- Ariel Sharon
"' (also known by his diminutive Arik אָרִיק"' is a former Israeli Prime Minister and military leader whose political career was ended by a massive stroke that he suffered in early 2006. Sharon served as Prime Minister from March 2001 until April 2006, though the powers of his office were exercised by acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert following Sharon's stroke on 4 January2006. At that time, Sharon fell into a coma; as of July 2007, …
- Ehud Olmert
Ehud Olmert ; born September 30, 1945) is the 12th and current Prime Minister of Israel. Olmert became Prime Minister on April 14, 2006 but had been exercising the powers of the office since they were transferred to him on January 4, 2006 after Ariel Sharon suffered a severe hemorrhagic stroke. Olmert's title for that period was Acting Prime Minister. Olmert has previously been the Vice Prime Minister of Israel, Finance minister, Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor, …
- Benjamin Netanyahu
"', transliterated Binyamin "Bibi" Netanyahu"', born October 21, 1949, Tel Aviv) was the 9th Prime Minister of Israel and is Chairman of the Likud Party. As leader of the conservative Likud party, he was Prime Minister from June 1996 to July 1999. He is the first (and to date only) Prime Minister of Israel to be born after the State of Israel's foundation. He was Finance Minister of Israel until August 9, 2005, …
- Ehud Barak
Ehud Barak is an Israeli politician, former Prime Minster, and current Minister of Defense, deputy prime minister and leader of Israel's Labor Party. Barak served as the 10th Prime Minister of Israel from 1999 to 2001. After losing the 2001 election, Barak embarked on a business career. On June 12, 2007, he completed a political comeback by winning election to the Labor Party leadership. He was appointed as Israeli Minister of Defence, …
- Shimon Peres
"' (born Szymon Perski"' on August 2, 1923 in eastern Poland) is the 9th President of the State of Israel. He is a senior Israeli statesman with a political career spanning more than 65 years. He joined the Knesset in November 1959 and, except for a three-month-long hiatus in early 2006, served continuously until June 13, 2007, the day he was elected President of Israel.
- Natan Sharansky
Natan Sharansky </ref> He resigned from the Knesset on November 20, 2006. As of June 18, 2007, Sharansky is the president of Beit Hatefutsot, the Jewish diaspora museum.
- Amir Peretz
Amir Peretz (born 9 March, 1952) is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset. He is a former Defense Minister of Israel and former leader of the Israeli Labour Party, having left those positions in June of 2007. Peretz is the former chairman of the Histadrut trade union federation and defeated Shimon Peres in the primary elections for the Labour leadership in November 9, 2005. He led the Labour Party to a second place showing in the 2006 Israeli elections.
- Yitzhak Rabin
"'"', <font color="white">a</font>(March 1, 1922 – November 4, 1995) was an Israeli politician and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel with two periods in office, from 1974 until 1977 and from 1992 until his assassination in 1995. In 1994 during his second term Rabin won the Nobel Peace Prize together with Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat, for their efforts towards peace which culminated in the Oslo Accords.
- Menachem Begin
"'"' (August 16, 1913 – March 9, 1992) was a Polish-Jewish head of the Zionist underground group the Irgun, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and the first Likud Prime Minister of Israel. Though revered by many Israelis, Begin’s legacy remains highly controversial and divisive. As the leader of Irgun, Begin played a central role in Jewish military resistance to the British Mandate of Palestine, but was strongly deplored and consequently sidelined by mainstream Zionist leadership.
- Avigdor Lieberman
Avigdor Lieberman, also Liberman is an Israeli politician and leader of the Yisrael Beytenu party. He has served as the Minister of Strategic Affairs and as a Deputy Prime Minister of Israel since November 2006. In October 2006, Lieberman and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert signed a coalition agreement. Under the agreement, Lieberman became the Deputy-Prime Minister and Minister of Strategic Affairs, …
- Yossi Beilin
Dr. Yossef ("Yossi") Beilin is a leftist Israeli politician, Knesset member, and a former deputy foreign minister and justice minister within the Israeli Labour Party. He is currently chairman of Meretz-Yachad. He is best known for his involvement with the Oslo accords, the Geneva Initiative and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process in general.
- Golda Meir
Golda Meir (born Golda Mabovitz on 3 May 1898, died December 8, 1978, also known as Golda Myerson from 1917-1956), was one of the founders of the State of Israel. Meir served as the Minister of Labour, Foreign Minister, and then as the fourth Prime Minister of Israel from March 17, 1969, to June 3, 1974. As the BBC put it, Golda Meir was the "Iron Lady" of Israeli politics years before the epithet was coined for Margaret Thatcher.
- Amram Mitzna
Amram Mitzna is an Israeli politician who served as the mayor of Haifa from 1993 to 2003. He was born in Kibbutz Dovrat to German Jewish refugees. He retired from the Israel Defense Forces in 1993 with the rank of major general (2nd highest ranking in the IDF) and had previously commanded the IDF Northern Command, he was decorated with the Medal of Distinguished Service for his actions during the Six-Day War. He was elected mayor of Haifa the same year.
- Yitzhak Shamir
Shamir first described a meeting he had recently had with a Vermont-based psychoanalyst, the nephew of Israel's first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion. The nephew prided himself on the fact that his closest friends were Palestinians, and that he rejected the idea of a Jewish "tribal" identity, preferring to view all human beings as brethren. Shamir observed, "That is the last thing the bosses want.
- David Ben-Gurion
"'"' (October 16, 1886 – December 1, 1973;) was the first Prime Minister of Israel. Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, culminated in his instrumental role in the founding of the state of Israel. After leading Israel to victory in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Ben-Gurion helped build the state institutions and oversaw the absorption of vast numbers of Jews from all over the world. Upon retiring from political life in 1970, he moved to Sde Boker, …
- Uri Avnery
Uri Avnery (also transliterated Uri Avneri, born September 10, 1923 in Beckum, Germany as Helmut Ostermann), is a German-born Israeli journalist, left-wing peace activist, and former Knesset member, who was originally a member of the right-wing Revisionist Zionist movement.
- Binyamin Ben-Eliezer
Brigadier-General (Res.) Binyamin "Fouad" Ben-Eliezer (born February 12, 1936) is an Israeli politician and former soldier. He was the first Iraqi Jew to lead the Israeli Labour party. On May 4, 2006, he became Minister of National Infrastructure in the Kadima led coalition government. Born in Iraq, Ben-Eliezer immigrated to Israel (an action known to Zionists as the aliyah) in 1950. Ben-Eliezer entered the army in 1954, and became a career soldier.
- Maud Olofsson
Maud Elisabeth Olofsson is a Swedish politician, leader of the Centre Party of Sweden ("Centerpartiet") since 2001, Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden and Minister for Enterprise and Energy since 2006.
- Moshe Dayan
Moshe Dayan was an Israeli military leader and politician. The fourth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (1953–1958), he became a fighting symbol to the world of the new State of Israel.
- Eli Yishai
Eliyahu (Eli) Yishai (in Hebrew אליהו (אלי) ישי) (born December 26, 1962) is an Israeli politician and head of the Shas party. He is married and has seven children.
- Yossi Sarid
Yossi Sarid (born October 24, 1940) is a left-wing Israeli news commentator and former politician. Sarid was member of the Meretz-Yachad party in the Knesset until he withdrew from politics shortly before the 2006 elections. Sarid holds a Master's degree in Political Science from New School for Social Research, New York. He writes a weekly column for the daily, …
- David Levy
David Levy (sometimes written David Levi born December 21, 1937) is an Israeli politician. A construction worker originally, he was born in Morocco and made Aliyah to Israel in 1957. His background as a leader of Beit Shean's poor, uneducated, Moroccan working class earned Levy a huge advantage in his early career as a union activist when he began to campaign for membership in the Histadrut Labour Federation's executive body, …
- Azmi Bishara
Azmi Bishara is a Palestinian Christian who was a Member of the Israeli Knesset and leader of the Balad party from 1996 until resigning in April 2007. His resignation took place amidst news of a series of "serious" but "unspecified" criminal charges being laid against him by Israeli security services, which were later revealed to be treason and espionage. By resigning, Bishara lost his parliamentary immunity and has chosen to remain abroad, …
- Lars Leijonborg
Lars Erik Ansgar Leijonborg (born November 21, 1949) is a Swedish politician, chairman of the Liberal People's Party since 1997 and Minister for Education and Research since 2006.
- Ezer Weizman
"'"' ((June 15,1924-April 24, 2005) was the seventh President of the State of Israel. He served a seven-year term, 1993–2000. Before the presidency, Weizman was commander of the Israeli air force and Minister of Defense.
- Lars Ohly
Lars-Magnus Harald Christoffer Ohly (born January 13, 1957) is a Swedish politician, the current leader of the Swedish Left Party. He was elected Party Leader on February 20, 2004, succeeding Ulla Hoffmann.
- Gudrun Schyman
Gudrun Schyman is a Swedish politician. She served as leader of the Swedish Left Party from 1993 until January 2003, when she was forced to resign over charges of tax fraud. She remained a member of the Left Party until 2004, when she left to focus entirely on her feminist political work. She is no longer a Member of Parliament. Schyman began her political career in "Marxist-Leninistiska Kampförbundet"
- Levi Eshkol
"', born Levi Shkolnik, Hebrew לֵוִי שׁקוֹלנִיק"'; October 25, 1895 - February 26, 1969), served as the third Prime Minister of Israel from 1963 until his death from a heart attack in 1969. He was the first Israeli Prime Minister to die in office. Levi Shkolnik was born in the village of Oratov near Kiev, Ukraine. His mother came from an Hasidic background and his father came from a family of Mitnagdim.
- Yitzhak Mordechai
Yitzhak Mordechai (born 22 November 1944) was an Israeli general, and later Minister of Defense and Minister of Transport. He retired from political life in 2000 after being indicted for sexual misconduct during his military service. His eventual conviction in some of these charges ended his public career. On June 28 2006, as Moshe Katzav did 6 months later, …
- Ovadia Yosef
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef is a Haredi rabbi, Talmudic scholar, a recognized authority in Halakha ("Jewish law"). He is the former Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel and the current spiritual leader of the Shas political party in the Knesset (Israel's parliament). Rabbi Yosef is a major figure in Haredi Judaism who is revered by his followers.
- Göran Hägglund
Bo Göran Hägglund is a Swedish politician and the current leader of the Christian Democrats of Sweden. He was elected Party Leader on April 3, 2004, succeeding Alf Svensson. Since 6 October 2006 he is also the Minister for Health and Social Affairs in Sweden. Hägglund was born in Degerfors in central Sweden, but moved to Jönköping, a Christian Democratic stronghold, with his family in 1978. He started his political career in the Christian Democratic youth organisation.
- Rafi Eitan
Rafael ('Rafi') Eitan (born November 23, 1926) is the leader of the pensioners' party Gil, which has won an unexpected large number of seats in the Israeli legislative election of 2006. In 1960, he was in charge of the Mossad operation that lead to the capture of Adolf Eichmann. He served as an advisor on terrorism to Prime Minister Menachem Begin, and in 1981 he was appointed to head the Bureau of Scientific Relations, then an intelligence entity on par with Mossad, …
- Yosef Lapid
Yosef (Tommy) Lapid is an Israeli journalist and former politician and media manager. Lapid is best known for leading the secular-liberal Shinui party from 1999 to 2006. He is vehemently opposed to the influence and power of Orthodox, and in particular Haredi political parties and groups in Israel.
- Zevulun Orlev
Zevulun Orlev (born 9 November 1945) is an Israeli politician and leader of the National Religious Party. Orlev, like Effi Eitam, is considered a war hero by the State of Israel and received the Medal of Distinguished Service in the Yom Kippur War.
- Aryeh Deri
Aryeh Deri (b. February 17, 1959 in Meknes, Morocco) is the former leader of Israel's Shas Party. He was replaced by Eli Yishai after Deri was jailed for corruption, having been found guilty of taking $155,000 in bribes while serving as Interior Minister, and sentenced to three years at the Maasiyahu Prison. He was released after less than two years had been served.
- Effie Eitam
Efraim (Effie) Eitam (Fein) (b. June 25, 1952), is an Israeli politician. Eitam is a Knesset member, head of the Renewed Religious National Zionist party, and the former leader of the National Religious Party. He serves on the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committees. An orthodox Jew (Hebrew: חזר בתשובה), he wasborn on Kibbutz Ein Gev and received a secular education. When he was old enough, Eitam joined the Israeli Defence Forces.
- Effi Eitam
Efraim (Effie) Eitam (Fein) (born 25 June 1952), is an Israeli politician. Eitam is a Knesset member, head of the Renewed Religious National Zionist party, which forms part of the National Union, and the former leader of the National Religious Party. He serves on the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committees. An orthodox Jew, he was born on Kibbutz Ein Gev and received a secular education. When he was old enough, Eitam joined the Israeli Defence Forces.
- Peter Eriksson
Peter Eriksson is one of the two spokespersons (leaders) of the Green Party in Sweden, working alongside Maria Wetterstrand. He lives in Kalix, Norrbotten, where he was Municipal Commissioner from 1999 to 2004. He was also member of the Riksdag 1994-1998 and has been one again since 2002
- Rehavam Ze'Evi
"'"', born 20 June 1926, died 17 October 2001) was an Israeli general, politician and historian who founded the right-wing nationalist Moledet party. He was assassinated by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), becoming the only Israeli politician to be assassinated during the Al-Aqsa intifada.
- Michael Kleiner
Michael Kleiner is an Israeli politician and leader of Herut – The National Movement. He first entered the Knesset in 1981 as a Likud parliamentarian but, upon then Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu relinquishing Hebron to the Palestinian Authority, Kleiner split off from the Likud along with Benny Begin (Menachem Begin's son) and David Re'em to establish Herut – The National Movement, based on the original Herut.