Introduction

The official sites of the Ministry of Defense, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Israel Police that are written in Hebrew, contain only minimal information about the present decorations and ribbons. Some older and obsolete items that have become history are not shown. The English versions of these sites contain even less information or are simply incorrect.

One of the reasons for this lack of information may be that the topic of decorating soldiers with medals and ribbons is not popular in Israel and has never been. This does not mean that the history of awarding decorations and insignia of Israel is not very interesting.

Decorations and ribbons for acts since the Independence of Israel

Compared to other countries, Israel instituted very few military decorations and ribbons. For different levels of heroism or extraordinary service, three types of medals and three types of citation ribbons exist. In addition to this, for participation in the wars since 1948, nine campaign ribbons exist, not connected to any medals.

No special ribbons or medals exist for servicemen who were killed, wounded, missed in action, prisoners of war etc. Nor does exist any token for long or good conduct service, except the Operational Service badge (half a year front service).
 

The above does not mean that acts of heroism are not appreciated, but in a country with a history of so many wars, for most citizens having fought in a war is more the rule than the exception. Many of my friends in Israel do not remember where they put the campaign ribbons they got. Often they gave them to their kids or threw them away.

Ribbons for acts performed before the Independence of Israel

With the Independence of Israel and the institution of the Israel Defense Forces in 1948, all Jewish underground organizations were abolished. Many of the fighters for the establishment of Israel found their place in the ranks of the IDF. It took about 10 years before a ribbon was instituted to remember participation in the former mainstream Hagana underground defense force. Ribbons for participation in other organizations followed, but official recognition of the more "right wing" underground organizations such as the Etzel and Lechi came only after former Etzel leader Menahem Begin became prime minister of Israel in 1977. Till then these organizations were officially ignored.

Some of the campaign ribbons are still available in shops but finding the service ribbons (for acts done before the Independence of Israel) is much harder. Since these ribbons have become history, I present, where possible pictures of people wearing these ribbons. 

In 2007 the campaign ribbon for the Second Lebanon War was introduced, however only in enamel version. This tin ribbon actually does not deserve the name ribbon but badge. Since then all new ribbons are metal badges.

Besides the campaign ribbons for military conflicts, this site also presents the decorations to other security forces like the police, prison service and firefighting service. The decorations in the form of full-size medals are almost never worn on uniform. Instead of this only the ribbon of the decoration is worn. No miniature version of the medals exists.

Civilian awards

Israel knows a single state award, the Israel Prize, for excellence in sciences, culture, sports, lifetime achievement or exceptional contribution to the nation. Similar to the military decorations, no levels or "classes" exist in this decoration. The layout of the badge is even more modest.

Samples of highest civilian awards in the USA, Netherlands and Israel
USA	Netherlands	Israel
President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service	Order of Orange-Nassau	Israel Prize

The relation of the Israeli public to decorations
From the written above it may be clear that compared to other countries, the Israeli public shows little interest in the subject of decorations. This makes it extremely hard to find good pictures of men and women wearing decorations. During a 2008 meeting of thousands of veterans of the War of Independence of 1948, only a handful of men appeared with campaign ribbons!