[b]Nation's full name:[/b] Nation of Israel
[b]Population:[/b] 1,370,000 
[b]Current leadership:[/b] Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion (Coalition: Mapai• URF• Progressive• S&O• DLN)
[hider=Cabinet][indent]Prime Minister | Minister of Defense - David Ben-Gurion - Mapai
Minister of Rationing and Supply | Minister of Agriculture - Dov Yosef - Mapai
Minister of Education and Culture - Zalman Shazar - Mapai
Minister of Foreign Affairs - Moshe Sharett - Mapai
Minister of Trade and Industry | Minister of Finance - Eliezer Kaplan - Mapai
Minister of Internal Affairs | Minister of Health |Minister of Immigration - Haim-Moshe Shapira - United Religious Front
Minister of Justice - Pinchas Rosen - Progressive Party
Minister of Labour and Social Security - Golda Meir - Mapai
Minister of Police - Bechor-Shalom Sheetrit - Sephardim and Oriental Communities
Minister of Religions and War Victims - Yehuda Leib Maimon - United Religious Front
Minister of Transportation - David Remez - Mapai
Minister of Welfare	- Yitzhak-Meir Levin - United Religious Front[/indent][/hider]
[b]Government Type:[/b] Parliamentary Democracy
[b]Military Strength:[/b] [indent]~70,000 active and reserves + trained militia/kibbutznik home defense forces. Israel is heavily mobilized with a conscription system and lots of reservists. The country is dotted with stronghold communities that can, and have done so in 1947-48, fend off attacks by a hostile military. It is strongly defensive, though the Israelis, as a whole, are great admirers of maneuver warfare and have placed particular emphasis on the development of an armored corps and air force. The current Israeli Chief of Staff is Yigael Yadin.
[/indent][hider=IDF Numbers]IDF Numbers, based on TO&E for the Sinai Campaign.
15 brigades were mobilized during the 1956 war: 11x Infantry 1x Para Brigade 3x Armored Brigades

Infantry Brigade: 3,200 men
* HQ
* 4 Infantry Battalions (800 men)
** 4 infantry companies
** 1 Heavy weapons company:
*** Machine-gun platoon
*** 81mm Mortar platoon
** 1 Heavy Mortar.Battallion: 12x 120mm.mortars
** 1 Anti-tank Battallion: 12 6-pder AT guns
** 1 Artillery.Battallion: 12 155mm.Guns

Armored Brigade: 3.000 men , 45 tanks
* HQ
* 3 Armored Battallions, each:
** 3 Armored Companies: 13 tanks each.
** 1 Mechanized Company: with M3 half-tracks
** 1 Reconnaisance Platoon: 7 jeeps
** 1 Self-Propelled Artillery Battery: 4 M-7 Priest SP Howitzers
* 1 Motorized Battalion
[i]Source: Avalon Hill’s magazine “ The General”[/i]

Circa 1956, the Israeli Navy consisted of two destroyers, seven frigates, eight minesweepers, several landing craft, and fourteen torpedo boats. Per wikipedia research.

Circa 1950 (couldn't use 1956 due to changing aircraft types and expansion) the IAF has 13 squadrons, primarily P-51D mustang fighters, DC-3 transports and one of B-17 bombers, though the IAF is obviously very interested in jet aircraft. Per wikipedia research.[/hider]
[b]State of the Union Summary:[/b][indent]Internal politics can be interesting to watch, as Israeli domestic politics is a clash of outlooks owing to the way the country was founded, with many different demographics held in one country, and that's just among the Jews there. Despite an often highly educated populace that is spirited in debate, Israel has a strong coalition government that is primarily labour Zionist and Ashkenazi (Yiddish speaking - central European) Jewish. In foreign policy, Israel is aligned with the French, for the moment, but has considerable support within the United States as well primarily from within the American Jewish community, though this has not come to full fruition yet. In negotiations with West Germany for reparations and cold towards the United Kingdom, particularly as long as Clement Attlee is the PM, and moreso if Lord Ernest Bevin carries on as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, as the Israelis reserve a special loathing for him that is one notch above that of Adolf Hitler and company, particularly after the Exodus affair and the Portsmouth Treaty (the Irgun, one of the guerrilla armies of post-WWII Mandatory Palestine, for example, wanted to assassinate him.) Israel is economically weak and is currently trying to turn a refugee population into an economy through the establishment of agricultural communities known as kibbutzim and other means. While Israel was victorious in the 1948 war against six other nations (some more powerful than others -- Egypt and Jordan were the most formidable) Jerusalem is held by the Jordanians per the truce, and Israel occupies a precarious position militarily.[/indent]