The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) (Hebrew: צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל‎, About this sound Tzva HaHagana LeYisra'el (help·info), lit. Defense Army for Israel), commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal (צה"ל), are Israel's military forces, comprising the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel. The IDF is headed by its Chief of General Staff, the Ramatkal, subordinate to the Defense Minister of Israel; as of 2010[update] Rav Aluf Gabi Ashkenazi has served as Chief of Staff since 2007.

An order of Defense Minister David Ben-Gurion on May 26, 1948 officially set up the Israel Defense Forces as a conscript army formed out of the paramilitary group Haganah, incorporating the militant groups Irgun and Lehi. The IDF served as Israel's armed forces in all the country's major military operations — including the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the 1956 Sinai War, the 1967 Six-Day War, the War of Attrition, the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Operation Litani, the 1982 Lebanon War, Operation Defensive Wall, the 2006 Lebanon War and Operation Cast Lead. While originally the IDF operated on three fronts—against Lebanon and Syria in the north, Jordan and Iraq in the east, and Egypt in the south—after the 1979 Egyptian–Israeli Peace Treaty, it has concentrated its activities in southern Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories, including the First and the Second Intifada.

The Israel Defense Forces differs from most armed forces in the world in many ways, including the conscription of women, and the structure, with close relations between the ground forces, air force and navy. Since its founding, the IDF has striven to become a unique army fitting Israel's specific requirements. In 1965, the Israel Defense Forces was awarded the Israel Prize for its contribution to education.[3] The IDF uses several technologies developed in Israel, many of them made specifically to match the IDF's needs, such as the Merkava main battle tank, advanced Hi-Tech weapons systems, and the Galil and Tavor assault rifles. The Uzi submachine gun was invented in Israel and used by the IDF until December 2003, ending a service that began in 1954. Since the late 1960s, the IDF has had close military relations with the United States,[4] including development cooperation, such as on the F-15I jet, THEL laser defense system, and the Arrow missile defense system.

The IDF's soldiers, warriors and officers are educated by the values of Devotion and ROE. This value expresses the IDF's founders to place a high moral bar for its soldier's activities. Exceptions from those values together with Disputes brought the IDF's generals to determine the army's ethical code on text.

The ethical code was published in 1994 and was called "rooah Tsahal" the spirit of the IDF. This feeds from four sources: IDF's tradition, Israel's tradition The Jewish people tradition and Universal moral codes.

In addition to The IDF's moral code, the state of Israel is also signed on international agreements to insure that moral codes are preserved in state of war, like the Geneva and The Hague agreements.