This is a list of former and current heads of state and heads of government of the sovereign countries who were/are of Jewish or have a largely Jewish heritage, other than the heads of state and government of Israel. This list includes de facto heads of state and government but does not include acting, caretaker, interim, representative, transitional or temporary heads of state and government.
Some former head of states and government have smaller amounts of Jewish heritage. Boris Johnson, a former prime minister of the United Kingdom whose maternal great-grandfather, Elias Avery Lowe, was a Moscow-born Jew born to a textile merchant, [61] said in a 2007 interview for the Jewish Chronicle, “I feel Jewish when I feel the Jewish people are threatened or under attack, that’s when it sort of comes out”. [61] David Cameron, another former prime minister of the United Kingdom, has referenced the German Jewish ancestry of one of his great-grandfathers, Arthur Levita, a descendant of the Yiddish author Elia Levita. [62] [63]
Another recent head of state of Jewish heritage is Nicolas Sarkozy, a former president of France. Sarkozy has a Greek Jewish grandfather who converted to Catholicism to marry his French Catholic maternal grandmother. [64] [65] He referred publicly to his Jewish grandfather. [66] Jorge Sampaio is a former president of Portugal whose maternal grandmother was a Sephardi Jew from Morocco. [67] Sampaio said that he is proud of his Jewish ancestry. [67] Xavier Bettel who has served as the prime minister of Luxembourg since 2013 said he has a Polish Jewish grandfather. [68]
Helmut Schmidt, a former chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982 had Jewish ancestry. [69] His father was born to a German Jewish banker, Ludwig Gumpel, and a Christian waitress, Friederike Wenzel, [70] and then covertly adopted, although this was kept a family secret for many years. [71] Schmidt served in Hitler’s Wehrmacht, while managing to hide his Jewish roots from the Nazi regime. [72] Árpád Göncz, a former president of Hungary from 1990 to 2000, had a Jewish maternal grandfather. [73]
Although most head of states with Jewish ancestry come from Europe and Latin America, some are from other regions of the World. Laisenia Qarase, a former prime minister of Fiji, has Jewish ancestry. [74] Qarase's mother is the daughter of John Herman Ma’afu Bowman, who had Jewish parents, Alexander Bowman and Sara Annette. [75] [76] Another example is Carlos Veiga, a former prime minister of Cape Verde. He said in a 2018 interview: “my grandfather on my mother’s side was Jewish, who came to Cape Verde from Gibraltar in the mid-1840s. He died before I was born and his grave was lost”. [77]
Some heads of state claim to have Jewish ancestry, although this is not confirmed. Mexican President Francisco I. Madero's family was widely thought to have been of Portuguese-Jewish heritage. [78] Nicolás Maduro who has served as the president of Venezuela since 2013 said that his "grandparents were Jewish, from a [Sephardic] Moorish background, and converted to Catholicism in Venezuela". [79] Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa who has served as the president of Portugal since 2016 claimed that his mother had Jewish ancestry. [80]
The Jewish Defense League (JDL) is a far-right religious and political organization in the United States and Canada. Its stated goal is to "protect Jews from antisemitism by whatever means necessary"; it has been classified as "right-wing terrorist group" by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) since 2001, and is also designated as hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. According to the FBI, the JDL has been involved in plotting and executing acts of terrorism within the United States. Most terrorist watch groups classify the group as inactive as of 2015.
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is a civil rights group and Jewish advocacy group established on November 11, 1906. It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations and, according to the New York Times, is "widely regarded as the dean of American Jewish organizations".
The Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), founded in 1889 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the principal organization of Reform rabbis in the United States and Canada. The CCAR is the largest and oldest rabbinical organization in the world. Its current president is Rabbi Erica Asch.
Taglit-Birthright Israel, also known as Birthright Israel or simply Birthright, is a free ten-day heritage trip to Israel, Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights for young adults of Jewish heritage between the ages of 18 and 26. The program is sponsored by the Birthright Israel Foundation, whose donors subsidize participation.
Yair Lapid is an Israeli politician of the centrist Yesh Atid party, and a former journalist. He has been the Leader of the Opposition since January 2023, having previously served in that role from 2020 to 2021. He served as the 14th Prime Minister of Israel from 1 July to 29 December 2022. He previously served as the Alternate Prime Minister of Israel and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2021 to 2022. He served as Minister of Finance from 2013 to 2014. Lapid is the chairman of Yesh Atid.
Isaac "Bougie" Herzog is an Israeli politician who has been serving since 2021 as the 11th president of Israel. He is the first president to have been born in Israel after its Declaration of Independence.
New York Jewish Week is a weekly independent community newspaper targeted towards the Jewish community of the metropolitan New York City area.
Slomó Köves is a leading Orthodox rabbi and chief rabbi of EMIH an affiliate of Chabad-Lubavitch in Hungary which is led by rabbi Báruch Oberlander.
Israel–Lithuania relations are foreign relations between Israel and Lithuania. Israel recognized Lithuania's independence in 1991. Both countries established diplomatic relations in 1992. Israel is represented in Lithuania through its embassy in Vilnius which was opened in 2015. Lithuania has an embassy in Tel Aviv.
Fathi Ahmad Hamad is a Palestinian politician and member of the Hamas political bureau. He was Interior Minister in the Hamas-administered Gaza Strip from 2009 to 2014.
Abigail Pogrebin is an American writer, journalist, podcast host for Tablet magazine, and former Director of Jewish Outreach for the Michael Bloomberg 2020 presidential campaign.
Relations between Argentina and Israel began shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948, with the countries establishing diplomatic relations on 31 May 1949.
The Genesis Prize is a $1 million annual prize awarded to Jewish people who have achieved significant professional success, in recognition of their accomplishments, contributions to humanity, and commitment to Jewish values. Genesis Lifetime Achievement Awards have also been awarded.
The State of Israel and the Kingdom of Morocco formally established diplomatic relations in 2020, when both sides signed the Israel–Morocco normalization agreement in light of the Abraham Accords. While official ties had previously not existed due to the Arab–Israeli conflict, the two countries maintained a secretive bilateral relationship on a number of fronts following the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. For many years, Moroccan king Hassan II facilitated a relationship with Israeli authorities, and these ties are considered to have been instrumental in stabilizing Morocco and striking down possible anti-monarchy threats within the country. The Israeli passport is accepted for entry into Morocco, with a visa granted on arrival. With the bilateral normalization agreement in December 2020, Morocco officially recognized Israeli statehood. Almost three years later, in July 2023, Israel officially recognized Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara.
Rabbi Avraham Hamra (1943 – 7 May 2021) was a Syrian-Israeli rabbi. He served as chief rabbi of Syrian and Lebanese Jews and was the last chief rabbi of Syria.
Events in the year 2022 in Israel.
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He was from Vanua Balavu in northern Lau and had native Fijian, Tongan, and Jewish ancestry.