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…
Ehud Barak, 1942-
As Israel’s 10th prime minister and last from the Labor Party from 1999 to 2001, Barak ended the occupation of southern Lebanon, participated in the 2000 Camp David talks, was rebuffed by Yasser Arafat in…
Fritz Bauer, 1903-1968
Bauer was a German Jewish judge and prosecutor before and after World War II. He was arrested by the Nazis in 1933, lived in Denmark from 1936 to 1943, then escaped to neutral Sweden. He…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Naftali Bennett, 1972-
Israel’s 13th prime minister, Bennett was born in Haifa to U.S. immigrants. He was an IDF Sayeret Matkal commando and a software entrepreneur. He became the leader of the settler-supported Jewish Home party in 2012…
