Shahar Pe’er, 1987-
Israel’s most successful tennis player, Pe’er won five singles and three doubles titles on the Women’s Tennis Association tour. Her highest world ranking was No. 11 in 2011. She reached the singles quarterfinals of two…
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…
Itzhak Perlman, 1945-
Perlman is an acclaimed violinist and conductor who was born in Tel Aviv, survived polio at age 4, and lives and teaches in New York. He has performed for U.S. presidents and British Queen Elizabeth…
Edis De Philippe, 1912-1979
A New York-born opera singer, De Philippe founded the Israel National Opera Company in 1947. She settled in Palestine after World War II and performed with the Palestine Folk Opera in 1945 and for the…
Leon Pinsker, 1821-1891
Pinsker was born in Russian-ruled Poland. He advocated full Jewish emancipation and joined the assimilationist Society for the Promotion of Culture Among the Jews of Russia, but pogroms in 1871 and 1881 pushed him to…
Yohanan Plesner, 1972-
London-born Plesner has served since 2014 as the president of the nonpartisan Israel Democracy Institute, which conducts polling and advocates for government reforms to strengthen democracy. He was in the Knesset from 2007 to 2013…
Roza Pomerantz-Meltzer, 1880-1934
The first female member of the Polish Parliament, Pomerantz-Meltzer represented a Zionist party. She supported Zionist youth groups and founded the Zionist Jewish Women’s Circle. She attended the Tenth Zionist Congress in 1911 and was…
Yehoshua Porath, 1938-2019
Porath specialized in the history of Palestinian nationalism as a professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His books include “Palestine Jewry and the Arab Question, 1917-1925” and “In…
Natalie Portman, 1981-
Jerusalem-born actress Portman made her film debut as the star of 1994’s “Leon: The Professional.” She won an Oscar for 2010’s “Black Swan” and was nominated for two others. Her directorial debut was the 2015…
