Talk:Israel

Former featured articleIsrael is a former featured article. Please see the links under Article milestones below for its original nomination page (for older articles, check the nomination archive) and why it was removed.
Main Page trophyThis article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on May 8, 2008.
Article milestones
DateProcessResult
February 16, 2007Good article nomineeNot listed
May 25, 2007Good article nomineeListed
September 4, 2007Peer reviewReviewed
September 30, 2007Featured article candidatePromoted
June 23, 2010Featured article reviewDemoted
April 20, 2012Peer reviewReviewed
Current status: Former featured article


Frequently asked questions; please read before posting

These questions arise frequently on the talk page concerning Israel.

Why is Jerusalem listed as Israel's capital in the infobox?

Israel declares Jerusalem to be its capital, and has its seat of government there. However, the lack of international recognition is notable, hence the subtext was added "(limited recognition)" as the result of a 2018 request for comment (RfC). For further information see Status of Jerusalem.

Why does the article's introduction state that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, even though this is heavily contested and neither the ICJ nor the ICC have issued a final judgment?

The text Following the October 7 attacks in 2023, Israel began committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza was added following a November 2025 request for comment (RfC), which concluded that Israel should be described in the introduction as committing genocide without in-text attribution. For further information see Gaza genocide and another relevant RfC which was previously held there.

This section is permanently on this talk page and does not get archived. It is for mobile-device users for whom the the normal talk page header and FAQ are not shown.

Israel as a Rhodesian style Herrenvolk democracy/Ethnocracy

Herrenvolk democracy ny is a partially democratic form of government in which only a specific ethnic group has voting rights and the right to run for office, while other groups are disenfranchised. but this is not always the case as in Rhodesia Black people were allowed to run in office but they were often disenfranchised. in the wikipedia article "In their discussion of South Africa as a herrenvolk democracy, sociologists Chester Hunt and Lewis Walker found that the Rhodesian system could not confine citizenship and representative government to the "herrenvolk" because it was simply too small - white Rhodesians never made up more than five percent of the country's total population. Hunt and Walker argued that this practical reality forced white Rhodesians to accept compromises that resulted in a slightly more pluralistic system as opposed to South Africa's herrenvolk democracy, albeit one in which they continued to enjoy disproportionate influence."

Family unification is banned if a parent is palestinian or a citizen of syria, lebanon, iraq or iran https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/7371

The Absentees’ Property Law (APL) was enacted in 1950, ostensibly to address the management of property left by the roughly 750,000 Palestinian refugees driven out of Israel during the 1948 war. In reality, the law provided not for management of these properties, but for their permanent expropriation. The Land Acquisition for Public Purposes Ordinance – Amendment No. 10 (2010) allows Israel’s Finance Minister to confiscate land for “public purposes”. The state has used this law extensively, in conjunction with other laws like the Land Acquisition Law (1953) and the Absentees’ Property Law (1950), to confiscate Palestinian-owned land in Israel. [1]

Israel’s Jewish Nation State Law was passed in 2018 as a basic law. Since Israel has no formal written constitution, basic laws essentially function as chapters of the country’s constitution. There are three main parts to the Nation State Law: It declares the exercise of national self-determination to be a right enjoyed by Jewish citizens only. It makes Hebrew the only official state language (prior to the Nation State Law, both Hebrew and Arabic were official state languages). Under the law, Arabic is given “special status” which means some state services will still be available in Arabic. It commits to expanding Jewish settlement as “a national value”. The clear implication is that the law prioritizes settlements for Jews at the expense of others within Israel and the occupied territories. [2]


"The state will be open to Jewish immigration and the ingathering of the exiles." which excludes palestinian refugees

"A. The state shall foster the well-being of the Jewish people in trouble or in captivity due to the fact of their Jewishness or their citizenship. B. The state shall act in the Diaspora to preserve the affinity between the state and the Jewish people. C. The state shall act to preserve the cultural, historic, and religious heritage of the Jewish people in the Jewish Diaspora."

"The state views the development of Jewish settlement as a national value, and will act to encourage it and to promote and to consolidate its establishment" https://www.adalah.org/uploads/uploads/Basic_Law_Israel_as_the_Nation_State_of_the_Jewish_People_ENG_TRANSLATION_25072018.pdf

this was condemned by the united nations

some other writings https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2017-05-11/ty-article/.premium/israels-message-to-its-palestinian-citizens-jewish-rights-are-superior/0000017f-f5d9-d887-a7ff-fdfd4c7a0000

these are all characteristic of a Herrenvolk Democracy other articles also claim it to be a Herrenvolk Democracy

https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/from-secular-jewish-state-to-a-jewish-herrenvolk-democracy/ https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13530194.2025.2584846 https://www.e-ir.info/2019/08/25/israel-a-democratic-state/ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236791129_Ethnic_Democracy_Israel_as_an_Archetype https://www.ecmi.de/fileadmin/redakteure/publications/pdf/working_paper_13.pdf Gorgonopsi (talk) 12:52, 27 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]

I'd suggest either have its government listed "Ethnocratic Unitary parliamentary republic" as Israel is considered the main example of Ethnocracy
An ethnocracy is a political regime where a dominant ethnic group holds disproportionate power and uses state institutions to advance its interests, power, and resources over other groups. It operates by segmenting society along ethnic lines, differentiating rights based on ethnicity, and often controlling land and public policy to ensure dominance, appearing as a "hybrid" between democratic and authoritarian systems.
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/ethnocracy
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/345777685_ETHNOCRACY_Exploring_and_Extending_the_Concept Gorgonopsi (talk) 15:51, 27 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
Constitutionally the laws that I have cited would be in-line with Ethnocracy. this is not to single Israel out however, multiple other Ethnocracies exist such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium, Ethiopia, however those could also be considered Ethnofederalist Gorgonopsi (talk) 16:00, 27 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
You don't actually propose a specific change to the article here. If you want to propose a change, note that it will need to be backed up by WP:RS and not primary sources. Your discussion above comes off as original research and synthesis (see WP:SNYTH). Jahaza (talk) 17:10, 27 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
These are a mix of constitutional laws, plus academic research to prove this isn't just my own research. Gorgonopsi (talk) 22:32, 27 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
@Gorgonopsi I have reverted your change to the article. You need to have consensus to make the change you're proposing here. Not only that, but this is a WP:Contentious topic, so you don't just need some sources to support your argument you'll likely need a preponderance of sources. Conceptual definitions of what an ethnocracy is do not support the change as WP:SYNTH as @Jahaza said above. estar8806 (talk) ★ 13:21, 30 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
I already done this here I believe people to not be reading what i have written or misinterpreting it, when i gave my rational that was treated as "own research" when i was just explaining the sources to show I understood what those sources were stating.
An ethnocracy is a type of political structure featuring "rule by a particular ethnos in a multi-ethnic situation" according to the wikipedia page, this was cited from https://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/mcs/article/view/5143/5715
the term Ethnocracy was coined by Oren Yiftachel, its quite well defined in the wikipedia article, I know wikipedia itself is not a source however i think it is a well written page
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0962629804000423 heres an academic source in ethnocracies, Gorgonopsi (talk) 14:15, 7 April 2026 (UTC)[reply]

References

Edit request 2 April 2026

Description of suggested change: The image captioned "Tel Aviv in the 1930s" has been heavily upscaled with AI. As per MOS:AIUPSCALE, I believe that the image should be changed to this version instead.

Diff:

−
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:110277_tel_aviv_-_magen_david_square_PikiWiki_Israel.png
+
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Allenby_Street.JPG

Carpenter117 (talk) 21:22, 2 April 2026 (UTC)[reply]

 Done: numerous bizarre artefacts.—Odysseus1479 21:40, 2 April 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 20 April 2026

Change "Israel began commiting genocide" to "there are claims that Israel began commiting genocide" this is a flagrant violation of Wikipedia terms of dead set honesty, a claim like this is far too unsourced and controversial to simply put down ~2026-24288-47 (talk) 17:47, 20 April 2026 (UTC)[reply]

This comment would've been prevented if you just read the FAQs above. You'll understand why. Hacked (Talk|Contribs) 17:50, 20 April 2026 (UTC)[reply]
You must also have a permanent account that is 30 days old with 500 edits to participate in discussion on or edit about this topic. Edit requests must be simple and something that no reasonable person could disagree with. See your user talk page. 331dot (talk) 19:29, 20 April 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Edit

Tel Aviv should be mentioned in infobox as de–facto capital along with Jerusalem as limited recognition A$ianeditorz (talk) 00:20, 23 April 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Illegal occupation of Lebanon

Since the start of the 2026 Lebanon war, Israel has maintained an indefinite illegal occupation of Lebanon. This is widely reported by sources:

Separately Israel's actions are also regarded as illegal:

This should be added to the article, alongside the other already-included illegal Israeli occupations. JasonMacker (talk) 13:56, 27 April 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 1 May 2026

Issrael is not country in West Africa, that doesnt make any sense. Everyone knows that Israel is country in the Middle East. Please let me change that, or get it changed. Thank you! ~2026-26471-74 (talk) 16:05, 1 May 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Is West Africa even mentioned in this article? IOHANNVSVERVS (talk) 16:09, 1 May 2026 (UTC)[reply]
Israel is in the western part of Asia. Being in the Middle East doesn't change that. It's in both. Grilledcheeseisgreat ✉ 16:22, 1 May 2026 (UTC)[reply]
Wait, West Africa? I'll check that. I thought you said it was West Asia, whoops. Grilledcheeseisgreat ✉ 16:25, 1 May 2026 (UTC)[reply]
And... it never said West Africa after all. It did say West Asia, which is why I was confused. So, what exactly are you trying to say? Grilledcheeseisgreat ✉ 16:26, 1 May 2026 (UTC)[reply]
 Not done: Both unclear what exactly should be changed and what should be changed from is not mentioned in the article currently. Skynxnex (talk) 17:12, 1 May 2026 (UTC)[reply]
I think they might be talking about the Uganda plan, which never actually came to be! ~2026-31257-53 (talk) 01:46, 26 May 2026 (UTC)[reply]
? Grilledcheeseisgreat ✉ 20:21, 27 May 2026 (UTC)[reply]

"State Of israel" listed at Redirects for discussion

The redirect State Of israel has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2026 May 10 § State Of israel until a consensus is reached. 𝔅𝔦𝔰-𝔖𝔢𝔯𝔧𝔢𝔱𝔞? 20:44, 10 May 2026 (UTC)[reply]

"Israeli (nation)" listed at Redirects for discussion

The redirect Israeli (nation) has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2026 May 10 § Israeli (nation) until a consensus is reached. 𝔅𝔦𝔰-𝔖𝔢𝔯𝔧𝔢𝔱𝔞? 20:48, 10 May 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 30 May 2026

Under === Peace process ===, please change "The PLO also recognised Israel's right to exist and pledged an end to terrorism.[1]" to "The PLO also recognised Israel's right to exist and pledged an end to terrorism.[1]". With the "s" in "Organisation" to be replaced with a "z" for "Organization". So it can properly link to the page for the Israel–Palestine Liberation Organization letters of recognition. PenguAlex (talk) 21:31, 30 May 2026 (UTC)[reply]

 Done Day Creature (talk) 21:53, 30 May 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 6 June 2026

I wanted to edit this because the largest city is Tel Aviv in realty Spencer.m.Roeder (talk) 01:55, 6 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

 Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want made. CMD (talk) 02:23, 6 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]
  1. ^ a b Tessler 2009, p. 729.

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