List of Israeli Ashkenazi Jews

This is a list of notable Israeli Ashkenazi Jews, including both original immigrants who obtained Israeli citizenship and their Israeli descendants.

Although traditionally the term "Ashkenazi Jews" was used as an all encompassing term referring to the Jews descended from the Jewish communities of Europe, due to the melting pot affect of the Israeli society the term "Ashkenazi Jews" gradually becomes more vague as many of the Israeli descendants of the Ashkenazi Jews immigrants gradually adopted the characteristics of the Israeli culture and as more decedents intermarry with descendants of other Jewish communities.

The list is ordered by category of human endeavor. Persons with significant contributions in two fields are listed in both of the pertinent categories, to facilitate easy lookup.

Politicians

  • Chaim Weizmann – first President of Israel (1949–52)
  • Yitzhak Ben-Zvi – first elected/second president President of Israel (1952–63)
  • David Ben-Gurion – first Prime Minister of Israel (1948–54, 1955–63)
  • Moshe Sharett – prime minister (1954–55)
  • Levi Eshkol – prime minister (1963–69)
  • Golda Meir – prime minister (1969–74)
  • Yitzhak Rabin – prime minister (1974–77, 1992–95); Nobel Peace Prize (1994) (assassinated November 1995)
  • Menachem Begin – prime minister (1977–83); Nobel Peace Prize (1978)
  • Yitzhak Shamir – prime minister (1983–84, 1986–92)
  • Shimon Peres – President of Israel (2007–); prime minister (1984–86, 1995–96); Nobel Peace Prize (1994)
  • Benjamin Netanyahu – prime minister (1996–99), (2009–); was minister of finance; Likud party chairman
  • Ehud Barak – prime minister (1999–01)
  • Moshe Katsav – president (2000–07)
  • Ariel Sharon – prime minister (2001–06)
  • Ehud Olmert – prime minister (2006–09); former mayor of Jerusalem
  • Rehavam Zeevi – founder of the Moledet party (assassinated October 2001)
  • Yossi Beilin – leader of the Meretz-Yachad party and peace negotiator
  • Yosef Lapid – former leader of the Shinui party
  • Teddy Kollek – former mayor of Jerusalem
  • Effie Eitam – former leader of the National Religious Party party, now head of the Renewed Religious National Zionist party
  • Yair Lapid – politician, and former TV presenter, news anchor, actor, journalist and author.

Military

  • Wolfgang Lotz – spy
  • Moshe Dayan – military leader
  • Giora Epstein – combat pilot, modern-day "ace of aces"
  • Uziel Gal – designer of the Uzi submachine gun
  • Tzvi Malkhin – Mossad agent, captured Adolf Eichmann
  • Yonatan Netanyahu – Sayeret Matkal commando, leader of Operation Entebbe
  • Ilan Ramon – astronaut on Columbia flight STS-107
  • Gilad Shalit – kidnapped soldier held in Gaza
  • Yitzhak Rabin – military leader and 5th Prime Minister of Israel
  • Yigal Allon – politician, a commander of the Palmach, and a general in the IDF.
  • Benny Gantz – current Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces
  • Yael Rom – the first female to graduate from a full military flight course in the Western world in general and in the Israeli Air Force in particular.

Religious figures

Religious-rabbis

Israel Meir Lau
  • Avraham Yitzchak Kook, pre-state Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel, (1865–1935)
  • Yona Metzger, Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Israel
  • Israel Meir Lau Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Israel (1993–2003), Chief Rabbi of Netanya (1978–88), (1937–)
  • Aharon Lichtenstein
  • David Hartman
  • Shlomo Riskin Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Efrat

Haredi rabbis

Uri Zohar
  • Uri Zohar – former film director, actor, and comedian who left the entertainment world to become a rabbi
  • Avraham Yeshayeh Karelitz, Chazon Ish, (1878–1953)
  • Elazar Menachem Shach, Rav Shach, (1899–2001)
  • Moshe Shmuel Shapira, rosh yeshiva of Beer Yaakov
  • Nissim Karelitz, Head Justice of Rabbinical Court of Bnei Brak
  • Chaim Kanievsky
  • Yosef Sholom Eliashiv
  • Shlomo Zalman Auerbach
  • Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem (Edah HaChareidis)
  • Yitzchok Tuvia Weiss, Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem (Edah HaChareidis)
  • Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky (I), Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem (Edah HaChareidis)
  • Yaakov Aryeh Alter, Gerrer Rebbe
  • Yissachar Dov Rokeach (II), Belzer Rebbe

Activists

Natan Sharansky
  • Natan Sharansky – Soviet-era human rights activist
  • Uri Avnery – peace activist, Gush Shalom
  • Yael Dayan – writer, politician, activist
  • Michael Dorfman Russian-Israeli essayist and human rights activist
  • Uzi Even – gay rights activist
  • Uri Savir, peace negotiator, Peres Center for Peace
  • Israel Shahak – political activist
  • Daphni Leef – Israeli activist in 2011 sparked off one of the largest waves of mass protest in Israel's history.

Cultural figures

Film, TV, and stage

  • Natalie Portman - actress
  • Menahem Golan - director and producer
  • Mili Avital – actress
  • Ayelet Zurer – actress
  • Mike Burstyn – actor
  • Chaim Topol – actor
  • Alona Tal – actress
  • Zachi Noy – actor
  • Ari Folman – director
  • Oded Fehr – actor
  • Uri Geller – TV personality, self-proclaimed psychic
  • Hanna Laslo – actress
  • Gila Almagor – actress
  • Uri Zohar – former film director, actor, and comedian who left the entertainment world to become a rabbi
  • Dudu Topaz – TV personality, comedian, actor, screenwriter, playwright, author and radio and television host
  • Haim Yavin – long-serving TV anchor
  • Ya'akov Eilon - News anchorman
  • Miki Haimovich - News anchorwoman
  • Yonit Levi - News anchorwoman
  • Dan Shilon - television host, director, and producer
  • Yaron London - media personality, journalist, actor and songwriter
  • Moti Kirschenbaum - media personality and documentarian
  • Avri Gilad - media personality
  • Shaike Ophir – actor
  • Hanna Maron – actress
  • Assi Dayan – actor, director
  • Eytan Fox – director
  • Amos Gitai – director
  • Amos Kollek – director, writer
  • Yisrael Poliakov – comedian, actor
  • Shaike Ophir – comedian, actor
  • Adir Miller – comedian, actor
  • Zvika Hadar – comedian, actor
  • Samuel Vilozny – comedian, actor
  • Alma Zack – comedian, actress
  • Tal Friedman – comedian, actor and musician
  • Yuval Semo – comedian, actor
  • Eyal Kitzis – actor, comedian and TV host
  • Avi Kushnir – comedian, actor and host
  • Tuvia Tzafir – comedian, actor
  • Rami Heuberger – actor, comedian
  • Keren Mor – actress, comedian
  • Tzipi Shavit – comedian, actress
  • Michal Yannai – actress
  • Aki Avni – actor
  • Anat Atzmon – actress
  • Chava Alberstein – singer/songwriter
  • Yardena Arazi – singer and TV host
  • Shlomo Artzi – singer/songwriter
  • Miri Ben-Ari – jazz and hip hop violinist
  • Mike Brant – French-language singer
  • David Broza – singer/songwriter
  • Matti Caspi – singer, multi-instrumentalist and composer
  • Arik Einstein – singer, actor, writer
  • Aviv Geffen – singer/songwriter
  • Gidi Gov – singer
  • Shlomo Gronich – singer and composer
  • Ehud Manor - songwriter and translator
  • Arkadi Duchin – singer-songwriter and musical producer
  • Esther Ofarim – singer
  • Idan Raichel – Ethiopian and Israeli music
  • Yoni Rechter – composer and arranger
  • Naomi Shemer – songwriter
  • Svika Pick – pop singer and composer
  • Danny Sanderson – musician, singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • Uzi Hitman – singer, songwriter, composer and television personality
  • Dana Berger – singer
  • Shlomo Gronich – singer
  • Yaffa Yarkoni – singer
  • Hillel Slovak – guitarist
  • Meir Ariel – singer
  • Izhar Ashdot – singer
  • Yoni Bloch – rock singer, songwriter and composer
  • Gene Simmons - rock singer, bassist and co-vocalist of the band Kiss.

Classical musicians

Itzhak Perlman
  • Moshe Atzmon – conductor
  • Daniel Barenboim – conductor and pianist
  • Rami Bar-Niv - pianist and composer
  • Ofer Ben-Amots – composer
  • Paul Ben-Haim – composer
  • Bart Berman – pianist
  • Gary Bertini – conductor
  • Natan Brand – pianist
  • Nir Brand – conductor
  • Yefim Bronfman – pianist
  • Avner Dorman – composer
  • Dror Elimelech – composer
  • Giora Feidman – clarinetist
  • Ivry Gitlis – violinist
  • Matt Haimovitz – cellist
  • Ofra Harnoy – cellist
  • Eliahu Inbal – conductor
  • Amir Katz – pianist
  • Yoel Levi – conductor
  • Mischa Maisky – cellist
  • Shlomo Mintz – violinist
  • Itzhak Perlman – violinist
  • Shulamit Ran – composer
  • Leon Schidlowsky – composer
  • Inbal Segev – cellist
  • Gil Shaham – violinist
  • Hagai Shaham – violinist
  • Michael Shani – conductor
  • Noam Sheriff – composer
  • Gil Shohat – composer
  • Josef Tal – composer
  • Yoav Talmi – conductor
  • Arie Vardi – pianist
  • Ilana Vered – pianist
  • Pinchas Zukerman – violinist
  • Sharon Kam – clarinetist
  • Yael Naïm – solo singer/musician
  • Yardena Arazi – solo singer

Writers

  • Shmuel Yosef Agnon (Shmuel Yosef Halevi Czaczkes) – author, Nobel Prize in Literature (1966)
  • Nathan Alterman – poet
  • Yehuda Amichai (Ludwig Pfeuffer) – poet
  • Aharon Appelfeld – author, Prix Médicis étranger (2004)
  • Ron Ben-Yishai – journalist
  • Nahum Benari – author and playwright
  • Max Brod – author, composer and friend of Kafka
  • Orly Castel-Bloom – author
  • Yehonatan Geffen – author, poet and lyricist
  • Leah Goldberg – poet
  • Uri Zvi Greenberg – poet
  • David Grossman – writer
  • Batya Gur – author
  • Haim Hefer – songwriter, poet and writer.
  • Amira Hass – journalist and author
  • Shmuel Katz – author and journalist
  • Etgar Keret – author
  • Ephraim Kishon – satirist
  • Hanoch Levin – playwright
  • Julius Margolin – writer
  • Aharon Megged – author
  • Samir Naqqash – novelist
  • Uri Orlev – author, Hans Christian Andersen Award (1996)
  • Amos Oz (Amos Klausner) – author and journalist, Goethe Prize (2005)
  • Dahlia Ravikovich – poet
  • Meir Shalev – author and journalist
  • Zeruya Shalev – author
  • Moshe Shamir – author, poet
  • Naomi Shemer – songwriter and lyricist
  • Mati Shemoelof – poet, editor and journalist
  • Avraham Shlonsky – poet
  • Avraham Stern – poet
  • Abraham Sutzkever – Yiddish poet
  • A.B. Yehoshua – author
  • Nathan Zach – poet
  • Dahn Ben Amotz – author
  • Zelda – poet
  • Benny Ziffer – author, journalist and translator

Artists

Dudu Geva
  • Yaacov Agam – kinetic artist
  • Yitzhak Danziger – sculptor
  • Dudu Geva – artist and comic-strip illustrator
  • Nachum Gutman – painter
  • Israel Hershberg – realist painter
  • Shimshon Holzman – painter
  • Uri Fink – comic book artist and writer.

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Models

  • Rina Mor – model
  • Bar Refaeli – model
  • Yael Goldman – model
  • Yael Bar Zohar – model
  • Gal Gadot – model
  • Hilla Nachshon – model
  • Adi Himelbloy – model
  • Nina Brosh – model
  • Esti Ginzborg – model
  • Galit Gutmann – model
  • Shiraz Tal – model
  • Michaela Bercu – model
  • Heli Goldenberg – former model and actress
  • Pnina Rosenblum – former model
  • Anat Elimelech – model and actress that was murdered in 1997 by her partner

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Academic figures

Physics and chemistry

Dan Shechtman
  • Dan Shechtman – quasicrystals; Wolf Prize in Physics (1999). He was awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "the discovery of quasicrystals".)
  • 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 and Rafi Levine – molecular energy; Wolf Prize in Chemistry (1988)
  • Josef Imry, physicist
  • Aaron Katzir, physical chemistry,
  • Ephraim Katzir – immobilized enzymes; Japan Prize (1985) The fourth President of Israel List of Presidents of Israel
  • 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
  • Igal Talmi, particle physics
  • Reshef Tenne – discovered inorganic fullerenes and inorganic nanotubes
  • Chaim Weizmann – acetone production

Biology and medicine

  • Aaron Ciechanover and Avram Hershko – ubiquitin system; Lasker Award (2000), Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2004)
  • Moshe Feldenkrais – invented Feldenkrais method used in movement therapy
  • Lior Gepstein – American College of Cardiology's Zipes Award for his development of heart cells and pacemakers from stem cells.
  • Eyal Gur – selected by Newsweek as one of the world's top microsurgeons
  • Hossam Haick – inventor of an electric nose for diagnosis of cancer
  • Gavriel Iddan – inventor of capsule endoscopy
  • Benjamin Kahn – marine biologist, defender of the Red Sea reef
  • Gideon Mer – malaria control
  • Andy Lehrer, entomologist
  • Shulamit Levenberg – inventor of a muscle tissue which isn't rejected by the body after transplant. Selected by Scientific American as one of the 50 leading scientists in the world.
  • Alexander Levitzki – cancer research; Wolf Prize in Medicine (2005)
  • Saul Merin – Ophthalmologist, author of Inherited Eye Diseases
  • Raphael Mechoulam – Chemist, discoverer of tetrahydrocannabinol and anandamide
  • Leo Sachs – blood cell research; Wolf Prize in Medicine (1980)
  • Michael Sela and Ruth Arnon – developed Copaxone; Wolf Prize in Medicine (1998)
  • Joel Sussman – 3D structure of acetylcholinesterase, Elkeles Prize for Research in Medicine (2005)
  • Meir Wilchek – affinity chromatography; Wolf Prize in Medicine (1987)
  • Ada Yonath – structure of ribosome. She received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2009)
  • Amotz Zahavi – Handicap Principle

Social sciences

Daniel Kahneman
  • Yehuda Bauer – historian
  • Haim Ginott – psychologist: child psychology
  • Eliyahu Goldratt – business consultant: Theory of Constraints
  • Louis Guttman – sociologist
  • Elhanan Helpman – economist: international trade
  • Daniel Kahneman – behavioural scientist: prospect theory; Nobel Prize in Economics (2002)
  • Smadar Lavie – anthropologist
  • Amihai Mazar – archaeologist
  • Benjamin Mazar – archaeologist
  • Eilat Mazar – archaeologist
  • Benny Morris and Avi Shlaim – historians: New Historians
  • Erich Neumann – analytical psychologist: development, consciousness
  • Nurit Peled-Elhanan – educator
  • Sheizaf Rafaeli – Management, information, communication,
  • Ariel Rubinstein – economist
  • Amos Tversky – behavioral scientist: prospect theory with Daniel Kahneman
  • Yigael Yadin – archaeologist
  • Daniel Elazar – political science

Computing and mathematics

  • Ron Aharoni – mathematician
  • Noga Alon – mathematician, computer scientist, winner of the Gödel Prize (2005)
  • Shimshon Amitsur- mathematician ring theory abstract algebra
  • Robert Aumann – mathematical game theory; Nobel Prize in Economics (2005)
  • Amir Ban and Shay Bushinsky – programmers of Junior (chess)
  • Moshe Bar – creator and main developer of openMosix
  • Yehoshua Bar-Hillel – machine translation
  • Joseph Bernstein – mathematician
  • Eli Biham – differential cryptanalysis
  • Aryeh Dvoretzky, mathematician
  • Uriel Feige – computer scientist, winner of the Gödel Prize(2001)
  • Abraham Fraenkel – ZF set theory
  • Hillel Furstenberg – mathematician; Wolf Prize in Mathematics (2006/7)
  • Shafi Goldwasser – computer scientist, winner of the Gödel Prize (1993 and 2001)
  • David Harel – computer science; Israel Prize (2004)
  • Abraham Lempel and Jacob Ziv – LZW compression; IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal (2007 and 1995)
  • Joram Lindenstrauss – mathematician Johnson–Lindenstrauss lemma
  • Elon Lindenstrauss – mathematician the 2010 Fields Medal awarded
  • Michel Loève – probabilist
  • Joel Moses – MIT provost and writer of Macsyma
  • Yoram Moses – computer scientist, winner of the Gödel Prize in theoretical computer science and the 2009 Dijkstra Prize in Distributed Computing.
  • Judea Pearl – artificial intelligence, philosophy of action
  • Ilya Piatetski-Shapiro – representation theory; Wolf Prize in Mathematics (1990)
  • Amir Pnueli – temporal logic; Turing Award (1996)
  • Shmuel Safra – computer scientist, winner of the (2001)
  • Nir Shavit- computer scientist, winner of the (2001)
  • 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
  • Moshe Y. Vardi – computer scientist, winner of the(2000)
  • Avi Wigderson – randomized algorithms; Nevanlinna Prize (1994)
  • Doron Zeilberger – combinatorics

Engineering

  • David Faiman – solar engineer and director of the National Solar Energy Center
  • Liviu Librescu – Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Virginia Tech, killed in the Virginia Tech massacre
  • Moshe Zakai – Electrical engineering
  • Jacob Ziv – Electrical engineering

Philosophy

  • Martin Buber – philosopher
  • Joseph Raz – philosopher
  • Yeshayahu Leibowitz – philosopher and public figure
  • Avishai Margalit – philosopher
  • Gershom Scholem

Humanities

  • Aharon Dolgopolsky, linguist: Nostratic
  • Moshe Goshen-Gottstein, Bible scholar
  • Hans Jakob Polotsky, linguist
  • Chaim Rabin, Bible scholar
  • Alice Shalvi, English literature, educator
  • Gershon Shaked, Hebrew literature
  • Shemaryahu Talmon, Bible scholar
  • Emanuel Tov, Bible scholar

Entrepreneurs and Businesspeople

High-tech sector

  • Moshe Bar – founder of XenSource, Qumranet
  • Safra Catz – president of Oracle
  • Yossi Gross – recipient of almost 600 patents, founder of 27 medical technology companies in Israel and the Chief Technology Office officer of Rainbow Medical.
  • Daniel M. Lewin – founder of Akamai Technologies
  • Bob Rosenschein – founder of GuruNet, Answers.com (Israeli-based)
  • Gil Schwed – founder of Check Point
  • Zeev Suraski and Andi Gutmans – founders of Zend Technologies (developers of PHP)
  • Ariki and Yossi Vardi, Yair Goldfinger, Sefi Vigiser and Amnon Amir – founders of Mirabilis (developers of ICQ)

Other sectors

  • Ted, Micky and Shari Arison – founder/owners of Carnival Corporation
  • Eli Hurvitz – head of Teva Pharmaceuticals
  • Mordecai Meirowitz – inventor of the Mastermind board game
  • Sammy Ofer – shipping magnate
  • Yuli Ofer - businessman whom specialized in the field of real estate and industry
  • Stef Wertheimer – industrialist

Sports

Association Football

  • Ronnie Rosenthal – left winger/striker (national team), Maccabi Haifa, Liverpool, Tottenham, Watford
  • Mordechai Spiegler, Soviet Union/Israel – striker (Israel national team), manager
  • Eyal Berkovic – midfielder (national team), Maccabi Haifa, Southampton, West Ham United, Celtic, Manchester City, Portsmouth
  • Yochanan Vollach – defender (national team), Maccabi Haifa, Hapoel Haifa, HKFC; current president of Maccabi Haifa
  • Giora Spiegel - midfielder (national team), Maccabi Tel Aviv
  • Nahum Stelmach - striker (national team)

Basketball

Omri Casspi
  • Miki Berkovich – Maccabi Tel-Aviv
  • David Blu (formerly "Bluthenthal"), US & Israel, Euroleague 6' 7" forward (Maccabi Tel Aviv)
  • Tal Brody – US & Israel, Euroleague 6' 2" shooting guard, Maccabi Tel-Aviv
  • Tal Burstein – Maccabi Tel-Aviv
  • Omri Casspi – 6' 9" small forward, drafted in 1st round of 2009 NBA Draft (Cleveland Cavaliers)
  • Tanhum Cohen-Mintz, Latvian-born Israeli, 6' 8" center; 2x Euroleague All-Star
  • Shay Doron – Israel & US, WNBA 5' 9" guard, University of Maryland (New York Liberty)
  • Lior Eliyahu, 6' 9" power forward, NBA draft 2006 (Orlando Magic; traded to Houston Rockets), but completing mandatory IDF service & playing in the Euroleague (Maccabi Tel Aviv)
  • Tamir Goodman, US & Israel, 6' 3" shooting guard
  • Yotam Halperin – 6' 5" guard, drafted in 2006 NBA draft by Seattle SuperSonics(Olympiacos)
  • Amit Tamir – 6' 10" center/forward, University of California, PAOK Thessaloniki (Hapoel Jerusalem)

Boxing

  • Hagar Finer, WIBF bantamweight champion
  • Yuri Foreman, Belarusian-born Israeli US middleweight and World Boxing Association super welterweight champion
  • Roman Greenberg ("The Lion from Zion"), International Boxing Organization's Intercontinental heavyweight champion

Fencing

  • Boaz Ellis, foil, 5-time Israeli champion
  • Lydia Hatoel-Zuckerman, foil, 6-time Israeli champion
  • Andre Spitzer, killed by terrorists

Figure skating

Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovsky
  • Alexei Beletski, Ukrainian-born Israeli, ice dancer, Olympian
  • Galit Chait – ice dancer, World Championship bronze 2002
  • Natalia Gudina, Ukrainian-born Israeli – figure skater, Olympian
  • Tamar Katz, US-born Israeli – figure skater
  • Lionel Rumi, ice dancer
  • Sergei Sakhnovsky – ice dancer, World Championship bronze 2002
  • Michael Shmerkin, Soviet-born Israeli – figure skater
  • Alexandra Zaretski, Belarusian-born Israeli – ice dancer, Olympian
  • Roman Zaretski, Belarusian-born Israeli – ice dancer, Olympian

Sailing

Gal Fridman
  • Zefania Carmel – yachtsman, world champion (420 class)
  • Gal Fridman – windsurfer (Olympic gold: 2004 (Israel's first gold medalist), bronze: 1996 (Mistral class); world champion: 2002)
  • Lydia Lazarov – yachting world champion (420 class)

Swimming

  • Vadim Alexeev, Kazakhstan-born Israeli swimmer, breaststroke
  • Adi Bichman – 400-m and 800-m freestyle, 400-m medley
  • Yoav Bruck – 50-m freestyle and 100-m freestyle
  • Eran Groumi – 100 and 200 m backstroke, 100-m butterfly
  • Judith Haspel (born "Judith Deutsch"), Austrian-born Israeli; held every Austrian women's middle and long distance freestyle record in 1935; refused to represent Austria in 1936 Summer Olympics along with Ruth Langer and Lucie Goldner, protesting [...], stating, "I refuse to enter a contest in a land which so shamefully persecutes my people."
  • Dan Kutler, US-born Israeli; 100-m butterfly, 4×100-m medley relay
  • Keren Leibovitch, Paralympic swimmer, 4x-gold-medal-winner, 100-m backstroke, 50- and 100-m freestyle, 200-m individual medley
  • Guy Barnea, Swimmer who participated in the 2008 Summer Olympics
  • Tal Stricker – 100- and 200-m breaststroke, 4×100-m medley relay
  • Eithan Urbach – backstroke swimmer, European championship silver & bronze; 100-m backstroke

Tennis

Shahar Pe'er
  • Noam Behr
  • Ilana Berger
  • Gilad Bloom
  • Jonathan Erlich, 6 doubles titles, 6 doubles finals; won 2008 Australian Open Men's Doubles (w/Andy Ram), highest world doubles ranking # 5
  • Shlomo Glickstein, highest world singles ranking # 22, highest world doubles ranking # 28
  • Julia Glushko
  • Amos Mansdorf, highest world singles ranking # 18
  • Shahar Pe'er (3 WTA career titles), highest world singles ranking # 11, highest world doubles ranking # 21

Other

  • Alex Averbukh – pole vaulter (European champion: 2002, 2006)
  • Boris Gelfand, Emil Sutovsky, Ilya Smirin – chess Grandmasters (~2700 peak ELO rating)
  • Michael Kolganov – Soviet-born Israeli, sprint canoer/kayak paddler, world champion, Olympic bronze 2000 (K-1 500-meter)
  • Marina Kravchenko, Ukrainian-born Israeli table tennis player, Soviet and Israel national teams

Criminals

Zeev Rosenstein
  • Baruch Goldstein – massacred 29 Arabs in the Cave of the Patriarchs in 1994.
  • Zeev Rosenstein – mob boss and [...] trafficker.
  • Avraham Hirschson - politician who was among other things the former Israeli Minister of Finance, who was convicted of stealing close to 2 million NIS from the National Workers Labor Federation while he was its chairman.
  • Gonen Segev – Former Israeli member of Knesset and government minister who was convicted for an attempt of [...] smuggling, for forgery and electronic commerce fraud.
  • Dudu Topaz – TV personality, comedian, actor, screenwriter, playwright, author and radio and television host who committed [...] in August 2009 after being charged with inciting violence against national media figures.
  • Ehud Tenenbaum – computer hacker also known as The Analyzer who became famous in 1998 when he was caught by the FBI after hacking into the computers of NASA, the Pentagon, the Knesset and the US Army, and after installing trojan horse software on some of those computers.
  • Hanan Goldblatt – actor, comedian and singer whom in 2008 was convicted of perpetrating acts of [...] as well as other [...] offenses against women in his acting class.

See also

  • Israelis
  • List of notable Israelis
  • List of West European Jews
  • List of North European Jews
  • List of East European Jews

References

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