Israel

Israel won all of its wars with the Arabs. However, the Arab-Israeli Conflict is ongoing and has serious diplomatic implications for non-involved countries.

The War of Independence (1947-49)

In 1949, Israel signed separate armistices with Egypt on 24 February, Lebanon on 23 March, Jordan on 3 April, and Syria on 20 July. The Armistice Demarcation Lines, as set by the agreements, saw the territory under Israeli control encompassing approximately three-quarters of Mandate Palestine. This was about one-third more than was allocated to the Jewish State under the UN partition proposal.

The Sinai Campaign of 1956

In October 1956 Israel invaded Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. In five days the Israeli army captured Gaza, Rafaḥ, and Al-ʿArīsh-taking thousands of prisoners-and occupied most of the peninsula east of the Suez Canal. After the armistice was signed, Eisenhower pressed Israel to return the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt, which it did in March of 1957.

The Six-Day War (June 1967)

Within the brief span of six days, the IDF overran the whole Sinai peninsula, up to the Suez Canal; took the entire West Bank of the River Jordan; and in the last days, without the benefit of surprise, captured a great part of the Golan Heights, including the dominant Mount Hermon - from then on "the eyes and ears of Israel". The culminating event was the capture of the Old City of Jerusalem and the re-encounter with the place most revered by Jews, the Western (Wailing) Wall. The blowing of the shofar at the Western Wall reverberated throughout the world.

The Yom Kippur War (October 1973)

The war was so called because it started on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, the Day of Atonement (October 6, 1973). It came almost as a complete surprise and warning notice was given too late for an orderly call-up of the reserves before zero hour. Within a few days the IDF was on the west bank of the Suez Canal, at a distance of 100 kms from the Egyptian capital, Cairo, and within artillery range of the airfields around the Syrian capital, Damascus. Egypt, which at first had refused a cease-fire, now accepted it avidly, as did Syria.

Exact numbers are not known, but it's estimated that as of 2014, there are 300,000 to 500,000 gay people in Israel, not including undocumented gay Palestinians living in Israel illegally (Escaping anti-gay discrimination and violence is is the number one reason Palestinians cross the border illegally).

Illegal gay Palestinian immigrants may add thousands more to that number.

Answer 1

Maybe because Israel is a Jewish Nation. It would make sense that most Jews would want to live safely and securely in a nation that supports their values, if they could.

Note:

Israel is the nation with more Jews among its population than any other nation, but it's not true that more than half the Jews in the world live there. According to figures as of mid-2009, Israel still comprises less than 50% of the world's Jewish population, with the rest spread among roughly 135 other nations.

Answer 2

First of all, most of the Jews don't live in Israel. The Jews living in Israel are still slightly less than 50% of the Jews in the world. But living in Israel has a great traditional value in Judaism, and Israel actively and openly, both religiously and secularly, welcomes Jewish immigrants, and it's expected that the Jews in Israel will be a majority of those in the world very soon.

The reason is very simple, without bending your ear or beating around the bush: Israel is an openly, proactively, ambitiously Jewish state, the place where Jews historically, culturally, spiritually, and secularly belong, and the only place in the world where Jews are welcome, period.

But still, for a short while, slightly less than half of the world's Jews live in Israel. The other slightly-more-than-half of the world's Jews are still spread out among 135 other countries.

Next subject:

This question has been coupled with the question "Why can only Jews live in Israel ?" ...

a question that cries out for a clear response.

It's true that Jews are a majority of Israel's population. But it is not true that any category is prevented from living in Israel. That means no categorical restrictions. Of all places on Earth, Israel understands the evil of restrictions against people based on what they are.

Israel has no official state religion, and no group, class, or category of persons is barred from Israeli residence and citizenship because of what they are. Residents, land owners, home owners, business owners, voters, full passport-holding citizens of Israel include Muslims, Christians, Palestinians, Druze, Seventh Day Adventists, Eastern religionists, non-religious, atheists, blacks, whites, yellows, ethnic Orientals, ethnic Arabs, all citizens have the vote, including their men and their women, and send their voting representatives to their local governments and to Israel's parliament.

The court that found a former president of Israel guilty of corruption and sentenced him to serve a prison term included a Jew, a woman, and a Muslim Arab, and there was no revolution or coup d'état preceding the verdict!

Is it necessary to point out how, in these respects, Israel is quite unlike other

countries in the region ?

There are several commonalities between these countries. They include that:

• They all have had coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea
• Parts of all of these countries were part of the Roman Empire in 100 C.E., under Christian control in 400 C.E., and under Islamic control by 1400 C.E.
• They are all, at least partly, in the northern and eastern hemispheres.
• They are all members or observers of the Union for the Mediterranean.