What time is it in Israel?- opinion

The Jerusalem Post · NISHANT SAHDEV · 2026-11-05 08:33 UTC

Every time Israel jams GPS, it may also be jamming the clock that keeps the country running.

What time is it in Israel? The question may sound trivial. It isn't – and that no regulator here can answer it with confidence should trouble you more than Waze insisting you are in Amman.

For years, Israelis have watched their phones place them in Jordan, Lebanon, or even out at sea. The explanation is familiar: Israel disrupts satellite-navigation signals to make it harder for Iranian missiles, drones, and other hostile systems to use them. The interference can be a necessary defense. But it exposes a less visible problem.

Because GPS is not a map. It is a clock. Each satellite broadcasts one message – this is me, and this is the exact instant I am speaking – and the receiver turns the delay into a distance. Position is a byproduct of arithmetic. Timing is the product.

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