Israel Defense Forces

The Israel Defense Forces, known in Hebrew by the acronym Tzahal, are the national military of the State of Israel and the sole military wing of its security apparatus. They are made up of three service branches, the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force and the Israeli Navy, and are headed by a chief of the general staff who answers to the defense minister. The force was formed on 26 May 1948 on the orders of the first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, as a conscript military, drawing its first recruits from the existing Yishuv paramilitaries Haganah, Irgun and Lehi. It has taken part in every armed conflict involving Israel. After the peace treaties with Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994 its attention turned toward southern Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, with withdrawals from southern Lebanon in 2000 and from Gaza in 2005. Its conduct in the Palestinian territories is the subject of sharp criticism from human rights organizations and scholars, and it has kept a close security relationship with the United States since 1967.