Jewish Republic of Israel

The Jewish Republic of Israel, known also by its Hebrew name of Eretz Israel or 'The Land of Israel', is one of the last important nation-states in existence, based on being the bastion of the Jewish people Israel has often engaged in struggles with their Arab neighbors in the past. This alongside their trouble with their Arab minority left bitter feelings between the two ethnic groups that would culminate in the Great Arab-Israeli War of 2098. Now Israel is in control of a majority of the Levant and is one of the few Middle Eastern states to survive the inundation relatively unscathed.

As the world was hit by social upheaval with the sinking of many of its coastal cities, Israel too was affected by what happened, even though it survived better than some entities. Scarcity of food and resources further increased tensions between it and its neighbors, and cities such as Tel Aviv experienced a great depression as water levels rose and trade plummeted. Radicalism, often hiding under the surface, rose to prominence within Israel. The final collapse of Pax Americana and its guarantees for Israeli security against attacks from its neighbors proved to be the final push over the edge. Leading a coalition of right-wing parties, the Israeli National Party under Isaac Leblin would take power in 2095 and swiftly secure their hold over the nation. Under the banner of "Eretz Yisrael Hashlema" or "The Complete Land of Israel" they began to resurrect many of the beliefs of the old Revisionist Zionists who had once argued for an Israel incorporating the entire Palestinian Mandate, "both banks of the river Jordan" as they said.

This of course did nothing to help with the tensions that was brewing across the border or the animosity that was felt between the Jewish and Arab populations. In 2098 the last great war of the Middle East broke out as in what was called a preemptive attack by the Israeli government. Justified by the massing of troops by Israel's neighbors, they invaded their neighbors with the intent to secure enough of their rightful land to never again have to worry about a stronger state threatening them. In one of the last and most brutal phases of ethnic cleansing seen since the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s, Israel cleansed itself of its Arab population so as to bring "final peace and security for the Jewish people". Thus with the death or expulsion of the last Palestinian population in the region the Palestinian Diaspora came to its final, ironic, conclusion. And with the implementation of the Mechanism soon thereafter the "natural borders of Israel" looked to stay, and the Israeli National Party despite many protests thus secured their complete hold over the nation.

Though prevented by the Mechanism from opposing Israeli policies with violence, Israel is a pariah state with no diplomatic support and almost no trade with other nations. The Israeli government has pushed more than perhaps any other nation to establish a presence off-world, the Martian colony of Kiryat Sharon being the Israeli crown jewel, succeeding where many larger and richer nations have not even gotten off the ground. It is often used by the INP as proof of Israel's tenacity and refusal to give up even as all others oppose them and how Jewish self-reliance would lead to the survival of their people no matter what. It was in short a great propaganda project that marked Israel's status as one of the solar system's future great powers.

Israeli society meanwhile had been greatly changed by their experiences of the last century, "western socialism" and "liberalism" were thoroughly denounced for their responsibility in the collapse of European and North American society and has been marginalized in favor of the "authentic Jewish ideology" that was the INP. Furthermore, demographic growth of the orthodox and ultraorthodox Jews compared to the secular Jews as well as the responsibility that the latter group had been given for the collapse of the State of Israel before the formation of the Jewish Republic of Israel had led to a society where "apostasy" was forbidden, Halakha was law, and the normal courts had been replaced by the Beth Din. In short, the Rabbis had a large degree of control over most of the legal system that was not under the IDF's supervision. The Israeli Defense Force meanwhile had changed in its role since the Mechanism, with the need to defend Israel's border removed the IDF was now instead primarily responsible for the colonization of space. Martial law was in place both in Kiryat Sharon and all future colonies. The Knesset has been further and further sidelined by prime minister Leblin, "the savior of Israel" and at this point was little more than a rubber-stamp organisation. Since the so-called failure of Liberalism and the embargoes put on Israel the economy had been turned into an autarky, to show Israel's strength and self-reliance.

In these days Israel is a true democracy no more, a republic in name only. Its four main pillars are the Party, the Rabbinate, the Military, and the Institute (or as by its Hebrew name: Mossad).

Earth-based Israeli Resources and Technology

Mars
Habitats

Kiryat Sharon - Prefab Habitat (5,7)

Orbital

Solar Array x 1