what region of the world is israel located
Israel Israel (/ˈɪzreɪəl/; Hebrew: יִשְׂרָאֵל‎, Arabic: إِسْرَائِيل‎), officially the State of Israel (Hebrew: מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל‎, Arabic: دَوْلَة إِسْرَائِيل‎), is a country in the Middle East, on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea. It has land borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan on the east, the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip[8] to the east and west, respectively, and Egypt to the southwest. The country contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area.[2][9] Israel's economy and technology center is Tel Aviv,[10] while its seat of government and proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, although the state's sovereignty over East Jerusalem is not recognised internationally.[note 1][11][12] The population of Israel was estimated in 2017 to be 8,777,580 people,[3] of whom 74.7% were Jewish, 20.8% Arab and 4.5% others.[1]
Religion in the Middle East For over 2,000 years a large portion of world Jewry lived the Muslim world. They are colloquially knows as Mizrahi Jews. They include descendants of Babylonian Jews and Mountain Jews from modern Iraq, Morocco, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Syria, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iran, Uzbekistan, the Caucasus, Kurdistan, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan and Yemen. Since the 1950s because of growing antisemitism most of these Jews fled to Israel where they make up the majority of Israel's Jewish population and roughly a third of total world Jewry. While they no longer live among a Muslim majority, they continue to follow many customs with strong Muslim and Middle Eastern influences making them distinct from European Jewry. Today Judaism in the Middle East is mostly practiced in Israel. Israel’s population is 75.3% Jewish, with the remainder made up of Muslims (20.6%), Christians, Druze, Bahá'í and various other minorities (4.1%).[43] There are few other countries in the Middle East with significant Jewish populations, but the communities are small and scattered.