| |||||||
| Anthem | "Hatikvah" | ||||||
| Capital (and largest city) |
Jerusalem | ||||||
| Language | Hebrew | ||||||
| Religion | Judasim | ||||||
| Ethnic Group | Jews | ||||||
| Demonym | Israeli | ||||||
| Government | One-party state | ||||||
| Legislature | Zionist Assembly | ||||||
| President | Michael Ben-Ari | ||||||
| Prime Minister | Meir Kahane | ||||||
| Population | 8,134,000 | ||||||
| Independence | from Mandatory Palestine | ||||||
| declared | January 14, 1940 | ||||||
| recognized | Novemnber 8, 1945 | ||||||
| Currency | Israeli new shekel | ||||||
| Time Zone | (UTC+2) | ||||||
| summer | (UTC+3) | ||||||
| Calling Code | +972 | ||||||
| Internet TLD | .il | ||||||
Greater Israel (Hebrew: ארץ ישראל השלמה, Eretz Yisrael Hashlemah), officially the Greater Jewish State of Israel, is a country in the Middle East situated at the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea. It shares land borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria in the northeast, Iraq on the east, Saudi Arabia in the south and the east, and Egypt to the southwest.
History
Promised Land
Greater Israel occasionally refers to the Promised Land (defined in Genesis 15:18-21) or to the Land of Israel, and is also called Complete Land of Israel or "Entire Land of Israel" (Hebrew: ארץ ישראל השלמה, Eretz Yisrael Hashlemah). This is a more accurate translation than "Greater" Israel, which is used in English but has no real counterpart in Hebrew.
During the British Mandate of Palestine
Early Revisionist Zionist groups such as Betar and Irgun Zvai-Leumi regarded as Greater Israel the territory of the Mandate of Palestine including Transjordan.
Emblem of the Irgun
In 1937, the Peel Commission recommended partition of Mandatory Palestine. In a letter to his son later that year, David Ben-Gurion stated that partition would be acceptable but as a first step. Ben-Gurion wrote that "This is because this increase in possession is of consequence not only in itself, but because through it we increase our strength, and every increase in strength helps in the possession of the land as a whole. The establishment of a state, even if only on a portion of the land, is the maximal reinforcement of our strength at the present time and a powerful boost to our historical endeavors to liberate the entire country." The same sentiment was recorded by Ben-Gurion on other occasions, such as at a meeting of the Jewish Agency executive in June 1938, as well as by Chaim Weizmann. Ben Gurion said: "We shall smash these frontiers which are being forced upon us, and not necessarily by war. I believe an agreement between us and the Arab State could be reached in a not too distant future."