Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of Graph Search.
Concept
Israel Defense Forces
Summary
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , The Army of Defense for Israel), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym Tzahal (צה״ל), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and the Israeli Navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security apparatus. The IDF is headed by the Chief of the General Staff, who is subordinate to the Israeli Defense Minister.
On the orders of David Ben-Gurion, the IDF was formed on 26 May 1948 and began to operate as a conscript military, drawing its initial recruits from the already-existing paramilitaries of the Yishuv—namely Haganah, the Irgun, and Lehi. Since its formation shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Independence, the IDF has participated in every armed conflict involving Israel. While it originally operated on three major fronts—against Lebanon and Syria in the north, against Jordan and Iraq in the east, and against Egypt in the south—the IDF has primarily shifted its focus to southern Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories since the 1979 Egypt–Israel peace treaty and 1994 Israel–Jordan peace treaty. However, notable Israeli–Syrian border incidents have occurred frequently since 2011 due to regional instability caused by the ongoing multi-sided Syrian Civil War.
The IDF is unique among the militaries of the world due to its regulated conscription of women since its formation. It is one of the most prominent institutions in Israeli society due to its influence on the country's economy and political scene. It uses several technologies developed within Israel, with many of them made specifically to cater to its needs in its operational environment in the Levant. Prominent Israeli-developed military equipment includes: the Merkava, a main battle tank; the Achzarit and Namer - armored personnel carriers; Iron Dome, an air defense system; Trophy, an active protection system; IDF Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozer; Spike anti-tank guided missile family; MATADOR shoulder-launched rocket; the IMI Galil and IWI Tavor families of assault rifles; and the Uzi, a family of submachine guns.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.