Are isralies jewish or muslem
Executive summary
Israel is neither exclusively Jewish nor exclusively Muslim: a clear majority of its citizens identify as Jewish, while a substantial Arab minority—most of whom are Muslim—comprises the largest non‑Jewish religious group [1] [2]. The country also includes Christians, Druze and smaller religious communities, and wide variation exists within the Jewish population between secular, traditional and Orthodox streams [3] [4] [5].
1. Demographic bottom line: majority Jewish, sizable Muslim minority
Official and widely cited population breakdowns show Jewish residents form the largest religious group—roughly seven million people in recent counts—while Muslims are the country’s largest religious minority at around 1.7–1.8 million individuals [1] [6]. Broad demographic estimates put Israel’s religious composition in the ballpark of roughly 73–75% Jewish and about 17–19% Muslim, with the remainder Christian, Druze or other/religiously unclassified [3] [2] [7].
2. Why the simple question can be misleading: identity vs. religion
“Are Israelis Jewish or Muslim?” collapses two different concepts—national citizenship and religious identity—into one. Israel is a state with a Jewish majority and a declared Jewish character, but Israeli Jews range from strictly observant to secular cultural Jews, meaning Jewish identity in Israel can be religious, ethnic or national in nature [8] [4]. Likewise, many Israeli Arabs who identify as Palestinians are Muslim by religion but also hold complex civic and national identities that are not captured by a single religious label [9] [10].
3. Internal diversity among Israeli Jews matters politically and socially
The Jewish population itself is internally divided: significant percentages identify as secular (hiloni), traditional (masorti), religious‑Zionist (dati‑leumi) or Haredi/ultra‑Orthodox, and these divisions shape politics, law and daily life in Israel [5] [8] [11]. Surveys and census data show a sizeable portion of Israeli Jews do not practice strict religious observance, even as religion plays an outsized public role through state institutions and laws that intersect with Jewish religious authorities [4] [8].
4. The Arab minority is mostly Muslim but not monolithic
About one‑fifth of Israel’s population is Arab, and the majority of that group is Muslim—predominantly Sunni—though there are also Arab Christians and Druze communities with distinct religious and legal arrangements [9] [7]. The Arab/Palestinian citizens have their own internal diversity and institutions (e.g., Muslim religious courts for personal status), and their religious identity often overlaps with ethnic and political identities [9] [10].
5. Numbers change slowly but matter for policy
Fertility, migration and self‑identification trends influence the religious balance over time: reports note higher fertility rates among Haredi Jews and among some Muslim communities, and periodic shifts in how people identify religiously affect long‑term projections and the politics of religion and state [12] [6]. Analysts and policymakers monitor these demographics because they affect everything from conscription debates to coalition math in the Knesset [11] [5].
6. Bottom‑line answer and caveats
Directly: most Israelis are Jewish, but a meaningful minority are Muslim (and there are Christians, Druze and others) — Israel is the only country with a Jewish majority while still containing large non‑Jewish communities [1] [3]. This straightforward numerical answer should be coupled with the caveat that “Jewish” in Israel often denotes a mix of religion, ethnicity and national belonging, and that demographic figures and self‑identification categories can vary between data sources and across years [4] [13].