The Israeli population is linguistically and culturally diverse. Hebrew is the country's official language, and almost the entire population speaks it either as a first language or proficiently as a second language. Its standard form, known as Modern Hebrew, is the main medium of life in Israel. Arabic is used mainly by Israel's Arab minority which comprises about one-fifth of the population. Arabic has a special status under Israeli law.

English is known as a foreign language by a significant portion of the Israeli population as English is used widely in official logos and road signs alongside Hebrew and Arabic. It is estimated that over 85% of Israelis can speak English to some extent. Russian is spoken by about 20% of the Israeli population, mainly due to the large immigrant population from the former Soviet Union. In addition, the 19th edition of Ethnologue lists 36 languages and dialects spoken through Israel.

According to a 2011 survey of Israelis over 20 years of age conducted by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, 49% report Hebrew as their native language, Arabic 18%, Russian 15%, Yiddish 2%, French 2%, English 2%, Spanish 1.6%, and 10% other languages (including Romanian, and Amharic, which were not offered as answers by the survey). The study also noted that 90% of Israeli Jews and over 60% of Israeli Arabs have a good understanding of Hebrew.

Several laws determine the official status of languages and language policy in Israel. This confusing situation has led to several appeals to the Supreme Court, whose rulings have enforced the current policies of national and local authorities.

On 19 July 2018, the Knesset passed a Basic Law under the title Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People, which defines Hebrew as "the State's language" and Arabic as a language with "a special status in the State" (Article 4). The law further says that it should not be interpreted as compromising the status of the Arabic language in practice prior to the enactment of the Basic Law, namely, it preserves the status quo and changes the status of Hebrew and Arabic only nominally.

Before the enactment of this Basic Law, the status of official language in Israel was determined by the 82nd paragraph of the Palestine Order in Council:

All Ordinances, official notices and official forms of the Government and all official notices of local authorities and municipalities in areas to be prescribed by order of the High Commissioner, shall be published in English, Arabic and Hebrew.

This law, like most other laws of the British Mandate, was adopted in the State of Israel, subject to certain amendments published by the Provisional State Council on 19 May 1948. The amendment states that: