Aryeh Eldad is an Israeli physician, politician and former medical officer.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in Israel are considered the most developed in the Middle East. Although same-sex sexual activity was legalized in 1988, the former law against sodomy had not been enforced since a court decision in 1963. Israel became the first country in Asia to recognize unregistered cohabitation between same-sex couples, making it the first country in Asia to recognize same-sex unions in any capacity. Although same-sex marriages are not performed in the country, Israel recognizes same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. Discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation was prohibited in 1992. Same-sex couples are allowed to jointly adopt, following a landmark court decision in 2008. Previously, stepchild adoption, as well as limited co-guardianship rights for non-biological parents, were permitted. LGBT people are also allowed to serve openly in the military.
Aryeh Makhlouf Deri, also Arie Deri, Arye Deri, or Arieh Deri, is an Israeli politician and one of the founders of the Shas political party who served as the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Health, and Minister of the Interior and Periphery under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from 2022 to 2023. Previously he served as the Minister of the Interior, Minister of the Development of the Negev and Galilee, Minister of the Economy, as well as a member in the Security Cabinet of Israel.
Shai Agassi is an Israeli entrepreneur. He is the founder and former CEO of Better Place, which had developed a model and infrastructure for employing electric cars as an alternative to fossil fuel technology. The company went bankrupt in 2013, after Agassi spent over $850 million on publicity while deploying fewer than 1000 cars.
Benjamin "Benny" Gantz is an Israeli politician and retired army general who has served as Minister without portfolio since 2023. Gantz also served as the Minister of Defense, between 2020 and 2022 and as deputy prime minister of Israel between 2021 and 2022. From 2020 to 2021, he was the alternate prime minister of Israel.
Barbara Dale Underwood is an American lawyer serving as the solicitor general of New York. She was first appointed to the position in January 2007 by Andrew Cuomo, who was then serving as the state's attorney general. Underwood was reappointed in 2011 by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
The 2008 United States Senate special election in Mississippi was held on November 4, 2008. This election was held on the same day of Thad Cochran's re-election bid in the regularly scheduled Class II election. The winner of this special election served the rest of the Senate term, which ended in January 2013. Unlike most Senate elections, this was a non-partisan election in which the candidate who got a majority of the vote won, and if the first-place candidate did not get 50%, a runoff election with the top two candidates would have been held. In the election, no run-off was necessary as Republican nominee and incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Roger Wicker won election to finish the term.
Avichai Mandelblit is an Israeli jurist who served as the Attorney General of Israel from 2016 to 2022. Mandelblit had a long career in the Israel Defense Forces legal system, eventually serving as the Chief Military Advocate General between 2004 and 2011. In April 2013, he was appointed Cabinet Secretary. In February 2016, he was appointed Attorney General. In November 2019, following a three-year investigation, Mandelblit formally indicted Israel's sitting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on three charges of fraud and breach of trust, and one charge of bribery.
Ofir Akunis is an Israeli politician. He currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Likud and is the Minister of Science and Technology. He has previously held the posts of Minister of Labor, Social Affairs and Social Services in 2020, Minister of Science and Technology in 2015-2020 and Minister of Regional Cooperation in 2020-2021.
Major General Nitzan Alon is a general in the Israel Defense Forces. In December 2011, he was named the General officer commanding Central Command and became Head of Central Command in early 2012.
Eli Avidar is a former Israeli politician who founded the Israel Free political party in 2022. Prior to this, he was a member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu and served as Minister in the Prime Minister's Office from 2021 to 2022.
Otzma Yehudit or Jewish Power is a far-right political party in Israel, which has been referred to as Kahanist and anti-Arab. It was originally formed as Otzma LeYisrael, on 13 November 2012 by MKs Aryeh Eldad and Michael Ben-Ari, who split from the National Union to form a new party ahead of the 2013 elections.
The murder of Tair Rada, a 13-year-old Israeli schoolgirl, was committed in 2006, in the girls' bathroom of her school in Katzrin. Roman Zdorov, a Ukrainian and a resident of Israel, was convicted of the murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment on September 14, 2010. His prosecution and conviction have been a source of controversy, receiving much media coverage, as well as being the focus of an Israeli documentary TV series called Shadow of Truth that has gained worldwide attention on Netflix. On August 26, 2021, Zadorov was released from prison to house arrest after many appeals.
The trial of Benjamin Netanyahu began following investigations into allegations of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust by him and close political allies within his inner circle during his fourth and fifth terms as Israel's Prime Minister. The Israel Police began investigating Netanyahu in December 2016 and subsequently recommended indictments against him. On 21 November 2019, Netanyahu was officially indicted for breach of trust, accepting bribes, and fraud, leading him to legally relinquish his ministry portfolios other than prime minister. Netanyahu's trial in the Jerusalem District Court began on 24 May 2020, with witness testimony starting on 5 April 2021. The prosecution listed 333 witnesses. As of November 2023, the criminal trial is still ongoing.
Yizhar Nitzan Shai is an Israeli businessman and politician. He served as a member of the Knesset for Blue and White between 2019 and 2021, and as Minister of Science & Technology from 2020 to 2021.
The Democratic Union was a liberal-left-wing political alliance in Israel formed between Meretz, Israel Democratic Party, Labor defector Stav Shaffir, and the Green Movement that ran in the September 2019 Israeli legislative election. On 19 December 2019, Labor defector Stav Shaffir and her party, the Green Movement, announced a press conference in which she would leave the alliance to run independently in the 2020 Israeli legislative election. The Democratic Union initially announced on 7 January 2020 that it will run in the 2020 election, this time including Meretz and Democratic Choice.
Dan Eldad is an Israeli lawyer who served as acting State Attorney of Israel from 5 February to 1 May 2020.
John B. Scott is an American politician and lawyer. A member of the Republican Party, he was Secretary of State of Texas from 2021 to 2022, and was interim Texas attorney general for a brief period in 2023. Governor Greg Abbott appointed Scott to both positions.
The 2022 Maricopa County Attorney special election took place on November 8, 2022, to elect the County Attorney for Maricopa County, Arizona. The election was held concurrently with other federal and state elections, as well as a special election for District 2 on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. The special election was called due to the resignation of Allister Adel in March 2022.
The thirty-seventh government of Israel is the current cabinet of Israel, formed on 29 December 2022 following the Knesset election on 1 November 2022. The coalition government consists of seven parties—Likud, United Torah Judaism, Shas, Religious Zionist Party, Otzma Yehudit, Noam and National Unity—and is led by Benjamin Netanyahu, who has taken office as the Prime Minister of Israel for the sixth time. The government is notable for its inclusion of far-right politicians.
