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The Israel Defence Force (Hebrew: Tsva Haganah Le-Israel, often abbreviated Tsahal) is Israel's army. It was founded in 1948 to "defend the existence, territorial integrity and sovereignty of the state of Israel" and "to protect the inhabitants of Israel and to combat all forms of terrorism which threaten the daily life."

Recent policies

The IDF uses sophisticated technology, and due to their long experience fighting Palestinian guerrillas, have developed what many consider to be the most effective methods of crowd control and use of non-lethal force. That is of course disputed by others, who note that Israel's army is responsible for the death of many Palestinian civilians.

Among the countries that are considered democratic, Israel is the only one that officially uses assassinations as a means of defence. The most recent development of that tactic is announced assassinations. Here a target, usually a guerrilla leader or powerful Palestinian threat to Israel is announced to be a target, and then killed by various methods, including helicopter launched rockets and exploding pay phones. By using this method, Israel hopes to minimize civillian casualties while maximizing the effect on Palestinian oppostion. The method remains highly controversial however, inside as well as outside Israel.

See also: Arab-Israeli conflict, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Terrorism against Israel, Terrorism against Arabs, USS Liberty

Further reference

• IDF's home page
• The Sword and the Olive, Martin Van Creveld, ISBN 1-891620-05-3. A thorough and critical history of the IDF from the early defence leagues, and up to the late 1990s.

There's much more than that to be written, organizational structure, history etc. Add at will