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Yigal Allon, 1918-1980

Yigal Allon, 1918-1980

Allon led the Palmach and was an IDF major general who oversaw the Southern Command. He served in the Knesset from 1955 until his death. After the 1967 war, he proposed returning the West Bank…

Biographies|August 31, 2022
Shulamit Aloni, 1928-2014

Shulamit Aloni, 1928-2014

Founder of the Meretz party, Aloni was known for advocating for peace and for human and civil rights, especially as a voice for women and against Orthodox control of society. She fought in the Palmach…

Biographies|August 31, 2022
Aharon Barak, 1936-

Aharon Barak, 1936-

Lithuania-born Barak was a 28-year Supreme Court justice who served as the president of the court from 1995 to 2006. He lifted restrictions on individual petitions to the court and strengthened the judiciary’s authority to…

Biographies|August 31, 2022
Menachem Begin, 1913-1992

Menachem Begin, 1913-1992

Born in Belarus, Begin joined the Revisionist Betar movement and escaped Nazis and Soviets to reach Palestine. He led the Irgun, then spent three decades in the political opposition, including arguing against German reparations. In…

Biographies|August 31, 2022
Dorit Beinisch, 1942-

Dorit Beinisch, 1942-

Beinisch became the first female president of the Supreme Court in 2006 after serving over 10 years as a justice. She also was the first woman to serve as state attorney, the highest nonpolitical role…

Biographies|August 31, 2022
David Ben-Gurion, 1886-1973

David Ben-Gurion, 1886-1973

Ben-Gurion was Israel’s first prime minister and its leading political force for two decades. Born in Poland, he arrived in Palestine in 1907. He formed socialist-leaning Mapai, the dominant political party, in 1930 and became…

Biographies|August 31, 2022
Miriam Ben-Porat, 1918-2012

Miriam Ben-Porat, 1918-2012

A native of Belarus who grew up in Lithuania and made aliyah in 1936, Ben-Porat in 1977 became the first woman appointed to the Israeli Supreme Court and the first to serve on the highest…

Biographies|August 31, 2022
Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, 1884-1963

Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, 1884-1963

Before becoming Israel’s second and longest-serving president in 1952, Ukraine-born Ben-Zvi co-founded Yishuv self-defense groups Bar Giora and Hashomer. He became a Poalei Zion leader after immigrating to Palestine in 1907. He was prominent in…

Biographies|August 31, 2022
Abba Eban, 1915-2002

Abba Eban, 1915-2002

A native of Cape Town, South Africa, who was raised in England and made aliyah in 1944, Eban was a diplomat, politician and writer. With the Jewish Agency’s U.N. delegation, he was heavily involved in…

Biographies|August 31, 2022
Levi Eshkol, 1895-1969

Levi Eshkol, 1895-1969

Eshkol, Israel’s third prime minister, was a farm worker after arriving from Ukraine in 1914. He organized labor and became a Mapai and Jewish Agency leader. He raised money for arms and for immigrant absorption….

Biographies|August 31, 2022
Gideon Hausner, 1915-1990

Gideon Hausner, 1915-1990

As Israel’s attorney general from 1960 to 1963, Poland-born Hausner successfully prosecuted Adolf Eichmann in 1961 for his crimes against humanity and the Jewish people during the Holocaust. Hausner persuaded the court to sentence Eichmann…

Biographies|August 31, 2022
Chaim Herzog, 1918-1997

Chaim Herzog, 1918-1997

A politician, lawyer, diplomat and writer who immigrated from Ireland to Israel in 1935, Herzog was Israel’s sixth president. He led IDF military intelligence after the War of Independence. When the U.N. General Assembly passed…

Biographies|August 31, 2022
Salim Joubran, 1947-2024

Salim Joubran, 1947-2024

Joubran, a Maronite Christian born in Haifa, was the first Arab with a permanent seat on the Israeli Supreme Court, serving from 2004 to 2017 after a temporary appointment in 2003. He was often on…

Biographies|August 31, 2022
Golda Meir, 1898-1978

Golda Meir, 1898-1978

Born in Ukraine and raised in Wisconsin, Meir rose in Labor Zionism with the Histadrut and engaged in diplomacy for the Jewish Agency and Israel, including trying to keep Transjordan out of the 1948 war…

Biographies|August 31, 2022
Shimon Peres, 1923-2016

Shimon Peres, 1923-2016

Peres is the only Israeli to serve as prime minister and president. Born in Belarus, he arrived in Palestine in 1934. He helped establish and arm the initial IDF in the 1940s and launched a…

Biographies|August 31, 2022
Yitzhak Rabin, 1922-1995

Yitzhak Rabin, 1922-1995

Rabin was a two-time prime minister whose assassination shattered hopes for peace under the Oslo Accords, for which he shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize with Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat. He also signed a…

Biographies|August 31, 2022
Pinhas Sapir, 1906-1975

Pinhas Sapir, 1906-1975

Labor Party politician Sapir played a vital role in the development of the Israeli economy. Born in Poland as Pinhas Kozlowski, he immigrated to the Land of Israel in 1929. He served in the Cabinet…

Biographies|August 31, 2022
Yitzhak Shamir, 1915-2012

Yitzhak Shamir, 1915-2012

Belarus-born Shamir was the seventh prime minister, serving two terms between 1983 and 1992. He was a Lehi leader during the British Mandate. As a Likud prime minister, he approved Operation Solomon to airlift in…

Biographies|August 31, 2022
Moshe Sharett, 1894-1965

Moshe Sharett, 1894-1965

The first foreign minister and second prime minister of Israel, Ukraine-born Sharett (originally Shertok) was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and one of the key negotiators of cease-fire agreements that ended the War…

Biographies|August 31, 2022
Ariel Sharon, 1928-2014

Ariel Sharon, 1928-2014

Sharon led IDF commandos in the 1950s, was a field commander in 1967 and drove the Sinai counteroffensive in 1973. As defense minister, he launched the First Lebanon War, which resulted in an 18-year occupation,…

Biographies|August 31, 2022
Yosef Sprinzak, 1885-1959

Yosef Sprinzak, 1885-1959

Originally from Moscow, Sprinzak was the first speaker of the Knesset, a position he held until his death. He was interim president after Chaim Weizmann died. After immigrating to Palestine during the Second Aliyah, Sprinzak…

Biographies|August 31, 2022
Zerach Warhaftig, 1906-2002

Zerach Warhaftig, 1906-2002

Belarus-born Warhaftig persuaded Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara to issue 3,500 visas for Jews fleeing Lithuania at the start of World War II, then escaped to Canada via Japan. He reached the Land of Israel in…

Biographies|August 31, 2022
Ezer Weizman, 1924-2005

Ezer Weizman, 1924-2005

Weizman, the nephew of Chaim Weizmann, was Israel’s seventh president from 1993 to 2000. He was a founder of the Israeli Air Force and became its commander in 1958. As defense minister in the first…

Biographies|August 31, 2022