Shimon Peres was an Israeli politician and statesman who served as the eighth prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the ninth president of Israel from 2007 to 2014. He was a member of twelve cabinets and represented five political parties in a political career spanning 70 years. Peres was elected to the Knesset in November 1959 and except for three months out of office in early 2006, served as a member of the Knesset continuously until he was elected president in 2007. Serving in the Knesset for 48 years, Peres is the longest serving member in the Knesset's history. At the time of his retirement from politics in 2014, he was the world's oldest head of state and was considered the last link to Israel's founding generation.
Tel Aviv University is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and research of the city, comprising 9 faculties, 17 teaching hospitals, 18 performing arts centers, 27 schools, 106 departments, 340 research centers, and 400 laboratories. It is ranked 7th in the world by PitchBook data index.
Yosef "Yossi" Beilin is an Israeli politician who has served in multiple ministerial and leadership positions in the Israeli government. Much of his political career was in the Labour Party. He also served as chairman of the Meretz-Yachad political party. After retiring from political life, Beilin founded 'Beilink', a business consultancy company. He also writes opinion pieces in Israeli papers Haaretz and Israel Hayom.
Eytan Fox is an Israeli film director.
Gal Gadot Varsano is an Israeli actress and model. She portrayed Gisele Yashar in Fast & Furious (2009), a part she reprised in five sequels. Gadot achieved global stardom for her portrayal of Wonder Woman in the DC Extended Universe films (2016–2023), including Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Wonder Woman, Justice League, and Wonder Woman 1984 (2020). She has since starred in the Netflix action-comedy film Red Notice (2021) and the mystery film Death on the Nile (2022). Gadot was included on the list of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time in 2018, and has placed twice in annual rankings of the world's highest-paid actresses.
Yehuda Leon Poliker is an Israeli singer, songwriter, musician. Poliker first became known in the 1980s as the lead vocalist for the band Benzene. In 1985, after Benzene broke up, he began a solo career that blended rock, pop, and traditional Greek music.
Yossi Melman is an Israeli writer and journalist. He was an intelligence and strategic affairs correspondent for the Haaretz newspaper, and in 2013 he joined The Jerusalem Post and its Hebrew sister paper Maariv in a similar, more analytical role covering also military issues. In 2019 he returned to Haaretz.
Aviezer "Avi" Pazner is a retired Israeli diplomat and former World Chairman of Keren Hayesod - United Israel Appeal.
Yossi Shain was a member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu. He is also the Romulo Betancourt Professor of Political Science at Tel Aviv University where he also serves as head of TAU's School of Political Science, Government and International Affairs, head of the Abba Eban Graduate Studies Program in Diplomacy and director of the Frances Brody Institute for Applied Diplomacy. He is also a full professor of comparative government and diaspora politics at Georgetown University, and the founding director of the Program for Jewish Civilization (PJC) at Georgetown. In 2007, he also served (pro-bono) as president of Western Galilee College. Shain earned his B.A. and M.A. degrees from Tel Aviv University and received his Ph.D. in political science from Yale University in 1988. In July 2016 Professor Shain was appointed as a member of Council for Higher Education in Israel, and he is now heading the national committee in charge in rejuvenating liberal arts and the humanities.
Yosef "Yossi" Abukasis is an Israeli former football midfielder and current coach of Hapoel Tel Aviv
Yossi (Joseph) Alpher is an Israeli columnist and writer on Israel-related Middle East strategic issues. Alpher is best known as the author of the prize winning Periphery: Israel's Search for Middle East Allies, as well as coeditor of Bitterlemons in collaboration with Ghassan Khatib, a former vice president of Bir Zeit University. In recent years, Alpher has been extensively interviewed in documentaries about the Mossad.
Daniel Benjamin "Dan" Shapiro is an American diplomat who served as United States Ambassador to Israel from 2011 to 2017. He was nominated by President Barack Obama on March 29, 2011, and confirmed by the Senate on May 29. He was sworn in as ambassador by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on July 8, 2011. Previously, he was the senior director for the Middle East and North Africa on the United States National Security Council. As an Obama administration political appointee, Shapiro was ordered on January 5, 2017, to resign upon the inauguration of President Donald Trump. On August 30, 2021, President Joe Biden appointed Shapiro as a special liaison to Israel on Iran.
Jonathan Bar Giora is an Israeli composer and pianist. Since 2000, Bar Giora has composed scores and soundtracks for over 150 Israeli films such as Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi, Time of Favor, A Quiet Heart and Aviva, My Love. He also worked as a composer and music arranger and producer with Israeli artists such as Yossi Banai, Shalom Hanoch, Riki Gal, Miri Mesika and many others.
Yossi Avni-Levy is an Israeli writer and diplomat. He has served in various positions in Israeli embassies in Berlin, Bonn, Belgrade, and Warsaw. He is Israel’s ambassador to Lithuania. From 2011 until 2016, he was Ambassador to Serbia.
Meretz is a left-wing political party in Israel. The party was formed in 1992 by the merger of Ratz, Mapam and Shinui, and was at its peak between 1992 and 1996 when it had 12 seats. It currently has no seats in the Knesset, following its failure to pass the electoral threshold in the 2022 elections, the first time it failed to win seats in the Knesset since the party's inception.
Gal Uchovsky is an Israeli screenwriter, producer, journalist, activist and Israeli TV personality.
Noah Gal Gendler is the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Israel to Albania. He is also the non-resident Israeli Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
