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The Kingdom of Yisrael Eretz Yisroel | |
|---|---|
 Flag | |
 Yisrael (light green) in Scipia | |
| Capital | Yerushalayim |
| Largest | Dervaylik |
| Official languages | Allamunnic English Yiddish Modern Hebrew |
| Ethnic groups | Jews |
| Demonym(s) | Yisraeli |
| Government | Federal presidential constitutional monarchy |
• HRM King | Yaakov II |
| Noah Feldman (RC) | |
| Yosef Landau (RC) | |
| Binyamin Goldschmidt (RC) | |
| Proclamation of the Kingdom of Yisrael | |
| circa 1713-1715 | |
| 1715 | |
| November 4th, 1919 | |
| September 3rd, 1920 | |
| circa 1950 - 1951 | |
| Area | |
• | 150,304 sq mi (389,290 km2) |
| Population | |
• 2018 estimate | 20.2 million |
• 2010 census | 18.76 million |
| GDP (nominal) | 2017 estimate |
• Total | $823.97 billion |
• Per capita | $40,705 |
| Gini (2016) | 43.2 medium |
| HDI (2016) | 0.913 very high |
| Currency | Yisraeli new shekel ($) |
| Time zone | West Scipian Time (WST) |
| Date format | mm/dd/yyyy CE |
| Internet TLD | right |
The Kingdom of Yisrael (commonly called Yisrael) is a federal presidential constitutional monarchy in the world.
The Kingdom is an nation-state located in the continent of Scipia. Yisrael borders Sydalon and Ascalzar to the north, the Thalassan Ocean to the west, the Periclean Sea and country of Fakolana to the far northeast, and unincorporated territory to the south. At 150,304 km2 and with 20.2 million people, it is one of the smaller nations in the world by both land and population.
Yisrael is the home of world Jewry and was founded as a Jewish nation-state. The kings of Yisrael are reputed to trace their lineages to the last kings of ancient Israel. It is considered the holy land for Jews and is also sacred by Christians and Muslims, although the Christian holy land is nearby in Sydalon.
The Kingdom was preceded by the Grand Duchy of Yisrael and earlier by the Jewish petty states. For much of its history, it has been largely under foreign control or occupation. From the 18th century onwards, it has developed a centuries-long rivalry with neighboring Sydalon, a Christian Crusader state which has asserted historical claims to the Yarden River Valley. Sydalon and Yisrael fought a series of wars with each other throughout the 20th century, before signing the Yarden Accords in 1973, turning a cold war into a cold peace. Since the 1970s, Yisrael has been beset by pro-Sydalene Christian terrorism. Since 2000, the nations have developed warmer, more cordial relations.
Since the 1970s, Yisrael has developed a globalizing post-industrial economy that has consistently raised Northwest Scipia's economic profile. The banking sector in Yisrael is considered a regional and global policy-setter, sparking an economic rivalry with Fakolana since the 1980s. Because of secretive banking laws and low, favorable tax rates, Yisrael has become a tax haven for Scipian and southern Belisarian elites, especially from Tarsas, earning the nickname "Banker of Scipia." Yisrael has membership in the Periclean Forum and the Pan-Thalassan Union.
Etymology
The names Land of Yisrael and Children of Yisrael have historically been used to refer to the biblical Kingdom of Yisrael and the entire Jewish people, respectively. The name "Yisrael" (Modern Hebrew: Yisraʾel, lit. "struggle with G-d") in these phrases refers to the patriarch Yaakov who, according to the Hebrew Bible, was given the name after he successfully wrestled with an angel of G-d. Yaakov's twelve sons became the ancestors of the Yisraelites. Yaakov and his sons had lived in Kenaan but were forced by famine to go into Mitzrayim for four generations, lasting 430 years, until Moshe, a great-great grandson of Yaakov, led the Yisraelites back into Kenaan during the "Shemos" (Exodus).
The area is also known as the Holy Land, being holy for all Abrahamic religions including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
History
Government and politics
Yisrael is a federal presidential constitutional monarchy whose structure arose from the 1919 Revolution, after which constitutionalist liberal reformers created and passed the 1920 Constitution, ending the absolute monarchy. This form of government was significantly modified in the Royal Reform Acts of 1952 in the aftermath of the Year of Blood.
There are three branches of government purposefully designed to ensure that the King has substantive executive authority that is tempered by a system of checks and balances with the President of Yisrael, the Royal Knesset, and the royal judiciary each possessing concentrations of responsibilities to counter abuse by either the monarch or the elected government. This division of power, duties, obligations, and responsibilities are outlined in the Royal Constitution, which is considered the supreme law of the land throughout Yisrael.
Branches of government
His Majesty's Royal Government of Yisrael, similar to most modern nation-states, consists of three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial.
Executive
The executive powers are divided between His Royal Majesty the King and the elected His Excellency the President. The King is the head of state by his hereditary right to rule and is formally the royal commander-in-chief of the armed forces and the national representative of the Yisraeli people. The chief executive of the Kingdom is the President, who is aided in his administration of the royal bureaucracy by the Cabinet, who are appointed by and serve at the President's pleasure. The reigning King is Yaakov II. The current President is Noah Feldman.
Since the Royal Reform Acts of 1952, the President has been endowed by His Majesty as the military Supreme Commander, making the President the effective commander-in-chief of the Royal Yisraeli Defense Forces on a day-to-day basis. The King has broader political powers than is typical in most constitutional monarchies, including an array of reserve powers and the ability to give or refuse royal assent.
The President also has the power to sign or veto legislative bills passed by the Knesset. He appoints his Cabinet as well as a bevy of senior and mid-level administrative and regulatory posts throughout the Royal Government.
The president serves a term of four years, and cannot run more than twice, and both the president and vice president must run on the same ticket. The president is elected through a plurality majority in an electoral college, whose votes are decided by the winner of the popular vote in each of the five districts by eligible, registered voters in a first-past-the-post electoral system.
Cabinet
| Ministry | Minister | Party |
|---|---|---|
| President | Noah Feldman | RC |
| Vice-President | Yisroel Sayegh | RC |
| Foreign Minister | Yitzchok Katz | RC |
| Defense Minister | Naftali Bauman | RC |
| Justice Minister | Vacant (since June 13, 2018) |
??? |
| Interior Minister | Yehudis Eisenberger | RC |
| Finance Minister | Gedalia Rothstein | RC |
| Transportation Minister | Aryeh Leib Hurwitz | AY |
| Immigration Minister | Vacant (since June 13, 2018) |
??? |
| Education Minister | Moshe Fink | CL |
| Religious Affairs Minister | Yuri Greenspan | NL |
| Economic Development Minister | Ayelet Shakir | AY |
Legislative
The legislative branch of the Royal Government consists of the bicameral Royal Knesset. The Knesset, collectively, is charged with lawmaking, declaring war or authorizing military force, the power of the purse, creating or eliminating public services, the oversight, investigation, and impeachment of sitting government officials, ratifying treaties, and providing the advise and consent for presidential appointments.
The Knesset consists of two houses: Bais Kohen (upper house) and Bais Yisrael (lower house).
The Bais Kohen functions similar to a conventional "House of Lords" that acts as a check on the lower house and advises and consents to presidential appointments and treaties. It consists of 30 members, all of whom must be either Kohanim or Leviim. Each member serves a six-year term with the ability to run for re-election indefinitely without term limits.
The Bais Yisrael is a traditional "House of Commons" style lower house with broad legislative and budget-setting powers. It has 120 members, all of whom must be a non-Kohen or Levi (i.e. a Yisrael, the vast majority of the Jewish people). Each member serves a two-year term with the ability to run for re-election indefinitely without term limits.
The Knesset is organized so that approximately one-third of seats in the Bais Kohen are open for election every other year (i.e., corresponding with Bais Yisrael's election cycle every two years).
Judiciary
In Yisrael, the court system is divided between religious and secular courts. Secular courts mainly deal with general societal laws (both civil and criminal) while there exists a state-sponsored confessional system for religious courts depending on the person's religious faith. Most religious courts, as reflecting the majority of the Kingdom, are Jewish courts. A smaller structure of sectarian Christian religious courts exist for specific non-Jewish populations and their individual religious traditions.
A non-practicing or secular person is required to attend to a case in a religious court of the faith of his familial upbringing; barring that or in extraordinary cases, a person may appeal and transfer their case to the Royal Yisraeli Special Court of Last Resort, an ad hoc court consisting of a select panel of Sanhedrin judges who decide which law to apply and try the case.
The Royal Yisraeli Sanhedrin is the supreme court of Yisrael. It is a properly constituted Jewish religious court (beis din) that is the final authority over all religious and secular legal disputes. It is comprised of 71 judges (dayanim), who are all Torah scholars who are well-recognized as the most revered and learned Jewish legal decisors of their generation.
The secular Yisraeli courts are referred to as the Royal Yisraeli General Courts, with courts at the district and royal levels, including an appellate division. It handles secular civil and criminal law. The highest court in this system under the Sanhedrin is the High Appellate Court.
The religious Yisraeli courts for Jews are referred to as the Royal Yisraeli Jewish Courts, and similar to their secular counterparts, exist at the district and royal levels, but also at the local level. They are overseen by the Sanhedrin and the Chief Rabbinate of Yisrael. The non-Jewish courts are referred to officially as the Royal Yisraeli Non-Jewish Courts and are officially administered by their respective religious authorities under nominal supervision by the Ministry of Justice.
Other courts
There exists a litany of Special Royal Courts, including:
- Royal Yisraeli Special Court on Political Crimes and Corruption,
- Royal Yisraeli Court for Moral Crimes (for serious religious crimes),
- Royal Yisraeli Bankruptcy Court
- Royal Yisraeli Tax Court
- Royal Yisraeli Special Court of Last Resort
Politics
Yisrael has a de jure multiparty system but a de facto two-party system. The conservative Royalist Conservatives and the center-left Constitutional Liberals dominate Yisraeli politics, but given the fractious nature of Yisraeli life, a number of minor and third parties are able to gain the loyalties of certain constituencies through bloc voting and enter the Knesset, forcing the major two parties to often form coalitions to govern effectively.
Foreign relations
Yisrael recognizes and maintains embassy-level foreign relations with most states in the world. The Kingdom has special relationships with Arthurista and Tarsas, and is on a friendly or cordial status with a litany of other countries, including many of its immediate neighbors such as Sydalon and Fakolana, as well as most of Belisaria, most of Northumbria, and elsewhere. Yisrael pursues a foreign policy based in part on ideology and in part on national interests.
However, there are several nations that Yisrael does not recognize or have diplomatic relations with, including Estoni, Mutul, Marad, Nahlia, and Rieutumimark.
Wars
Yisrael has been involved in a number of wars and military conflicts, starting with its victory in the First West Scipian War that sparked the created of the kingdom of Yisrael from a grand duchy and continuing until the 21st century.
Military
Royal Defense Forces
The Royal Yisraeli Defense Forces consist of four military services: the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, and the Border Guard. Currently, the Yisraeli military is comprised of approximately 1.24 million active and reserve personnel.
The Defense Forces are largely deployed to fight a hypothetical three-front war given its regional security situation, with a legacy hostile power in Sydalon (since 1973, a cordial power), a potentially hostile power in Intermaria, and an active hostile power in Nahlia. Consequently, the Sydalon, Nahlia, and to a lesser extent (for geopolitical and climatic reasons) the Intermaria borders are all militarized. Because of this, the Border Guard was militarized and made a part of the Defense Forces in the Royal Reform Acts of 1952.
Intelligence
The Royal Yisraeli Intelligence Service is the Kingdom's primary foreign intelligence service whose jurisdiction is largely overseas. In contrast, the Royal Yisraeli Security Service is an internal security service as well as a domestic intelligence and counterintelligence agency that is mandated to protect the safety of the Government of Yisrael inside its borders.
Law enforcement
In Yisrael, law enforcement is split along royal (national), district, and municipal levels. The regular Yisraeli Police exist as independent police agencies at the district and local level, with no central royal authority. Rather, they are overseen by district governors and city and town mayors, respectively.
On the national level, there are several special royal police forces. The Royal Yisraeli Special Political Police pursues ideological and political crimes and answers directly to the King. The Royal Yisraeli Civil Guard is a special religious police force that pursues a number of religious-specific crimes.
Administrative divisions
Yisrael is divided into five districts: Northern District, Dervaylik District, Central District, Western District, and the Southern District.
Template:Standard table ! style="text-align: left; background: #aaccab;"| Province ! style="text-align: left; background: #aaccab;"| Provincial Capital ! style="text-align: left; background: #aaccab;"| Population ! style="text-align: left; background: #aaccab;"| Largest City ! style="text-align: left; background: #aaccab;"| Provincial Initial |----- | Northern District || Modiin || TBD || Modiin || ND |----- | Dervaylik District || Dervaylik || TBD || Dervaylik || DD |----- | Central District || Yerushalayim || TBD || Yerushalayim || CD |---- | Western District || Tel Eilat || TBD || Ashkelon || WT |---- | Southern District || Beersheva || TBD || Beersheva || SD |---- |}
Economy
Geography and climate
Geography
Yisrael is geographically diverse, traversing a number of different geologic classifications. It is bounded in the northeast and west by the Thalassan Ocean, in the far north by the Judean Mountains abutting Sydalone, and arid and semi-arid desert in the south/far south bordering Intermaria and Nahlia. In the country's center are fertile temperate plains.
The Great Dry Desert lies to the southern reaches of the nation, while the far north is marked by a mountainous plateau punctuated by several water systems - the Great Salt Sea, the Kinneres, and the Yarden River.
Climate
The climate in Yisrael is extremely polarized, depending on the season, the location, and the geography. Northern Yisrael, from the Judean Mountains to the northern coast between the Sydalene Exclave and Fakolana, is largely a cold-summer Mediterranean climate. This area has cool summers, cold-to-mild winters, and wetter, less dry spring and autumn. For example, Yerushalayim in the Judean plateau receives typically several snowfalls in the winter seasons.
This gives way in western and central Yisrael to hot summer Mediterranean climate, which has hot and dry summers and wet, mild winters. This corresponds well to the agricultural and tourism sectors, who thrive on the extended growing season and foreign tourist-packed beaches, respectively.
In the far south, the Great Dry Desert and cities such as Beersheva are located in a narrow strip of cold semi-arid desert biomes, which has moderately hot, dry summers, cool-to-cold winters, and very wet spring and autumns.
Because of the wide breath of climate locales in Yisrael, there exists several phytogeographic regions that produce over 3,000 types of plants and vegetables.
Wildlife
Likewise, Yisrael has extensive fauna in addition to flora due to its position between climatic extremes. Often, Yisrael is at the border of many species' territory. It hosts a number of Scipian and Belisarian mammals, invertebrates, fish, birds, reptiles, and amphibians.
Demographics
Ethnic groups
Languages
The official languages of Yisrael are Modern Hebrew and Allamunnic Anglic. Yiddish, Standard Latin, and Hellenic are all major secondary and/or regional languages.
Education
Health
Religion
Culture
Cuisine
Media
Yisrael has a robust and complex media environment, with dozens of newspapers, magazines, and radio stations, all of which contribute to an crucial role by the press in Yisraeli political, social, and cultural life.
There are over 9 languages in the media landscape, with Modern Hebrew and Allamunnic Anglic topping the list as the main languages. They are followed by Yiddish (among Chasidish Jews and other ethnic Nekulturnyan Jews), Standard Latin (among papers and radios near the borders with Sydalon and Fakolana), Hellenic (among ethnic Tarsan Jews), Dewedish (among Dewedish Jews as well as the gentile Dewedish political-business constituency), and others.
The media market was competitive in the 1920s after the fall of the absolute monarchy, when a plethora of independent newspapers and radio stations emerged, but was curtailed under the nationalization of media and widespread censorship program under the Roth regime in the 1930s and 40s. The media market burst out again in the 1950s-90s, until the developing digital media trends began to put a number of smaller media outlets out of business. As of 2010, media in Yisrael is largely controlled by three media conglomerates.
The press in Yisrael is rated by the global Press Freedom Index has having "moderate problems," largely due to strong libel/slander laws, strong government control over state secrets and national security information, the prohibition on certain ideological and religious ideas, and the general politicized/partisan nature of many media outlets, who favor one political party or one sector of society over the other. Despite all this, Yisrael is still rated as #2 most free press in Scipia, behind Fakolana, tied with Intermaria, and ahead of Nahlia, Abalessa, Marad, Tarsas, and Bahktar.
For a list of media organizations, see: List of media outlets in Yisrael.