Key Political Players

Kadima

Ehud Olmert, Kadima

Ehud Olmert was born in Binyamina in 1945.

He holds B.A. and LL.B. degrees in Psychology, Philosophy and Law from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Ehud Olmert was a Knesset Member from 1973, serving on the House, Constitution, Law & Justice Committee, State Control, Foreign Affairs & Defense, Finance, Education & Culture, and Internal Affairs & Environment Committees.

In November 1993, Olmert was elected Mayor of Jerusalem, and was forced to resign from the Knesset in 1998 after a change in law prevented holding two elected offices simultaneously. After his re-election to the Knesset in 2003, he resigned his position in as mayor.

In February 2003, Ehud Olmert was appointed Minister of Industry and Trade, and Deputy Prime Minister. Olmert became an influential member of the Cabinet and was one of the first to advocate a withdrawal from Gaza, an idea that was ultimately was endorsed by Prime Minister Sharon and became the disengagement plan. When Binyamin Netanyahu resigned from the Cabinet, Olmert assumed the role of Finance Minister.

Following Ariel Sharon's decision to leave the Likud Party in November 2005, Olmert joined with Sharon and several other former Likud ministers to form the new centrist party, Kadima.

On January 4, 2006, Sharon suffered a massive stroke that left him unable to perform his duties as Prime Minister. On January 5, Olmert became Acting Prime Ministerial and assumed the powers of Prime Minister in Sharon's absence (he also assumed the top position on the Kadima list for Knesset). On May 4, 2006 Olmert officially became Prime Minister after Kadima won the most seats in the national elections on March 28, 2006.

Olmert is married with four children and lives in Jerusalem.

Tzipi Livni, Kadima

Tzipi Livni was born in Israel in 1958. An attorney by profession, she holds an L.L.B. degree from Bar Ilan University.

She is the current Minister of Justice. Livni was an employee of the Mossad (1980-1984) and Director of the Registrar of Government Corporations. Elected to the Knesset in 1999, she was a member of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, and the Committee for the Advancement of the Status of Women.

In March 2001, Tzipi Livni was appointed Minister for Regional Cooperation and has also served as Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development; Immigrant Absorption; and Housing and Constrution. She was appointed Minister of Justice in 2004. Livni followed Sharon and Olmert to the Kadima party and became Foreign Minister ahead of the elections. After the elections, Livni became Vice (or Deputy) Prime Minister and retained the position of Foreign Minster.

She is married, with two children.

Shaul Mofaz, Kadima

Shaul Mofaz was born in Tehran, Iran in 1948. He immigrated to Israel in 1957 with his parents. Upon graduating from high school he joined the Israel Defense Forces in 1966 and served in the Paratroop Brigade. He participated in the Six-Day War, Yom Kippur War, 1982 Lebanon War, and Operation Entebbe with the paratroopers and Sayeret Matkal, an elite special forces unit.

In 1998, Mofaz was appointed Chief of Staff of the IDF after holding various senior positions in the army. During is tenure, Mofaz was credited with redefining the IDF’s focus on guerrilla tactics, most notably in Operation Defensive Shield in 2002.

Upon retirement from the IDF in 2002, Mofaz joined the Likud party under Ariel Sharon and became Defence Minsiter. When Sharon left the Likud to create Kadim, Mofaz did not join him and intended to run in the Likud elections. However, when it was clear that he would not win, he joined Kadima. Following the elections in late March 2006, Mofaz was moved from the position of Defense Minister and received the Transport and Road Safety ministry in the new Cabinet installed on May 4, 2006. He is also deputy Prime Minister.

He is married with four children.

Labor

Ehud Barak, Labor

Ehud Barak is the current leader of the Israeli Labor Party after defeating Amir Peretz and Ami Ayalon for the position in national primaries on June 7, 2007. Barak has made an amazing comeback to politics after losing the national elections in 2001.

Barak was born in 1942 in Mishmar HaSharon. He joined the Israel Defense Forces in 1959. Barak served in the IDF for 35 years, rising to the position of Chief of the General Staff. Barak’s army career highlights include commanding the crossing the Suez Canal in the Yom Kippur War and dressing as a woman to assassinate terrorists in Lebanon in 1973.

Upon entering politics, Barak joined the Labor party and became Minister of the Interior in 1995 and then Foreign Minister shortly afterwards. In 1996, Barak became leader of the Labor party.

Barak was elected Prime Minister on May 17, 1999 but his leadership lasted only two years. Barak’s tenure held many memorable events in Israel, including Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon and the failed Camp David negotiations in 2000.

After losing to Ariel Shaon in 2001, Barak left politics to embark on a business career. After winning back the leadership of the Labor party, Barak was sworn in as Minister of Defense on June 18, 2007, as part of Prime Minister Olmert's cabinet reshuffle.

He is divorced with three children.

Ami Ayalon, Labor

Ami Ayalon born in 1945 is a former admiral in the Israeli Navy and director of the Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service. After retiring from the military and the Shin Bet, Ayalon has taken a prominent role in peace efforst, most notably 'The National Consensus', a joint project with prominent Palestinian professor and politician Sari Nusseibeh, which strives to collect signatures of as many Israelis and Palestinians as possible in support of a two state solution which does not include the right of return for Israeli refugees.

In 2006, Ayalon was elected to the Knesset on the Labor Party's list, but was not given a position in the cabinet when Labor entered a coalition with Kadima. Ayalon is currently a candidate for the leadership of the Labor Party in the primaries that are scheduled for May 2007.

Isaac Herzog, Labor

Isaac Herzog, son of former Israeli President Chaim Herzog. He was born in Israel in 1960 and holds a degree in law and is an attorney by profession.

He was elected to the 16th Knesset in 2003, he has served as a member of the Knesset Finance, Internal Affairs and Environment, and Anti-Drug Abuse Committees, as well as Israel Labor Party Parliamentary Group Whip.

In January 2005, he was appointed Minister of Housing and Construction. After the 2006 elections, Herzog was initially appointed Minister of Tourism in Ehud Olmert's Kadima-led coalition, but was reassigned to the Social Affairs ministry.

Likud

Benjamin Netanyahu, Likud

Born in Tel-Aviv on October 21, 1949, Benjamin Netanyahu grew up in Jerusalem. He spent his high school years in the United States, where his father, the historian Professor Benzion Netanyahu, taught history. Returning to Israel in 1967, Mr. Netanyahu enlisted in the Israel Defence Forces and served in an elite commando unit.

Mr. Netanyahu participated in various missions during the War of Attrition, including the Beirut Airport operation. He took part in the rescue of the hijacked Sabena Airlines hostages at Ben Gurion Airport, in which he was wounded. He was also cited for outstanding operational leadership by O.C. Northern Command, the late Maj. Gen. Motta Gur. He was discharged from the I.D.F. in 1972 and reached the rank of captain following the Yom Kippur War.

Mr. Netanyahu received a B.Sc. in Architecture and an M.Sc. in Management Studies from M.I.T. He also studied political science at M.I.T. and Harvard University.

After completing his studies he was employed by the Boston Consulting Group, an international business consulting firm. He later joined the senior management of Rim Industries in Jerusalem.

In 1979 he initiated and organized an international conference against terrorism, under the auspices of the Jonathan Institute - a private foundation dedicated to the study of terrorism, which was named after his brother Jonathan who fell while leading the rescue party at Entebbe.

World leaders, including former U.S. President George Bush and former Secretary of State George Shultz, participated in this conference and a subsequent one in 1984. Mr. Netanyahu has been credited by Mr. Shultz for his central role in effecting a change in American policies on international terrorism.

In 1982, at the request of then-Ambassador Moshe Arens, Mr. Netanyahu assumed the position of Deputy Chief of Mission in the Israeli Embassy in Washington. He was a member of the first delegation to the talks on strategic cooperation between Israel and the United States. Two years later he was appointed Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations and served there for four years.

Returning to Israel in 1988, Mr. Netanyahu was elected to the 12th Knesset as a Likud member and was appointed Deputy Foreign Minister.

During the Gulf War he served as Israel's principal representative in the international arena. In October 1991, he was a senior member of the Israeli delegation to the Madrid Peace Conference, which initiated the first direct negotiations between Israel and Syria, Lebanon, and a joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation.

On March 25, 1993, he was elected Likud Party Chairman and the party's candidate for Prime Minister. Elected on May 29, 1996 as Israel's 9th Prime Minister, Mr. Netanyahu was sworn in to the post on June 18, 1996, following Knesset approval.

As a part of the general election held during May 1999, Ehud Barak (Labor) beat Mr. Netanyahu with by over 388,000 votes and a 56.08% majority in a direct election for Prime Minister.

Until resigning from the cabinet in protest over the Disengagement, Mr. Netanyahu served as Finance Minister in Prime Minister Sharon's government where he implemented far reaching economic reforms and continued to privatize state owned industries.

Following a bad showing in the 2006 elections, Netanyahu became the official leader of the opposition in the Knesset.

Silvan Shalom, Likud

Silvan Shalom’s last ministerial position was as the Foreign Minister of Israel, having been appointed to the post in 2003 by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Shalom first entered the Knesset in 1992, he previously served as Finance Minister from 2001 to 2003.

After loosing the race for Likud chairman to Bibi Nethanyahu, Shalom accepted the #2 position on the party list for the disastrous 2006 elections. Shalom is today a prominent member of the opposition.

Born in Tunisia, to a prominent family, Shalom made Aliyah to Israel with his family in 1959. He received a BA in Economics from Ben Gurion University as well as a law degree and MA in Public Policy from Tel Aviv University. He is a journalist by profession.

Shalom is married to prominent Israeli talk show host Judy Shalom Nir-Mozes. He resides in Ramat Gan with his wife and five children.

Limor Livnat, Likud

Limor Livnat was born in 1950 in Haifa. She holds a B.A. degree from Tel-Aviv University, with professional experience in advertising and public relations.

Livnat has been a Member of Knesset since 1992, and has served as a member of the Knesset Education and Culture Committee, as well as the Labor and Social Affairs Committee. She also chaired the Knesset Committee for the Advancement of Women (1993-94), the Sub-Committee on Women's Representation, and the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry into the murder of women by their spouses (1995).

In June 1996, Limor Livnat was appointed Minister of Communications before resigning in January 2006.

Livnat is married and the mother of two children.

Other Parties

Avigdor Lieberman, Yisrael Beitenu

Avigdor Lieberman was born in Moldova in 1958 and immigrated to Israel in 1978. He served in the IDF and holds degree in International Relations and Political Science from the Hebrew University.

Chairman of the Yisrael Beitenu (Israel is Our Home) party which he founded in 1999. Lieberman was first elected to the Knesset in 1999 after having served as Director General of the Likud Party and then the Prime Minister's office. He has also served as Minister of National Infrastructure and as Minister of Transportation.

Lieberman and Yisrael Beitenu were one of the surprises of the 2006 elections. Initially, Lieberman was the head of the opposition, but was invited into PM Olmert’s cabinet in October 2006. Under the coalition agreement, Lieberman became the Deputy-Prime Minister and Minister of Strategic Affairs, a new position with a focus towards the strategic threat from Iran.

He is most noted for his support of a policy that calls for the re-drawing of Israel's borders. This policy would transfer to the Palestinian Authority large areas of land with heavy Arab population adjacent to the Green Line.

Eliyahu Yishai, Shas

Eliyahu Yishai was born in Jerusalem in 1962.

He served in the IDF and studied at Yeshivat Hanegev and Yeshivat Porat Yosef. He is Chairman of the Shas Party.

Yishai was a member of the Jerusalem Municipal Council (1991), Secretary-General of the Shas party (1993-1994) and Director General of El Hama'ayan, the Shas-affiliated educational institution (1995-1996).

Eliyahu Yishai was elected to the Knesset in 1996 and served as Minister of Labor and Social Affairs from June 1996 - July 1999.

He served as Minister of Labor and Social Affairs from July 1999 until his resignation in July 2000.

Yishai served as Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister in 2001-2002. After the 2006 elections Shas were invited to join Ehud Olmert's coaltion and Yishai was made Minister of Industry, Trade, and Labour as well as being a Deputy Prime Minister.

He is married and has five children.

Benyamin Elon, National Union – National Religious Party

Benyamin Elon was born in Jerusalem in 1954.

Benny Elon served as Rabbi of Kibbutz Shluchot from and as a Jewish Agency emissary in the United States from. He is the founder of Yeshivat Beit Orot on the Mount of Olives where he served as dean until his election to Knesset. He currently serves as the Chairman of the National Union Knesset faction.

Elon has been a Knesset Member since 1996, when he was elected on the Moledet ticket. He has served as a member of the Knesset Internal Affairs and Environment Committee; the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee; the Committee on the Status of Women; and the Committee for Foreign Workers.

Following the assassination of Tourism Minister Rechavam Ze'evy by Palestinian terrorists, he was appointed Minister of Tourism in 2001, where he served until 2004. Elon’s party became the sixth largest party after the 2006 elections.

Elon is married, and has six children. He has published commentaries on the teachings of Rabbi Kook, as well as numerous articles in the local press.

Rafael Eitan, Pensioners’ Party

Rafael Eitan was born in Kibbutz Ein Harod in 1926.

During the Israeli War of Independence, Eitan served in Army intelligence, a position which would propel him to serve in the newly established Israeli Secret Service, also known as the Mossad. He later became Chief of Operations of the Shin Bet.

While in that capacity, Eitan played an active role in the capture of Adolph Eichmann. In 1981, Eitan was named head of the Defense Ministry's Lekem, the Bureau for Scientific Relations.

Eitan was asked to represent the Israeli retirees in the general elections held in 2006. The party has gone on to win seven seats despite predictions that it would not secure more than 2-3, at best, and would not pass the vote threshold, at worst. The Pensioner’s Party were invited into Olmert’s government where Eitan became Minister for Pensioners’ Affairs.

He is married and the father of three.

Yossi Beilin, Meretz-Yahad

Yossi Beilin was born in 1948 in Israel.

He was a key figure in the negotiation of the Oslo Accords and has been involved in a private capacity with many peace proposals.

Dr. Beilin served as spokesman of the Israel Labor Party from 1977-1984. He served as Government Secretary from 1984-1986, and as Director-General for Political Affairs of the Foreign Ministry from 1986-1988.

He was first elected to the Knesset in 1988 and has served as Minister of Economics and Social Development, Minister of Religious Affairs and Minister of Justice.

Shimon Peres, President

Shimon Peres was born in 1923 in Belorussia and immigrated with his family in 1934. Peres is a former Vice-President of the Socialist International; former chairman of the Labor Party and an architect of the 1994 Oslo Accords, for which he was awarded (with Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat) the Nobel Peace Prize.

He studied at the Ben Shemen Agricultural School, and was one of the founders of Kibbutz Alumot in the Jordan Valley. He was politically active from the age of 16 and was elected Secretary of the Labor Youth Movement in 1943.

In Israel's War of Independence (1947-48), Peres was responsible for arms purchases and recruitment, and in 1948 was appointed head of the naval services. In 1949, he headed the Defense Ministry's procurement delegation to the United States and while there studied at the New York School for Social Research and Harvard University.

Peres was appointed Deputy Director-General of the Ministry of Defense (1952-53), and later Director-General (1953-59). He reorganized the Defense Ministry, initiated the establishment of the Israeli Aircraft Industries and Israel's nuclear project, and fostered the special relations with France. He was instrumental in planning the 1956 Sinai Campaign.

Peres has been a Member of Knesset since 1959, and served as Deputy Minister of Defense (1959-65). In 1965 he left the Mapai Labor Party and was elected Secretary General of Rafi (the Israel Workers' List), which later merged with Mapai to form the Israel Labor Party. Peres became Minister of Immigrant Absorption (1969), and later served as Minister of Transport and Communications (1970-74). In 1974 he was appointed Minister of Information and later Minister of Defense (1974-77). Highlights of his tenure as Defense Minister were the signing of the Interim Agreement with Egypt (1975), the Entebbe rescue operation (1976), and the opening of the Good Fence on Israel's border with Lebanon.

In 1977, Peres was elected chairman of the Labor Alignment. In 1984, a National Unity Government was formed, and Peres served first as Prime Minister (1984-86), and then as Vice Premier and Minister of Foreign Affairs (1986-88). During his term as Prime Minister, Israel withdrew from Lebanon (1985) and an economic stabilization plan was implemented. In the following National Unity Government (1988-90), Peres was Vice Premier and Minister of Finance. In 1990-92, he was leader of the opposition in the Knesset.

In July 1992, Peres was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs.

On November 5, 1995, following the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, he assumed the positions of Acting Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, until the general elections held in May 1996.

From 1996-1999 he served as a member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Shimon Peres served as Minister of Regional Cooperation from July 1999 until March 2001. In March 2001, he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister. In January 2005, Shimon Peres was appointed Vice Premier.

In November 2005, Peres was defeated by Amir Peretz in an election for the leadership of the Labor Party. Peres subsequently announced he was quitting the party after more than 60 years to help Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pursue peace with the Palestinians. Following Kadima’s win in the 2006 elections, Peres was given the role of Vice Prime Minister and Minister for the Development of the Negev, Galilee and Regional Economy.

On June 23, 2007 Shimon Peres was elected President of the State of Israel.

Peres has published books in Hebrew, French and English on many subjects. In October 1997 he created the Peres Center for Peace with the aim of advancing Arab-Israeli joint ventures. He is married, and has three children and six grandchildren.

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