The main international credit cards are issued in Israel. The franchises are held by the banks: Visa now has two rival issuers - Visa ICC (Israel Credit Cards), which was recently bought by Israel Discount Bank from Bank Leumi, and Visa Alpha, which is now owned by Bank Leumi. Mastercard is issued by Bank Hapoalim, under the local Isracard brand name. Diners Club is part of the Visa ICC group. American Express is issued by Bank Hapoalim. No bank issues both Visa and Mastercard for local use.
If this sounds complicated, don't worry. It is, and it keeps getting worse, but the overall trend is toward more competition, which is good for consumers.

Acceptance
The great majority of retail outlets - including supermarkets and even local mini-markets, almost all restaurants and all hotels, accept all the main credit cards, whether these are issued locally or abroad. This means that you can make purchases using your overseas credit card, but this will entail foreign exchange charges. Also, local cards have various bonuses, such as points, special offers etc., so that if you are living in Israel, it's worth getting your bank to issue you a local credit card.

Terms of Use
It's very important to understand two key features of Israeli credit cards. First, they are actually deferred debit cards, rather than real credit cards. That means that, unless you choose to buy on credit and pay off the purchase over time, all your purchases in a given month will be debited to your bank account on a specific day (usually the 2nd or the 16th, but this is flexible).
Second, the cards are issued by the banks, the credit ceiling given to you is part of your overall bank credit and, as already noted, the payments are made through your bank account. There is no need to send cheques to the card issuer on a monthly basis; there is also no way to escape payment. That's why no-one bothers to check your signature when you make a purchase: the bank that issued the card guarantees your payment to the vendor, and will collect from you directly from your account.

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