List of Israelis
This is a list of prominent Israelis (including Arab citizens of Israel).
Historical figuresPoliticians
See also: List of Israeli politicians Chaim Weizmann - first President of Israel (1949-52) 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 (1966-1974) Golda Meir - prime minister (1969-74) Yitzhak Rabin - assassinated prime minister (1974-77, 1992-95); Nobel Peace Prize (1994) Menachem Begin - prime minister (1977-83); Nobel Peace Prize (1978) Yitzhak Shamir - prime minister (1983-84, 1986-92) Shimon Peres - prime minister (1984-86, 1995-96); Nobel Peace Prize (1994); leader of the Labour party Benjamin Netanyahu - prime minister (1996-99) Ehud Barak - prime minister (1999-01) Moshe Katsav - current president (2000-) Ariel Sharon - current prime minister (2001-); leader of the Likud party Yossi Beilin - leader of the Yachad party & peace negotiator Yosef Lapid - leader of the Shinui party Effi Eitam - leader of the Mafdal party Rabbi Ovadia Yosef - spiritual leader of the Shas party & rabbi
Military Ron Arad - MIA navigator Eli Cohen - Israeli spy Moshe Dayan - military leader Rafael Eitan - IDF chief of staff Giora Epstein - combat pilot, ace of aces, holding world record for shooting down jets Uziel Gal - designer of the Uzi submachine gun Meir Har-Zion - commando soldier Tzvi Malkhin - Mossad agent, captured Adolf Eichmann Jonathan Netanyahu - Sayeret Matkal commando, leader of Operation Entebbe Ilan Ramon - astronaut on Columbia flight STS-107 Avraham Stern - underground military leader Israel Tal - general, father of Merkava tank
Activists Uri Avnery - peace activist, Gush Shalom Yael Dayan - writer, politician, activist Uzi Even - gay rights activist Nira Schwartz - TRW whistleblower, Wiener Award (2001) Uri Savir, peace negotiator, Peres Center for Peace Israel Shahak - political activist Natan Sharansky - Soviet-era human rights activist
Criminals Yigal Amir - assassin of Yitzhak Rabin Baruch Goldstein - massacred 29 Arabs in the Cave of the Patriarchs Ami Popper - murdered 7 Arabs Mordechai Vanunu - nuclear whistleblower
Cultural figures
Film, TV, and stage
See also: List of Israeli actors Gila Almagor - actress Yvan Attal - actor, director (Israeli-born) Mili Avital - actress Aki Avni - actor Nir Bergman - director Nina Brosh - model Oded Fehr - actor Eytan Fox - director Uri Geller - tv personality, self-proclaimed psychic Amos Gitai - director Amos Kollek - director, writer Dover Kosashvili - director Daliah Lavi - actress Rod Lurie - director, film critic (Israeli-born) Arnon Milchan - producer Ohad Naharin - choreographer Joseph Pitchhadze - director Natalie Portman - actress (Israeli-born) Haim Saban - tv producer Chaim Topol - actor Keren Yedaya - director
Popular musicians
See also: List of Israeli musical artists Chava Alberstein - singer/songwriter Shlomo Artzi - singer/songwriter Astral Projection - goa trance band Eef Barzelay - founder of Clem Snide Miri Ben-Ari - jazz & hip hop violinist Mike Brant - French-language singer David Broza - singer/songwriter Avishai Cohen - jazz bassist Arik Einstein - singer, actor, writer Yuval Gabay - drummer for Soul Coughing Aviv Geffen - singer/songwriter Ofra Haza - world singer Dana International - pop singer Ishtar - vocalist for Alabína Orphaned Land - oriental metal band Infected Mushroom - psychedelic trance duo Hadag Nahash - hip-hop group Ahinoam Nini (Noa) - world singer Esther Ofarim - singer Guy Oseary - head of Maverick Records Naomi Shemer - songwriter Gene Simmons - bass player for KISS Hillel Slovak - original guitarist for Red Hot Chilli Peppers Nir Zidkyahu - drummer, briefly in Genesis
Classical musicians Daniel Barenboim - conductor and pianist Paul Ben-Haim - composer Bart Berman - pianist Gary Bertini - conductor Yefim Bronfman - pianist Miriam Fried - violinist Ivry Gitlis - violinist Matt Haimovitz - cellist Ofra Harnoy - cellist Eliahu Inbal - conductor Joseph Kalichstein - pianist Yoel Levi - conductor Mischa Maisky - cellist Shlomo Mintz - violinist Itzhak Perlman - violinist Shulamit Ran - composer Gil Shaham - violinist Noam Sheriff - composer Josef Tal - composer Yoav Talmi - conductor Pinchas Zukerman - violinist
Writers Shmuel Yosef Agnon - author, Nobel Prize in Literature (1966) Natan Alterman - poet Yehuda Amichai - poet Aharon Appelfeld - author Hayyim Nahman Bialik - poet Max Brod - author, composer & friend of Kafka Orly Castel-Bloom - author Leah Goldberg - poet David Grossman - writer Batya Gur - author Emile Habibi - author Amira Hass - journalist & author Etgar Keret - author Ephraim Kishon - satirist Hanoch Levin - playwright Aharon Megged - author Sami Michael - author Uri Orlev - author, Hans Christian Andersen Award (1996) Amos Oz - author & journalist Rachel - poet Meir Shalev - author & journalist Anton Shammas - author Avraham Shlonsky - poet A.B. Yehoshua - author
Artists Yaacov Agam - kinetic artist Michael Arad - architect Ron Arad - designer Mordecai Ardon - painter Yigal Azrouel - fashion designer Ralph Bakshi - animator Alber Elbaz - fashion designer Leah Gottlieb - fashion designer (Gottex swimsuits) Nahum Gutman - painter Ranan Lurie - political cartoonist Michal Rovner - photographer Reuven Rubin - painter Moshe Safdie - architect Elie Tahari - fashion designer Ronit Zilkha - fashion designer
Academic figuresComputing and mathematics Amir Ban & Shay Bushinsky - programmers of Deep Junior Moshe Bar - creator & main developer of openMosix Yehoshua Bar-Hillel - machine translation Eli Biham - differential cryptanalysis Abraham Fraenkel - ZF set theory Abraham Lempel & Jacob Ziv - LZW compression; Richard W. Hamming Medal (1995) Michel Ločve - probabilist (born in 1907 Palestine) Joel Moses - MIT provost & writer of Macsyma Judea Pearl - artificial intelligence, philosophy of action Ilya Piatetski-Shapiro - representation theory; Wolf Prize in Mathematics (1990) Amir Pnueli - temporal logic; Turing Award (1996) Michael Rabin - nondeterminism, primality testing; Turing Award (1976) Adi Shamir - RSA encryption, differential cryptanalysis; Turing Award (2002) Saharon Shelah - logic; Wolf Prize in Mathematics (2001) Ehud Shapiro - Concurrent Prolog, DNA computing pioneer Avi Wigderson - randomized algorithms; Nevanlinna Prize (1994) Doron Zeilberger - combinatorics There have also been at least 6 Israeli winners of the Gödel Prize in theoretical computer science: Shlomo Moran (93), Yoram Moses (97), Moshe Vardi (00), Uriel Feige & Shmuel Safra (01) and Nir Shavit (04). Physics and chemistry Yakir Aharonov - Aharonov-Bohm effect; Wolf Prize in Physics (1998) Jacob Bekenstein - black hole thermodynamics David Deutsch - quantum computing pioneer; Paul Dirac Prize (1998) Joshua Jortner & Rafi Levine - molecular energy; Wolf Prize in Chemistry (1988) Ephraim Katzir - immobilized enzymes; Japan Prize (1985) Mordehai Milgrom - Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) Yuval Ne'eman - the "Eightfold way" Asher Peres - quantum theory Giulio Racah - spectroscopy Nathan Rosen - EPR paradox Nathan Seiberg - string theory Israel Shahak - chemist, also wrote on religion and history Dan Shechtman - quasicrystals; Wolf Prize in Physics (1999) Chaim Weizmann - acetone production
Biology and medicine Israel Aharoni - discovered the Syrian hamster Aaron Ciechanover & Avram Hershko - ubiquitin system; Lasker Award (2000), Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2004) Moshe Feldenkrais - invented Feldenkrais method used in movement therapy Gavriel Iddan - inventor of capsule endoscopy Doron Lancet - smell, origin of life Alexander Levitzki - cancer research; Wolf Prize in Medicine (2005) Leo Sachs - blood cell research; Wolf Prize in Medicine (1980) Michael Sela & Ruth Arnon - developed Copaxone; Wolf Prize in Medicine (1998) Meir Wilchek - affinity chromatography; Wolf Prize in Medicine (1987) Ada Yonath - structure of ribosome Amotz Zahavi - Handicap Principle
Social sciences Aharon Dolgopolsky - linguist: Nostratic SN Eisenstadt - sociologist: multiple modernities Haim Ginott - psychologist: child psychology Eliyahu Goldratt - business consultant: theory of constraints Elhanan Helpman - economist: international trade Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky - behavioural scientists: prospect theory; Nobel Prize in Economics (2002) Benjamin Mazar & Yigael Yadin - archaeologists Benny Morris & Avi Shlaim - historians: New Historians Erich Neumann - analytical psychologist: development, conciousness
EntrepreneursHigh-tech Beny Alagem - founder of Packard Bell Safra Catz - president of Oracle Idan & Yerach Feigenbaum - founders of SpeedBit (developers of Download Accelerator) Eli Harari - founder of SanDisk Yoav Hollander - founder of Verisity Morris Kahn - founder of Amdocs Daniel M. Lewin - founder of Akamai Technologies David Perlmutter - mobile platforms manager of Intel (developed Centrino wholly in Israel) Zack Rinat - founder of NetDynamics, Model N Robert Rosenschein - founder of GuruNet, answers.com (Israeli-based) Gil Schwed - founder of Check Point Zeev Suraski & Andi Gutmans - founders of Zend Technologies (developers of PHP) Arik Vardi, Yair Goldfinger, Sefi Vigiser & Amnon Amir - founders of Mirabilis (developers of ICQ)
Other Avi Arad & Isaac Perlmutter - owners of Marvel Comics Ted, Micky & Shari Arison - founder/owners of Carnival Corporation Eli Hurwitz - head of Teva Pharmaceuticals Lev Leviev, Benny Steinmetz - diamond tycoons Mordecai Meirowitz - inventor of the Mastermind board game Joseph, Ralph & Avi Nakash - founders of Jordache Sammy & Yuli Ofer - shipping magnates Ron Sommer - ex-CEO of Deutsche Telekom Stef Wertheimer - industrialist
SportsBasketball Micky Berkowitz - Maccabi Tel-Aviv Tal Brody - Maccabi Tel-Aviv Tal Burstein - Maccabi Tel-Aviv Amit Tamir - University of California, PAOK Thessaloniki
Football Yossi Benayoun - Maccabi Haifa, Racing Santander Eyal Berkovich - Maccabi Haifa, Southampton, West Ham, Celtic, Man City, Portsmouth Haim Revivo - Maccabi Haifa, Celta Vigo, Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray Ronnie Rosenthal - Maccabi Haifa, Liverpool, Tottenham Mordechai Spiegler - Maccabi Netanya, Paris St. Germain Pini Zahavi - UK-based super-agent
Other 1972 Olympic wrestling team - see Munich Massacre Alex Averbukh - pole vaulter (european champion: 2002) Isaac Berger - US-based weightlifter (olympic gold: 1956; silver: 1960, 1964) Galit Chait & Sergei Sakhnovsky - ice skaters (world championship bronze: 2002) Gal Fridman - windsurfer (olympic gold: 2004, bronze: 1996; world champion: 2002) Boris Gelfand, Emil Sutovsky, Ilya Smirin - chess Grandmasters (top 30 rankings) Baruch Hagai - wheelchair athlete (multiple paralympic golds) Esther Roth-Shachamarov - track & field (5 asian game golds) Anna Smashnova - tennis player (9 WTA career titles) Ariel Zeevi - judoka (european champion: 2000, 2003, 2004; olympic bronze: 2004)
See alsoList of PalestiniansList of people by nationalityPolitics of Israel, List of Knesset membersCulture of Israel, Music of IsraelScience and technology in IsraelList of Hebrew language authors, poets and playwrights
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