainfall is scarce in Southern Israel with The Negev Desert receiving negligible rainfall of about 200mm a year to as little as 50mm in Eilat. Periodic occurrences of thunderstorms result in flash floods in the area.

Winter season lasts from November to February. It is during the winter that the country receives its heaviest rainfall. Hence, winters are generally mild and wet with periodic sunshine. Snow and frost is rarely observed, except in the hill regions. Heavy snowfall can be seen only in the northernmost part of Golan Heights. The Mount Hermon summit, which is 2,224 m above sea level, remains generally snow covered from December to March.

The climate of Israel is suitable to enjoy wide range of activities. A beach holiday can be enjoyed in the city of Eilat located in the southernmost part of the country and at the northern tip of Red Sea. You can enjoy scuba diving in the beautiful waters of Red Sea. As Golan Heights receives heavy snowfall, you can also enjoy skiing there. As Israel's climate is moderate, tourists planning to visit Israel can travel there round the year, though the most comfortable months are March and April.

1. Independence War (1947-1949)
2. Sinai War (1956)
3. Six Day War (1967)
4. War of Attrition (1969-1970)
5. Yom Kippur War (1973)
6. First Lebanon War (1982)
7. Second Lebanon War (2006)

1. In the 1991 Gulf War, Israel didn't actually fight/participate, but, for about a month, was attacked without provocation by Iraq with many scud missiles.
2. Between the above official wars, there were many more clashes between Israel and the Arab countries surrounding it that lasted for several weeks, months, or years.
3. Subjectively, it may be said that, since 1948 (Israeli Statehood), Israel has never stopped being in a never-ending war with its neighboring Arab countries.

The word Jerusalem was originally given as 'Urushalim' or 'Urushalem' and is a word of Canaanite derivation. The prefix uru means 'founded by', and the suffix salem or Shalem was the Canaanite god of dusk. The name Urushalim is first found on Egyptian statues from around 2500 BCE. This evidence is reinforced by tablets found in Elba, Syria, dating back to 3000 BCE, on which the god Shalem being venerated in a city called 'Uruksalem' is mentioned.

Jerusalem more recently is often assumed to mean founded in peace, or 'city of peace' (Hebrew: 'ir shalom), but there is no evidence for this interpretation.

Israel has the highest ratio of defense spending to GDP and as a percentage of the budget of all developed countries. The Israel Defense Forces is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and is headed by its Chief of General Staff, the Ramatkal, subordinate to the Minister of Defense. The IDF consist of the army, air force and navy. It was founded during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War by consolidating paramilitary organizations-chiefly the Haganah-that preceded the establishment of the state. The IDF also draws upon the resources of the Military Intelligence Directorate (Aman), which works with the Mossad and Shabak. The Israel Defense Forces have been involved in several major wars and border conflicts in its short history, making it one of the most battle-trained armed forces in the world.

Most Israelis are drafted into the military at the age of 18. Men serve three years and women two to three years. Following mandatory service, Israeli men join the reserve forces and usually do up to several weeks of reserve duty every year until their forties. Most women are exempt from reserve duty. Arab citizens of Israel (except the Druze) and those engaged in full-time religious studies are exempt from military service, although the exemption of yeshiva students has been a source of contention in Israeli society for many years. An alternative for those who receive exemptions on various grounds is Sherut Leumi, or national service, which involves a program of service in hospitals, schools and other social welfare frameworks. As a result of its conscription program, the IDF maintains approximately 176,500 active troops and an additional 445,000 reservists.

The nation's military relies heavily on high-tech weapons systems designed and manufactured in Israel as well as some foreign imports. Since 1967, the United States has been a particularly notable foreign contributor of military aid to Israel: the US is expected to provide the country with $3.15 billion per year from 2013-2018. The Arrow missile is one of the world's few operational anti-ballistic missile systems.

Since the Yom Kippur War, Israel has developed a network of reconnaissance satellites. The success of the Ofeq program has made Israel one of seven countries capable of launching such satellites. Since its establishment, Israel has spent a significant portion of its gross domestic product on defense. In 1984, for example, the country spent 24% of its GDP on defense. Today, that figure has dropped to 7.3%.

Israel is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons as well as chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction. Israel has not signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and maintains a policy of deliberate ambiguity toward its nuclear capabilities. Since the Gulf War in 1991, when Israel was attacked by Iraqi Scud missiles, all homes in Israel are required to have a reinforced security room impermeable to chemical and biological substances.

The IDF has also been deployed on humanitarian missions, usually involving rescue workers and medical personnel, along with relief workers and body identifiers from ZAKA and the Israel Police. After the 2010 Haiti earthquake, a rescue team was dispatched to Haiti, which consisted of 40 doctors, 20 nurses and rescue workers, and two rescue planes loaded with medical equipment and a field hospital with X-ray equipment, intensive care units, and operating rooms. Other recent recipients of aid include Japan (a medical team after the 2011 tsunami), Congo 2008, Sri Lanka 2005 (tsunami), India and El Salvador 2001 (earthquakes), Ethiopia 2000, Turkey 1998 (earthquake), Kosovo 1999 (refugees) and Rwanda 1994 (refugees).

Israel is consistently rated very low in the Global Peace Index, ranking 145th out of 153 nations for peacefulness in 2011.

Israel is considered one of the most advanced countries in Southwest Asia in economic and industrial development. In 2010, it joined the OECD. The country is ranked 3rd in the region on the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Index as well as in the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report. It has the second-largest number of startup companies in the world (after the United States)and the largest number of NASDAQ-listed companies outside North America.

In 2010, Israel ranked 17th among of the world's most economically developed nations, according to IMD's World Competitiveness Yearbook. The Israeli economy was ranked first as the world's most durable economy in the face of crises, and was also ranked first in the rate of research and development center investments.

The Bank of Israel was ranked first among central banks for its efficient functioning, up from the 8th place in 2009. Israel was also ranked as the worldwide leader in its supply of skilled manpower. The Bank of Israel holds $78 billion of foreign-exchange reserves.

Despite limited natural resources, intensive development of the agricultural and industrial sectors over the past decades has made Israel largely self-sufficient in food production, apart from grains and beef. Other major imports to Israel, totaling $47.8 billion in 2006, include fossil fuels, raw materials, and military equipment. Leading exports include electronics, software, computerized systems, communications technology, medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, fruits, chemicals, military technology, and cut diamonds; in 2006, Israeli exports reached $42.86 billion, and by 2010 they had reached $80.5 billion a year.

Israel is a leading country in the development of solar energy. Israel is a global leader in water conservation and geothermal energy,[ and its development of cutting-edge technologies in software, communications and the life sciences have evoked comparisons with Silicon Valley. According to the OECD, Israel is also ranked 1st in the world in expenditure on Research and Development (R&D) as a percentage of GDP. Intel and Microsoft built their first overseas research and development centers in Israel, and other high-tech multi-national corporations, such as IBM, Cisco Systems, and Motorola, have opened facilities in the country. In July 2007, U.S. billionaire Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway bought an Israeli company Iscar, its first non-U.S. acquisition, for $4 billion. Since the 1970s, Israel has received military aid from the United States, as well as economic assistance in the form of loan guarantees, which now account for roughly half of Israel's external debt. Israel has one of the lowest external debts in the developed world, and is a net lender in terms of net external debt (the total value of assets vs. liabilities in debt instruments owed abroad), which as of 2011 stood at a surplus of US$58.7 billion.

Days of working time in Israel are Sunday through Thursday (for 5 a days 'week'), or Friday (for 6 a days 'week'). In observance of Shabbat, in places where Friday is a work day and the majority of population is Jewish, Friday is a "short day", usually lasting till 14:00 in the winter, or 16:00 in the summer. Several proposals have been raised to adjust the work week with the majority of the world, and make Sunday a non-working day, while extending working time of other days, and/or replacing Friday with Sunday as a work day .

Israel's eight public universities are subsidized by the state. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel's oldest university, houses the Jewish National and University Library, the world's largest repository of books on Jewish subjects. The Hebrew University is consistently ranked among world's 100 top universities by the prestigious ARWU academic ranking. Other major universities in the country include the Technion, the Weizmann Institute of Science, Tel Aviv University (TAU), Bar-Ilan University, the University of Haifa, The Open University and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Israel's seven research universities (excluding the Open University) are consistently ranked among top 500 in the world. Israel has produced six Nobel Prize-winning scientists since 2002 and publishes among the most scientific papers per capita of any country in the world.

Israel has embraced solar energy, its engineers are on the cutting edge of solar energy technology and its solar companies work on projects around the world. Over 90% of Israeli homes use solar energy for hot water, the highest per capita in the world. According to government figures, the country saves 8% of its electricity consumption per year because of its solar energy use in heating. The high annual incident solar irradiance at its geographic latitude creates ideal conditions for what is an internationally renowned solar research and development industry in the Negev Desert.

A horizontal parabolic dish, with a triangular structure on its top. Around it is a flat sandy area, with desert in the background. It's a sunny day, with a few white clouds in the blue skies.

The world's largest solar parabolic dish at the Ben-Gurion National Solar Energy Center.

Israel's most recent Nobel laureate: Dan Shechtman won the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Israel is one of the world's technological leaders in water technology. In 2011, its water technology industry was worth around $2 billion a year with annual exports of products and services in the tens of millions of dollars. The ongoing shortage of water in the country has spurred innovation in water conservation techniques, and a substantial agricultural modernisation, drip irrigation, was invented in Israel. Israel is also at the technological forefront of desalination and water recycling. The Ashkelon seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) plant, the largest in the world, was voted 'Desalination Plant of the Year' in the Global Water Awards in 2006. Israel hosts an annual Water Technology Exhibition and Conference (WaTec) that attracts thousands of people from across the world. By the end of 2013, 85 percent of the country's water consumption will be from reverse osmosis. As a result of innovations in reverse osmosis technology, Israel is set to become a net exporter of water in the coming years.

Israel has led the world in stem-cell research papers per capita since 2000. In addition, Israeli universities are among 100 top world universities in mathematics (Hebrew University, TAU and Technion), physics (TAU, Hebrew University and Weizmann Institute of Science), chemistry (Technion and Weizmann Institute of Science), computer science (Weizmann Institute of Science, Technion, Hebrew University, TAU and BIU) and economics (Hebrew University and TAU).

Israel has a modern electric car infrastructure involving a countrywide network of recharging stations to facilitate the charging and exchange of car batteries. It is thought that this will lower Israel's oil dependency and lower the fuel costs of hundreds of Israel's motorists that use cars powered only by electric batteries. The Israeli model is being studied by several countries and being implemented in Denmark and Australia.

In 2009 Israel was ranked 2nd among 20 top countries in space sciences by Thomson Reuters agency. Since 1988 Israel Aerospace Industries have indigenously designed and built at least 13 commercial, research and spy satellites. Most were launched to orbit from Israeli air force base "Palmachim" by the Shavit space launch vehicle. Some of Israel's satellites are ranked among the world's most advanced space systems. In 2003, Ilan Ramon became Israel's first astronaut, serving as payload specialist of STS-107, the fatal mission of the Space Shuttle Columbia.

Iran's foreign relations are based on two strategic principles: eliminating outside influences in the region and pursuing extensive diplomatic contacts with developing and non-aligned countries. Iran maintains diplomatic relations with almost every member of the United Nations, except for Israel, which Iran does not recognize, and the United States since the Iranian Revolution. Since 2005, Iran's nuclear program has become the subject of contention with the Western world due to suspicions that Iran could divert the civilian nuclear technology to a weapons program. This has led the UN Security Council to impose sanctions against Iran on select companies linked to this program, thus furthering its economic isolation on the international scene. The US Director of National Intelligence said in February 2009 that Iran would not realistically be able to a get a nuclear weapon until 2013, if it chose to develop one.

One of Iran's three SSK Kilo class submarines

The Islamic Republic of Iran has two types of armed forces: the regular forces Islamic Republic of Iran Army, Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force, Islamic Republic of Iran Navy and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), totaling about 545,000 active troops. Iran also has around 350,000 Reserve Force totaling around 900,000 trained troops. Iran has a paramilitary, volunteer militia force within the IRGC, called the Basij, which includes about 90,000 full-time, active-duty uniformed members. Up to 11 million men and women are members of the Basij who could potentially be called up for service; GlobalSecurity.org estimates Iran could mobilize "up to one million men". This would be among the largest troop mobilizations in the world. In 2007, Iran's military spending represented 2.6% of the GDP or $102 per capita, the lowest figure of the Persian Gulf nations. Iran's military doctrine is based on deterrence.

Since the Iranian Revolution, to overcome foreign embargo, Iran has developed its own military industry, produced its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, guided missiles, submarines, military vessels, guided missile destroyer, radar systems, helicopters and fighter planes. In recent years, official announcements have highlighted the development of weapons such as the Hoot, Kowsar, Zelzal, Fateh-110, Shahab-3 and Sajjil missiles, and a variety of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The Fajr-3 (MIRV) is currently Iran's most advanced ballistic missile, it is a liquid fuel missile with an undisclosed range which was developed and produced domestically. Iran has allowed the Taliban to open an office, in late May 2012, in the eastern Iranian city of Zahedan to coordinate with the Taliban against the US, which is seen as a bigger enemy by both.

Ancient Iranians built Qanats and Yakhchal to provide and keep water. The first windmill appeared in Iran in the 9th century. Iranians contributed significantly to the current understanding of astronomy, natural science, medicine, mathematics, and philosophy. Khwarizmi is widely hailed as the father of algebra. Ethanol (alcohol) was first identified by Persian alchemists such as Muhammad ibn Zakarīya Rāzi. Throughout the Middle Ages, the philosophy and mathematics of the Ancient Greeks and Persians were furthered and preserved within Persia. The Academy of Gundishapur was a renowned centre of learning in the city of Gundeshapur during late antiquity and was the most important medical centre of the ancient world during the 6th and 7th centuries. During this period, Persia became a centre for the manufacture of scientific instruments, retaining its reputation for quality well into the 19th century.

Iran strives to revive the golden age of Persian science. The country has increased its publication output nearly tenfold from 1996 through 2004, and has been ranked first in terms of output growth rate followed by China. Despite the limitations in funds, facilities, and international collaborations, Iranian scientists remain highly productive in several experimental fields, such as pharmacology, pharmaceutical chemistry, organic chemistry, and polymer chemistry. Iranian scientists are also helping construct the Compact Muon Solenoid, a detector for CERN's Large Hadron Collider. In 2009, a SUSE Linux-based HPC system made by the Aerospace Research Institute of Iran (ARI) was launched with 32 cores and now runs 96 cores. Its performance was pegged at 192 GFLOPS. Sorena 2 Robot, which was designed by engineers at University of Tehran, was unveiled in 2010. the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has placed the name of Surena among the five prominent robots of the world after analyzing its performance.

In the biomedical sciences, Iran's Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics is a UNESCO chair in biology. In late 2006, Iranian scientists successfully cloned a sheep by somatic cell nuclear transfer, at the Rouyan research centre in Tehran. According to a study by David Morrison and Ali Khademhosseini (Harvard-MIT and Cambridge), stem cell research in Iran is amongst the top 10 in the world. Iran ranks 15th in the world in nanotechnologies.

Omid satellite. Iran is the 9th country to put a domestically built satellite into orbit.

The Iranian nuclear program was launched in the 1950s. Iran is the 7th country in production of uranium hexafluoride and controls the entire cycle for producing nuclear fuel. Iran's current facilities includes several research reactors, a uranium mine, an almost complete commercial nuclear reactor, and uranium processing facilities that include a uranium enrichment plant. Recently, head of the British top spy agency MI6 forecast that Iran will achieve nuclear weapon capability in two years.

The Iranian Space Agency launched its first reconnaissance satellite named Sina-1 in 2006, and a space rocket in 2007, which aimed at improving science and research for university students. Iran placed its domestically built satellite, Omid into orbit on the 30th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution, on 2 February 2009, through Safir rocket, becoming the ninth country in the world capable of both producing a satellite and sending it into space from a domestically made launcher.

Iranian scientists outside Iran have also made some major contributions to science. In 1960, Ali Javan co-invented the first gas laser and fuzzy set theory was introduced by Lotfi Zadeh. Iranian cardiologist, Tofy Mussivand invented and developed the first artificial cardiac pump, the precursor of the artificial heart. Furthering research and treatment of diabetes, HbA1c was discovered by Samuel Rahbar. Iranian physics is especially strong in string theory, with many papers being published in Iran. Iranian-American string theorist Cumrun Vafa proposed the Vafa-Witten theorem together with Edward Witten.

The economy of Iran is the twenty-fifth largest in the world by GDP (nominal) and the eighteenth largest economy in the world by purchasing power parity (PPP). Iran's economy is a mixture of central planning, state ownership of oil and other large enterprises, village agriculture, and small-scale private trading and service ventures. Its economic infrastructure has been improving steadily over the past two decades but continues to be affected by inflation and unemployment. In the early 21st century the service sector contributed the largest percentage of the GDP, followed by industry (mining and manufacturing) and agriculture. In 2006, about 45% of the government's budget came from oil and natural gas revenues, and 31% came from taxes and fees.

Government spending contributed to an average annual inflation rate of 14% in the period 2000-2004. As at 2007, Iran had earned $70 billion in foreign exchange reserves mostly (80%) from crude oil exports.[199] In 2009 GDP was $336 billion ($876 billion at PPP), or $12,900 at PPP per capita. In 2008, Iran's official annual growth rate was 6%.[200] Because of these figures and the country's diversified but small industrial base, the United Nations classifies Iran's economy as semi-developed (1998).

Iran's automobile production crossed the 1 million mark in 2005. Iran Khodro is the largest car manufacturer in the Middle-East. It has established joint-ventures with foreign partners from 4 continents.

About 1,659,000 foreign tourists visited Iran in 2004; most came from Asian countries, including the republics of Central Asia, while a small share came from the countries of the European Union and North America. Iran currently ranks 89th in tourist income, but is rated among the "10 most touristic countries" in the world in terms of its history. Weak advertising, unstable regional conditions, a poor public image in some parts of the world, and absence of efficient planning schemes in the tourism sector have all hindered the growth of tourism.

The administration continues to follow the market reform plans of the previous one and indicated that it will diversify Iran's oil-reliant economy. Iran has also developed a biotechnology, nanotechnology, and pharmaceuticals industry. The strong oil market since 1996 helped ease financial pressures on Iran and allowed for Tehran's timely debt service payments.

Iranian budget deficits have been a chronic problem, mostly due to large-scale state subsidies, that include foodstuffs and especially gasoline, totaling more than $84 billion in 2008 for the energy sector alone. In 2010, the economic reform plan was approved by parliament to cut subsidies gradually and replace them with targeted social assistance. The objective is to move towards free market prices in a 5-year period and increase productivity and social justice.

Over the past 15 years, the authorities have placed an emphasis on the local production of domestic-consumption oriented goods such as home appliances, cars, agricultural products, pharmaceutical, etc. Today, Iran possesses a good manufacturing industry, despite restrictions imposed by foreign countries. However, nationalized industries such as the bonyads have often been managed badly, making them ineffective and uncompetitive with years. Currently, the government is trying to privatize these industries, and, despite successes, there are still several problems to be overcome, such as the lagging corruption in the public sector and lack of competitiveness. Iran ranks 69th out of 139 in Global Competitiveness Report.

Iran has leading manufacturing industries in the fields of car-manufacture and transportation, construction materials, home appliances, food and agricultural goods, armaments, pharmaceuticals, information technology, power and petrochemicals in the Middle East.

1) Why do the Jewish people belong in Israel in principle;

and 2), Why do the Jewish people belong in Israel today.

Answer: 1) According to the Torah (Genesis 28:13 and other verses), God gave Israel to the Israelite people. Jewish tradition teaches that, spiritually speaking, Israel needs the Jews. Observing the Torah has a greater spiritual effect when it is done in Israel.

2) Whether or not the Jews should all go to Israel todayis a debated topic, even among the Torah-sages. Opinions are quoted in the halakhic authorities commenting upon the Talmudic discussion in the last couple of pages in the tractate Ketubot.

Together with the discussion in halakha (law), the safety and livelihood of immigrants must be taken into account; and all other repercussions.

The way the question is written is to assume that it is not theirs, which is not the case in the slightest. According to historical, religious, legal, and political grounds, the territory of the British Mandate of Palestine at least partially, if not entirely, belongs to the Jewish people.

1) Historically: The Jews have an undeniable presence in the land from at least 700 BCE until 70 CE and this is proven not only by the Biblical account, but from Assyrian Ruins, Babylonian documents, Hellenistic inscriptions, and Roman volumes. Jews had a continuous presence in the land from 70 CE until the present day (even though they were nowhere near the majority) even though they were forcibly deported from the territory. The fact that they survived, as opposed to the Arameans or Hittites who were similarly exiled does not illegitimate their claims.

In addition to the population-part of the historical claim, Jews have physical ruins and cities that are very sacred to them in the territory of the British Mandate of Palestine. The city of Jerusalem is mentioned over 700 times in the Jewish Bible. The city of Nablus used to be the Northern Metropolis of Shechem. Hebron was the first capital of Ancient Israel whence Saul ruled and David ruled until he conquered Jerusalem from the Jebusites. Even more recent sites like Masada document the Jewish presence and struggle to persevere.

2) Religiously: The Jewish claim to have a connection to the land of the British Mandate of Palestine is firmly grounded in their religion. Jews as early as the Babylonian exiles wrote about returning to the land because God had promised it to them. According to the Pentateuch, God promised Abraham that piece of land. (This promise is even acknowledged in the Qur'an 5:20-21 and 17:104.) Many Jewish Holy Sites are in Israel such as the Kotel Hama'aravi (Western Wall).

3) Legally: By international law, the Ottoman Empire took the territory from the Seljuks and Abbassids by internationally recognized conquest. The territory was ceded to the British as a Mandate by the Ottomans as a term of surrender in World War I. (Even though the British had promised the territory to both the Arabs and Jews during the War, neither promise is legally binding.) According to the terms of the Mandate, even though the British were in control, the League of Nations had official jurisdiction. In 1947, the British gave direct authority to the League of Nations' successor, the United Nations, in accordance with the terms of their Mandate. The UN passed the 1947 Partition Plan that gave both a Jewish State and an Arab State the Right to Declare Statehood. The fact that the Arabs decided not to immediately declare such a state does not make the Israeli declaration any less valid. (It is important to note that Palestine did declare statehood on these grounds in 1988, which further cements the legality of this view.)

4) Politically: Jews invested a lot in building the political and physical infrastructure of the land even before they had control. Jews built farms, trained military brigades, created political parties, studied government, and defended themselves. This created a system that was able to repel the Arab Attacks in the Arab-Israeli War of 1948-9, secure expanded borders in the Six Day War of 1967, and hold those borders in the Arab-Israeli War of 1973. Israelis were actually able to exert control over this territory.

Of course, this list is not exhaustive, but should capture the sentiment of the question.

The answer depends on how the question is read:

Reading 1: At what time did only Jews and no other people live in Israel?

Never. Jewish people have lived in Israel for thousands of years, but there has never been a time when ONLY Jewish people lived within it's borders.

Reading 2: At what time did all Jews live exclusively in Israel?

The Jewish People lived exclusively in Israel from their early development as a nation (in what is now Israel and the West Bank) up to 586 BCE when the Babylonians conquered the Kingdom of Judah and exiled the Jewish aristocracy to Babylon (and therefore made part of the Jewish community live outside of Israel). Never again did the Jews exclusively live in Israel.

Answer 1

Wherever you see a military conflict in the history of modern Israel, and that Israel still exists after it, you know that Israel didn't lose. Had Israel lost, it would no longer exist.

Just as on so many previous occasions of violence and military action, there was nothing worthy of the world's attention going on until Israel fired back. Later, Israel withdrew its forces from Lebanon at the request of the UN, in return for the stationing of a UN 'Peacekeeping' force in southern Lebanon, and a guarantee that the shelling and rocketing of northern Israeli towns and farms from Lebanon would be prevented.

Answer 2

Contrary to the view presented in Answer 1, the 2006 War in Lebanon was not an existential war for Israel (as opposed to the 1948-9, 1967, and 1973 wars). Therefore, judging Israel's victory or defeat cannot come from "and the flag was still there." The dominant opinion, both in Israel and the Arab World was that Israel lost with a differing opinion on how badly.

There is still research being done on why Israel was much less successful in the Lebanese War than it had been in previous engagements. The general theory is that Israel was unable to effectively fight a counter-insurgency war in hostile territory. Hezbollah was too entrenched in the various south Lebanese neighborhoods for Israel to do anything less than carpet-bombing if they wanted to get everything, but Israel refused to engage in such conduct and attempted to go door to door. Hezbollah also had superior command over the terrain since they were fighting on "home ground". Israel's stated aim was to either deal a massive blow to Hezbollah, recover soldiers Regev and Goldwasser or both. They achieved neither. (Regev and Goldwasser's corpses were eventually recovered in a prisoner transfer deal with Hezbollah a few years later.)

Israel: As Israel has no oil fields, a lot of Israeli foreign policy (after trying to settle the Arab problems) is to find a reputable source of energy. This energy policy led to a strong alliance with Iran from 1948-1979 during which Israel purchased numerous millions of barrels of Iranian oil. Under Israeli occupation in from 1967-1982 the Sinai Peninsula was host to numerous Israeli-started operations to drill oil from the area. The Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel requires Egypt to sell oil to Israel at a low rate and to keep it flowing almost continuously. In the recent tumult in Egypt, the Egyptian government has not been careful about adhering to these regulations. Israel is now experimenting with deep-sea oil drilling in the Mediterranean close to Lebanon in the hopes of finding new petroleum to keep its economy functioning.

Saudi Arabia: Oil is the only reason Saudi Arabia has an economy at all. The Saudi family, although relatively wealthy when they conquered Hejaz, had little wealth as compared to contemporaneous European countries. The discovery of nearly inexhaustible oil wealth in Saudi Arabia allowed the Saudi Monarchy to consolidate power and engage in a virtuous cycle of bringing new technologies to Saudi Arabia to acquire more oil to increase the government to bring new technologies into the county and so forth. Since the oil wealth funds most of Saudi Arabia's government, little respect is paid to the Saudi citizens since the government need not depend on them for its survival. This has made Saudi Arabia a very authoritarian state.

Iran: Unlike Saudi Arabia, Iran has an economy outside of oil production, however, the current regime in Iran is attempting to squash all political dissent and is using the oil money it has to undergird its policies and pay its soldiers. It is also destroying nascent industry in the country which could compete with these revenues. In the past Iranian oil was one of the major reasons why the British urged America to lead a coup d'état against President Mossadegh in 1953 (which restored the Anglophilic Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi to power) and was one of the main reasons that Iraq attempted to reclaim the Shatt Al-Arab and Iranian Khuzestan (an area with significant oil fields) in the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-1988.

This is a controversial issue since Israel does not admit or deny nuclear capability. As a result, the views in any direction are guesses and hypotheses. This answer has been organized for clarity into two parts depending on whether they hold that "Yes" Israel does have its weapons pointed at major European cities or "No". There is also a third section for those who deny the existence or possibility of nuclear missiles. The order is used solely for organization and does not indicate which answer is empirically correct.

Part 1: Yes, Europe is Targeted

Answer 1

It is believed that Israel has nuclear warheads pointed not only to European cities but also to Middle East cities. They have targeted everything that could threat Israel. Israel is widely believed to possess weapons of mass destruction, and to be one of four nuclear-armed countries not recognized as a Nuclear Weapons State by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The US Congress Office of Technology Assessment has recorded Israel as a country generally reported as having undeclared chemical warfare capabilities, and an offensive biological warfare program. Officially Israel neither confirms nor denies possessing nuclear weapons.

It is believed that Israel had possessed an operational nuclear weapons capability by 1967, with the mass production of nuclear warheads occurring immediately after the Six-Day War. Although no official statistics exist, it has been estimated that Israel possesses from 75 to as many as 400 nuclear weapons, which are reported to include thermonuclear weapons in the megaton range. Israel is also reported to possess a wide range of different systems, including neutron bombs, tactical nuclear weapons, and suitcase nukes.

Israel has also the air, surface, and marine nuclear delivery systems. Delivery mechanisms include Jericho intercontinental ballistic missiles, with a range of 11,500 km, and which are believed to provide a second-strike option. Israel's nuclear-capable ballistic missiles are believed to be buried so far underground that they would survive a nuclear attack.

Concerning Part 3's Nuclear Denialism: (1) All information in this answer is from Western information sources without any interference. (2) The economic status is never a factor when the country wants to be nuclear weapon state. Examples are North Korea and Pakistan and formerly South Africa.

For more information refer to links below.

Part 2: No, Europe is Not Targeted

Answer 1

The Israeli government has never confirmed any information about nuclear weapons in their country. There are no credible sources that identify European targets, and any confirmation was made out of assumptions. It is widely accepted that Israel does have nuclear weapons (believed to be the sixth country to have developed them). IF one were to suppose they had missiles trained on a destination, it would certainly be in the Middle East . Attacking Europe is highly unlikely.

Answer 2

It should be observed or noted here that Nuclear weapons are not "pointed" although the media loves to use this term as it occasionally delves into propaganda. These weapons have programmed flight paths for as great a number of possible targets as are deemed plausible. In the event of war, and their activation, a flight plan is selected and, after the proper protocols, they are launched at their target. So really, a missile can be simultaneously pointed at hundreds of cities or strategic points. It's simply a matter of which target is eventually selected depending on the conflict that the country is involved in.

Also, to respond to the person with a misunderstanding of nuclear physics, in Part 3 fission reactions are indeed hard to begin or stop in a controlled manner, however, if you have no interest in controlling the reaction, such as in a bomb, the critical concentration can easily be achieved with compression caused by a chemical explosive. Most people agree we have a fairly complete understanding of how to blow things up whenever we please using those. In regards to the use of fusion in a weapon, the development of fusion bombs came later. In these cases, the fission reaction started via critical compression of the initial fissioning mass releases a burst of energy which begins a hydrogen-tritium fusion process, which releases additional neutrons to feed the fission process. The entire process once started takes only microseconds, and is known as a Fission-Fusion-Fission detonation, and is to the first fission bombs what they were to chemical explosives - as much as a thousand times greater in energy output.

Answer 3

There is no evidence that any European cities are targeted by the Israeli nuclear missile sites. What would be the point? Besides, weapons such as this aren't "pointed". They're given target coordinates via an upload, either by cable or a secure wireless connection. If Israel actually deployed a weapon, it would almost certainly be delivered by plane, not a missile, for a variety of reasons.

Answer 4

While I agree with every other claim put forward by Part 1: Answer 1 above, I do not agree with the claim that Israel has aimed nuclear weapons at European cities. Israel has had a strong alliance with a number of European countries for centuries and it would seem counterintuitive to jeopardize that.

Part 3: Nuclear Missile Denialism

Answer 1

The information in Part 1: Answer 1 above is economic nonsense. Israel simply cannot afford to develop nor retain stocks of nuclear weapons as above. Israel's leaders are sane unlike the madmen running places like North Korea. Nuclear weapons as described there do not work and have never been demonstrated. They are so worthless that Ukraine happily gave them up in exchange for cheap gas from Russia that she could then re-export for profit - a much more lucrative business than storing useless weapons. The only aggressive nuclear devices used were those over Japan in WWII. They were effectively mechanisms set up in airborne scientific laboratories flying over the cities they bombed, delivering complex devices with pre-set timing. Such things cannot be replicated in missiles and bombs etc. The stuff above demonstrates the writer has little understanding of chemistry and physics and he/she lacks the grace to let other answers stand and allow the reader to make up his or her mind. The stuff above is propaganda designed to stir up the Antichrist's (666) allies in preparation for the Campaign of Armageddon. Israel has no intention to use such awful aggressive weapons. She only has weapons to defend herself because that is all she can afford. Most Israelis work 50-60 hour weeks because the economy is under so much pressure to feed and hospitalise 11 million Jews and Arabs.