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: List Of Israelis
Famous quotes containing the word politicians:
“Everyone was tired with the old style politicians and their flowery rhetoric. I just told them there are tough times ahead, but that they would be less tough with me in charge.”
—Anibal Cavaco Silva (b. 1939)
“In the past, it seemed to make sense for a sportswriter on sabbatical from the playpen to attend the quadrennial hawgkilling when Presidential candidates are chosen, to observe and report upon politicians at play. After all, national conventions are games of a sort, and sports offers few spectacles richer in low comedy.”
—Walter Wellesley (Red)
“And he gave it for his opinion, that whoever could make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service to his country, than the whole race of politicians put together.”
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)