| yellow | Israel Standard Time (UTC+2) Israel Summer Time (UTC+3) |
Israel Standard Time (IST) (Hebrew:שעון ישראלSha'on Yisra'el,lit. 'Clock of Israel') is the standardtime zone inIsrael. It is two hours ahead ofUTC (UTC+02:00).
At the beginning of theBritish Mandate, the time zone of the mandate area (present-day Israel andJordan), was set toCairo's time zone, which is two hours ahead ofGreenwich Mean Time. The unique "Israel Standard Time" came into effect with the founding of theState of Israel in 1948, which gave Israel the authority in determining its own time, specifically to enact daylight saving time. In 1992, theKnesset replaced the British Mandate eraTime Ordinance with theLaw Determining the Time.[1] This gave authority for setting the exact time withNational Physical Laboratory in theMinistry of Economy. The Laboratory of Frequency and Time in the NPL maintainsatomic clocks which officially set Israeli time.[1]
The offset from UTC is equivalent toEastern European Time (UTC+02:00), during most of the year. Because Israel switches to summer time on Friday, rather than Sunday as most other countries do, the change of time in spring occurs two days before the switch to summer time in Europe. The switch on Friday is due to having theJewish Sabbath as the common rest day of the week. Prior to 2013, Israel Daylight Time ended earlier in autumn, and the time was identical toCentral European Summer Time for between two and seven weeks during these months.
Israel also shares theUTC+02:00 time offset withEgypt,Lebanon, andCyprus.
Israel observesdaylight saving time, locally calledIsrael Summer Time (Hebrew:שעון קיץShe'on Kayits, sometimes abbreviated in English as IDT).
Since July 2013, IDT begins on the Friday before the last Sunday of March, and ends on the last Sunday of October.[2]
Due to the differing time policies between the Israeli government and thePalestinian Authority, time zones can change unexpectedly for residents as they travel. Israelis and Palestinians have reported sudden time changes that lead to scheduling errors and conflicts, as well as phones that change the time unexpectedly.[3] In some cases, phones in the same area will show different times depending on whether the phone number is Israeli or Palestinian.[4] Both authorities have at times changed the onset of daylight savings time or standard (winter) time on short notice, exacerbating the issue.[5][6]
As mentioned above, there are also issues that arise from Israel's unique Friday/Saturday weekend. Israel changes its clock on Thursday night, the start of the weekend, while the Palestinian Authority changes its clock on Sunday night.[4]
