Israel is home to a Jewish majority of roughly 73 to 74 percent alongside an Arab minority of about 21 percent, mostly Muslim with smaller Christian and Druze communities, according to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics and reflected in Pew Research's Religious Composition of the World, 2010-2020. The land holds sites central to Judaism, Christianity and Islam alike: the Temple Mount and Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City, venerated by Jews as the site of the First and Second Temples; the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, marking the traditional site of Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection for Christians; and the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest site, commemorating Muhammad's Night Journey.
Jewish presence in the land predates the Roman era, with the Second Temple's destruction in 70 CE beginning a long diaspora; the modern state was established in 1948 following the 1917 Balfour Declaration and the British Mandate period, drawing Jewish immigration from Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Christian communities include ancient Eastern rites, Latin Catholics and Protestants, while the Druze, an offshoot of Ismaili Islam with a closed esoteric theology, serve in the Israeli military distinct from other Arab citizens.