Nadene Goldfoot
It was faced with formidable problems. Defense from attacks was the first consideration. It's long land frontiers made her particularly vulnerable to assault--and the enemy used either direct attack of infiltration. Sabotage and murder originating mainly from the Gaza Strip and from Jordan were a constant nuisance, and did not stop despite Israel reprisal raids.
Against direct attack, immense efforts were made to build up and equip the armed forces (Tzeva Haganah Le-Israel) Below. Haganah means Defense. It was a clandestine organization for Jewish self-defense in Palestine as the Brits were not helping at all. (See the movie, EXODUS.). It succeeded Ha-Shomer in 1920, the first, and existed until 1948 when its members were transferred to Tzeva Haganah Le-Israel. The British Administration gave no protection to its Jewish population. The Haganah combined an illegal organization with individual Jewish participation in the government's security forces and even had certain legal formations.
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Haganah's efficiency was shown in the Sinai Campaign 1956, the Six Day War 1967, the Yom Kippur War 1973, etc. the defeat of the Egyptian forces, the destruction of Egyptian bases, and the capture of large quantities of material on the 1st two occasions deferred the assault on Israel from 3 sides planned by President Nasser and gave Israel much needed breathing spaces.
When was the IDF created? The order to create the IDF was issued on May 26, 1948, and went into effect on May 31, 1948. Israel is again celebrated on May 14, 1948 for its re-birth.
Haganah also won Israel much popular sympathy throughout the world and opened up to shipping the Gulf of Elath twice blocked by Egypt. However, Arab pressures---especially after 1973----led to considerable international isolation. 
President Jimmy Carter shaking hands with Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin at the signing of the Egyptian–Israeli Peace Treaty on the grounds of the White House, 1979
An important change occurred in 1977 with President Sadat of Egypt's journey to Jerusalem and willingness to recognize the State of Israel. This led to intensive negotiations culminating in the Camp David Agreements and the signing of a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. 
Oil painting I did of husband Danny Eskow now in Safed, Israel, an art center. He's got his new huge prayer shawl, so different from small American ones. He can put it over his head and meditate. My painting style changed a lot as well; painting faster and freer. He also found an Israeli cousin, his father's 1ST cousin who started BOYS TOWN IN JERUSALEM! The family had been from Russia and from there to Brooklyn, NY. 
Here I am in Safed in 1981 with our red Fiat from Italy and our female German shepherd who flew with us. We have the bottom floor apartment and can use the merepeset to hand clothes, my first apartment living. I taught English at the jr high across the street. I have gone Dottee (scarf) and the elevation here is like Jerusalem. This was winter.
We made Aliyah in 1980. In the 1980's Israel went through difficult periods in the international arena as a result of its invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and of the Palestinian uprising called an Intifada which started in 1987. Then, world changes in the late 1980s brought new opportunities as both eastern Europe and the Black African countries, which had broken off relations after the Six-Day and Yom Kippur Wars, now resumed relationships with Israel. Although Israel remained outside the fighting in the 1991 Gulf War, it was bombarded with Iraqi missiles which led to a reassessment of its military strategies. later that year, peace talks with its Arab neighbors were initiated by the US. Israel's population grew rapidly.
At its inception, Israel adopted a unique law conferring citizenship on every Jew immediately upon landing on Israeli soil. Within the 1st 3 years, the Jewish population was doubled from 650,000 to 1,300,000 through mass immigration called Aliyah. This was accompanied by severe economic difficulties that were overcome only to some extent after a prolonged struggle. .jpg%20Abraham%20Stern.jpg)
Avraham Stern, known as Yair (b:1907 d: 1942) , who split in 1940 from the Irgun Tzevai Leumi saying that Britain must be fought and they refused to do so, so he formed another group-Lohame Herut Israel and they did some sabotage. They were the toughest group. He was killed and then Yisrael Scheib (Eldad) and Shamir took over. Stern was killed by British police while being arrested. 
3rd cousin Stanley Goldfoot (born 1914 in South Africa, died 2006 in Jerusalem) became Chief of Intelligence for the Stern Group, blamed for the bombing of the King David Hotel. 
The Stern Group (Lohame Herut Israel) Fighters For the Freedom Of Israel, known as Lehi, or as British called them, The Stern Gang" after its founder, Avraham Stern.
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Yitzhak Jazarnitsky (Yitzhak Shamir) (b: 1915 in Poland ) took over Irgun Tzevai Leumi in 1937 leaving it in 1940. He became Israel's 7th Prime Minister and served 2 terms, ((1983–1984, 1986–1992).). Shamir joined the Revisionist Zionist Irgun paramilitary group led by Menachem Begin. During World War II the Irgun split over the question of whether to support the Axis Powers against the British Empire. After the establishment of the Israeli state Yitzhak Shamir was imprisoned by British authorities in 1941. A few months after Stern was killed by the British in 1942, Shamir and Eliyahu Giladi hid under a stack of mattresses in a warehouse of the detention camp at Mazra'a, and at night escaped through the barbed wire fences of the camp. Shamir became the leader of the Stern Gang, and, together with Giladi, Anshell Shpillman and Yehoshua Cohen, reorganized the movement into cells and trained its members. Shamir served in Mossad between 1955 and 1965.
Since the IDF's creation, its guiding principles have been shaped by the country’s need to defend itself from its numerically superior neighbors. The primary element of this doctrine is the belief that Israel cannot afford to lose a single war. IDF planners believe that this goal can be attained only through a defensive strategy that utilizes the rapid mobilization of overwhelming force to take the war to the enemy. Because the Israeli army has a relatively small active-duty component—estimates in the early 21st century placed it at some 125,000 troops, of whom roughly two-thirds were conscripts—this mission could be achieved only through the maintenance of a well-trained reserve force and active intelligence gathering. These human assets were supplemented with robust early warning systems, one of the world’s most advanced theater missile defense networks, and a mechanized force that included some 2,500 main battle tanks and more than 5,000 armored personnel carriers.
It could more accurately be categorized as a citizen militia supplemented by a small corps of career officers and active-duty conscripts. Military service is compulsory for Jews and Druze, both men and women, and for Circassian men.
Conscription deferments are available to students, and exemptions from service are granted to married women and women with children. Men undertaking religious studies, particularly those in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, were also exempt throughout most of Israel’s history, but in the 21st century the size of the community in proportion to the general population made the exemption highly controversial and politically polarizing. In 2023 the exemption did not have enough support in government for renewal and in 2024 conscription of ultra-Orthodox men began, although only a small fraction of the draftees reported for duty.
The period of active-duty conscription is 32 months for men and 24 months for women; this is followed by a decades-long period of compulsory reserve duty (to age 40).
Resource;
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
