Politicians
- Chaim Weizmann – first President of Israel (1949–52)
- Yitzhak Ben-Zvi – first elected/second president President of Israel (1952–63)
- David Ben-Gurion – first Prime Minister of Israel (1948–54, 1955–63)
- Moshe Sharett – prime minister (1954–55)
- Levi Eshkol – prime minister (1963–69)
- Abba Eban – diplomat and Foreign Affairs Minister of Israel (1966–74)
- Golda Meir – prime minister (1969–74)
- Yitzhak Rabin – prime minister (1974–77, 1992–95); Nobel Peace Prize (1994) (assassinated November 1995)
- Menachem Begin – prime minister (1977–83); Nobel Peace Prize (1978)
- Yitzhak Shamir – prime minister (1983–84, 1986–92)
- Shimon Peres – President of Israel (2007–); prime minister (1984–86, 1995–96); Nobel Peace Prize (1994)
- Benjamin Netanyahu – prime minister (1996–99), (2009–); Likud party chairman
- Ehud Barak – prime minister (1999–01)
- Moshe Katsav – president (2000–07), and convicted rapist
- Ariel Sharon – prime minister (2001–06)
- Ehud Olmert – prime minister (2006–09); former mayor of Jerusalem
- Rehavam Zeevi – founder of the Moledet party (assassinated October 2001)
- Yossi Beilin – leader of the Meretz-Yachad party and peace negotiator
- Yosef Lapid – former leader of the Shinui party
- Teddy Kollek – former mayor of Jerusalem
- Effie Eitam – former leader of the National Religious Party party, now head of the Renewed Religious National Zionist party
- Rabbi Ovadia Yosef – spiritual leader of the Shas party
Read more about this topic: Israeli Fencers
Famous quotes containing the word politicians:
“The American mood, perhaps even the American character, has changed. There are few manifestations any longer of the old American self-assurance which so irritated Dickens.... Instead, there is a sense of frustration so perceptible that even our politicians ... have attempted to exploit it.”
—Archibald MacLeish (1892–1982)
“I’ve always wondered why European politicians as a group seemed brighter than American politicians as a group. Maybe it’s because many American politicians have the race issue to fall back on. They become lazy, suspicious of innovative ideas, and as a result American institutions atrophy.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)
““Mother” is the first word that occurs to politicians and columnists and popes when they raise the question, “Why isn’t life turning out the way we want it?””
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)