List of Israelis

Encyclopedia : L : LI : LIS : List of Israelis

This is a list of prominent Israelis (including Arab citizens of Israel).

Historical figures

State of Israel 

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)
• Benjamin Netanyahu - prime minister (1996-99)
• Ehud Barak - prime minister (1999-01)
• Moshe Katsav - current president (2000-)
• Ariel Sharon - prime minister (2001-2006)
• Yossi Beilin - leader of the Yachad party & peace negotiator
• Yosef Lapid - former leader of the Shinui party
• Effi Eitam - leader of the Mafdal party
• Rabbi Ovadia Yosef - spiritual leader of the Shas party
• Amir Peretz - Former Chairman of the Labor Organization ; Leader of the Labor party

Military

• Ron Arad - MIA navigator
• Eli Cohen - Israeli spy
• Moshe Dayan - military leader
• Giora Epstein - combat pilot, modern-day "ace of aces"
• Dan Halutz - current IDF chief of staff
• Uziel Gal - designer of the Uzi submachine gun
• 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
• Mordechai Vanunu - Disclosed details on Israel's nuclear program to British newspapers
• Alon Tal - Environmental activist
• Eli Wald - Prominent Zionist activist at the University of Illinois, and head of the movement to reinstate study abroad to Israel

Criminals

• Yigal Amir - assassin of Yitzhak Rabin
• Nachman Farkash - gangster, noted for escaping jails
• Baruch Goldstein - massacred 29 Arabs in the Cave of the Patriarchs
• Ami Popper - murdered 7 Arabs
• Eden-Nathan Zada - an army defector who killed 4 people and wounded many others on a bus in Shfar'am

Cultural figures

Film, TV, and stage

• Gila Almagor - actress
• Yvan Attal - actor, director (Israeli-born)
• Moran Atias - top-model, showgirl
• 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
• Ido Gideon - TV producer
• Amos Gitai - director
• Ralph Inbar, Dutch-born TV personality (Banana Split)
• Daphna Kastner, actress; married to actor Harvey Keitel
• Nimrod Kamer - filmmaker, actor
• Amos Kollek - director, writer
• Dover Kosashvili - director
• Hanna Laslo - actress
• Daliah Lavi - actress
• Ari Libsker - filmmaker
• Rod Lurie - director, film critic (Israeli-born)
• Amit Lior - writer
• Gad Lerner - journalist (currently living in Italy)
• Arnon Milchan - producer
• Ohad Naharin - choreographer
• Joseph Pitchhadze - director
• Eyal Podell - Actor
• Natalie Portman - actress (Israeli-born)
• Haim Saban - TV producer
• Itamar Rose - filmmaker
• Elia Suleiman - director
• Chaim Topol - actor
• Ricky Ullman - actor (Israeli-born)
• Haim Yavin - TV anchor
• Keren Yedaya - director

Popular musicians

• Chava Alberstein - singer/songwriter
• Shlomo Artzi - singer/songwriter
• Ehud Banai
• 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
• Gidi Gov
• Ofra Haza - singer
• Dana International - pop singer
• Ishtar - vocalist for Alabina
• Amal Murkus - singer
• Ahinoam Nini (Noa) - singer
• Esther Ofarim - singer
• Guy Oseary - head of Maverick Records
• Idan Raichel - world fusion
• Barry Sharof - main Indie artist
• Naomi Shemer - songwriter
• Gene Simmons - bass player for KISS
• Hillel Slovak - original guitarist for Red Hot Chilli Peppers
• Rika Zaraï, singer
• Nir Zidkyahu - drummer, briefly in Genesis
• Matti Caspi - singer, multi-instrumentalist and composer
• Shlomo Gronich - singer and composer
• Yoni Rechter - composer and arranger
• Rafi Kadischsohn - arranger and orchestrator
• Zeev Tene - singer\song writer
• Sarit Hadad - Israeli singer
• Yael Nir - Prominant Israeli artist

Classical musicians

See also: List of Israeli Classical composers

• Moshe Atzmon, conductor
• Adi Bar - pianist
• Daniel Barenboim - conductor and pianist
• Paul Ben-Haim - composer
• Bart Berman - pianist
• Gary Bertini - conductor
• Yefim Bronfman - pianist
• Michael Croitoru-Weissman - cellist
• Avner Dorman - composer
• Dror Elimelech - composer
• Dan Ettinger - conductor
• Giora Feidman - clarinetist
• Miriam Fried - violinist
• Ivry Gitlis - violinist
• Matt Haimovitz - cellist
• Aaron Harlap - composer and conductor
• Ofra Harnoy - cellist
• Eliahu Inbal - conductor
• Joseph Kalichstein - pianist
• Amir Katz - pianist
• Richard Lesser - clarinetist
• Yoel Levi - conductor
• Mischa Maisky - cellist
• Zubin Mehta - Indian-Israeli conductor and director of the Israeli Philharmonic orchestra
• Shlomo Mintz - violinist
• Itzhak Perlman - violinist
• Shulamit Ran - composer
• Gil Shaham - violinist
• Hagai Shaham - violinist
• Noam Sheriff - composer
• Gil Shohat - composer
• Mordechai Seter - composer
• Michael Shani - conductor
• Ilan Schul - clarinetist
• Josef Tal - composer
• Yoav Talmi - conductor
• Arie Vardi - pianist
• Pinchas Zukerman - violinist
• Sharon Kam - clarinetist

Writers

• Shmuel Yosef Agnon - author, Nobel Prize in Literature (1966)
• Nathan Alterman - poet
• Yehuda Amichai - poet
• Zelda - poet
• Aharon Appelfeld - author, Prix Médicis étranger (2004)
• Roy Arad - Poet & Musician
• 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
• Julius Margolin, writer
• Aharon Megged - author
• Sami Michael - author
• Uri Orlev - author, Hans Christian Andersen Award (1996)
• Amos Oz - author & journalist, Goethe Prize (2005)
• Dalia Ravikovich - poet
• Rachel - poet
• Meir Shalev - author & journalist
• Zeruya Shalev - author
• Anton Shammas - author
• Avraham Shlonsky - poet
• A.B. Yehoshua - author
• Benny Ziffer - author, journalist and translator
• Abraham Sutzkever - Yiddish poet
• Yehonatan Geffen - author, poet and lyricist
• Nathan Zach - poet
• Samir Naqqash- novelist

Artists

• Yaacov Agam - kinetic artist
• Michael Arad - architect
• Ron Arad - designer
• Mordecai Ardon - painter
• David Ascalon - sculptor & synagogue designer
• Maurice Ascalon - sculptor & industrial designer
• Mordechai Avniel - painter & sculptor
• Yigal Azrouel - fashion designer
• Ralph Bakshi - animator
• Alber Elbaz - fashion designer
• Gideon Gechtman - sculptor
• Dudu Geva - artist and comic-strip illustrator
• Leah Gottlieb - fashion designer (Gottex swimsuits)
• Nahum Gutman - painter
• Dani Karavan - sculptor
• David Tartakover - graphic designer
• Ranan Lurie - political cartoonist
• Michal Rovner - photographer
• Reuven Rubin - painter
• Moshe Safdie - architect
• Boris Schatz - sculptor
• Elie Tahari - fashion designer
• Elyasaf Kowner - video artist
• Anna Ticho - painter
• Moshe Ziffer - sculptor
• Ronit Zilkha - fashion designer

Academic figures

Computing and mathematics

• Shmuel Agmon, mathematician,
• Noga Alon, mathematician,
• Shimshon Anitzur,
• Robert "Yisrael" J. Aumann - mathematical game theory; Nobel Prize in Economics (2005)
• Amir Ban & Shay Bushinsky - programmers of Deep Junior
• Moshe Bar - creator & main developer of openMosix
• Yehoshua Bar-Hillel - machine translation
• Joseph Bernstein,
• Eli Biham - differential cryptanalysis
• Arie Dvoretzky,
• Abraham Fraenkel - ZF set theory
• Hillel Furstenberg,
• David Harel - computer science; Israel Prize (2004)'''
• Abraham Lempel & Jacob Ziv - LZW compression; Richard W. Hamming Medal (1995)
• Yoram Lidenstrauss,
• Michel Loève - probabilist (born in 1907 Palestine)
• Joel Moses - MIT provost & writer of Macsyma
• Judea Pearl - artificial intelligence, philosophy of action
• Haim Pekeris,
• Ilya Piatetski-Shapiro - representation theory; Wolf Prize in Mathematics (1990)
• Amir Pnueli - temporal logic; Turing Award (1996)
• Michael O. 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
• Reuven Cohen - Open Source Advocate

Physics and chemistry

• Yakir Aharonov - Aharonov-Bohm effect; Wolf Prize in Physics (1998)
• Shlomo Alexander,
• Jacob Bekenstein - black hole thermodynamics
• Amos De-Shalit,
• David Deutsch - quantum computing pioneer; Paul Dirac Prize (1998)
• Israel Dostrovsky, physical chemistry,
• Joshua Jortner & Rafi Levine - molecular energy; Wolf Prize in Chemistry (1988)
• Josef Imry, physicist,
• Aaron Katzir, physical chemistry,
• Ephraim Katzir - immobilized enzymes; Japan Prize (1985)
• Zvi Lipkin, physicist,
• 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
• Dan Shechtman - quasicrystals; Wolf Prize in Physics (1999)
• Shmuel Shtrikman, physicist,
• Izchak Shteinberg, physicist,
• Zeev Tadmor, chemical engineering,
• Igal Talmi, partical physics
• Chaim Weizmann - acetone production
• Itamar Wilner, chemist,

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)
• Jacob Shani - performed the first atherectomy in New York State(1991); invented an angled catheter(1992)
• Israel Silman - 3D structure of acetylcholinesterase, Elkeles Prize for Research in Medicine (2005)
• Joel Sussman - 3D structure of acetylcholinesterase, Elkeles Prize for Research in Medicine (2005)

• Valero Aaron-Professor of Medicine, founder of Faculty of Medicine at the Technion, director of government hospital

• Meir Wilchek - affinity chromatography; Wolf Prize in Medicine (1987)
• Ada Yonath - structure of ribosome
• Amotz Zahavi - Handicap Principle

Engineering

• Franz Ollendorf, Electronics, Electrical research,
• Moshe Zakai, Electrical engineering,
• Jacob Ziv, Electrical engineering,

Philosophy

• Martin Buber - philosopher
• Berl Katznelson
• Joseph Raz - philosopher
• Yeshayahu Leibowitz - philosopher and public figure
• Avishai Margalit - philosopher

Social sciences

• Aharon Dolgopolsky - linguist: Nostratic
• David Asheri, classical studies,
• SN Eisenstadt - sociologist: multiple modernities
• Haim Ginott - psychologist: child psychology
• Eliyahu Goldratt - business consultant: theory of constraints
• Louis Guttman, sociologist,
• Don Handelman, Anthropology, Sociology,
• Elhanan Helpman - economist: international trade
• Daniel Kahneman - behavioural scientist: prospect theory; Nobel Prize in Economics (2002)
• Benjamin Mazar & Yigael Yadin - archaeologists
• Benny Morris & Avi Shlaim - historians: New Historians
• David Navon, psychologist,
• Erich Neumann - analytical psychologist: development, consciousness
• Hans Jakob Polotsky, linguist,
• Ariel Rubinstein, economist,
• Yoram Tsafrir, Archeology,
• Amos Tversky - behavioral scientist: prospect theory with Daniel Kahneman
• Menahem Yaari, economist,

Entrepreneurs

High-tech

• Beny Alagem - founder of Packard Bell
• Efi Arazi - founder of Scitex
• 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
• Bob 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)
• Ariki & Yossi Vardi, Yair Goldfinger, Sefi Vigiser & Amnon Amir - founders of Mirabilis (developers of ICQ)
• Amnon Landan - founder of Mercury Interactive

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

Sports

Basketball

• Micky Berkowitz - Maccabi Tel-Aviv
• Tal Brody - Maccabi Tel-Aviv
• Tal Burstein - Maccabi Tel-Aviv
• Amit Tamir - University of California, PAOK Thessaloniki
• Shay Doron - University of Maryland

Football (soccer)

• Yossi Benayoun - Hapoel Beer Sheva, Maccabi Haifa, Racing Santander, West Ham
• Tal Ben Haim - Maccabi Tel Aviv, Bolton Wanderers
• Eyal Berkovic - 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

Tennis

• Harel Levy (1 doubles title, 2 singles finals)
• Noam Okun
• Dudi Sela
• Amir Hadad
• Noam Behr
• Eyal Ran
• Gilad Bloom
• Shlomo Glickstein
• Jonathan Erlich (6 doubles titles, 6 doubles finals)
• Andy Ram (6 doubles titles, 6 doubles finals, 1 mixed doubles final)
• Amos Mansdorf
• Shahar Perkis
• Hila Rosen
• Anna Smashnova (11 WTA career titles)
• Shahar Peer
• Tzipora Obziler

Other

• 1972 Olympic team - see Munich Massacre
• Alex Averbukh - pole vaulter (European champion: 2002)
• Eli Elezra - professional poker player
• Galit Chait & Sergei Sakhnovski - ice dancers (world championship bronze: 2002)
• Gal Fridman - windsurfer (olympic gold: 2004, bronze: 1996; world champion: 2002)
• Boris Gelfand, Emil Sutovsky, Ilya Smirin - chess Grandmasters (~2700 peak ELO rating)
• Baruch Hagai - wheelchair athlete (multiple paralympic golds)
• Esther Roth-Shachamarov - track & field (5 asian game golds)
• Ariel Zeevi - judoka (European champion: 2000, 2003, 2004; olympic bronze: 2004)
• Yael Arad - judoka (olympic silver: 1992, European champion: 1993, world silver: 1993). First Israeli Olympic medallist.
• Oren Smadja - judoka (olympic bronze: 1992)
• Michael Kolganov - kayak paddler (olympic bronze: 2000)

See also

• List of Israel Prize winners
• List of Palestinians
• List of people by nationality
• Politics of Israel, List of Knesset members
• Culture of Israel, Music of Israel
• Science and technology in Israel
• List of Hebrew language authors, poets and playwrights

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