Israel CMO Factpage

Mark Young

 

 

Overview of Israel’s Military and Defense

            The country that I writing about is Israel.  I am the CMO and my main objective is the survival and maintenance of Israel and its military.  Israel’s Defense Forces (IDF), consist of ground, naval, and air forces.  The Israel military was primarily created and built to help defend against land invasions from other countries and enemies.  But in recent years this threat has considerably dropped compared to decades ago.  The different branches of the military are Pioneer Fighting Youth or Nahal, the Frontier Guard, and the Chen or women.  Conscription is mandatory for Jewish men and women over the age of 18, but exemptions have been made on the past due to religious grounds.  In 2002 the average military manpower available is approximately 1,542,835 for men and 1,499,830 for females.  But the military manpower that is fit for military services are approximately 1,262,973 for males and 1,223,939 females.  The average age of male and females in the Israel’s military is 51 years old for male and just over 49 years old for females.  Military expenditures for 2002 were $8.97 billion or 8.75% of GDP. The defense budget is more than the budgets of Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon combined.  This is compared to the 9% of Israel’s GDP on defense from 1950-1966.  Two wars dramatically increased the GDP of Israel in 1967 and 1973.  The military budget peaked 10.6% of the GDP in 1996.  It also took up about 21.5% of the total budget of Israel.  In foreign affairs the United States of America and Israel have been close allies for many years.  They established the Joint Political Military Group in 1983 together which meets twice a year to discuss military issues and to work together on military research and development.  Israel has diplomatic relations with about 153 states.  It also created diplomatic relations with 62 different countries following the 1991 Madrid conference. For example, Israel is India’s second largest weapons and arms supplier.