List of Israeli Mizrahi Jews and Sephardi Jews
Encyclopedia
This is a list of notable Mizrahi Jews
Mizrahi Jews
Mizrahi Jews or Mizrahiyim, , also referred to as Adot HaMizrach are Jews descended from the Jewish communities of the Middle East, North Africa and the Caucasus...

 and Sephardi Jews
Sephardi Jews
Sephardi Jews is a general term referring to the descendants of the Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula before their expulsion in the Spanish Inquisition. It can also refer to those who use a Sephardic style of liturgy or would otherwise define themselves in terms of the Jewish customs and...

 in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

, including both original immigrants who obtained Israeli citizenship and their Israeli descendants.

It should be noted that although traditionally the terms "Mizrahi Jews" and "Sephardi Jews" were used as all encompassing terms referring to the Jews descended from the Jewish communities of the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

, North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...

 and the Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...

, due to the melting pot affect of the Israeli society the terms "Mizrahi Jews" and "Sephardi Jews" gradually become more vague as many of the Israeli descendants of the Mizrahi Jews and Sephardi Jews immigrants gradually adopt 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

  • Aryeh Deri
    Aryeh Deri
    Aryeh Deri is an Israeli politician, and former leader of Israel's Shas Party.-Biography:After Deri was convicted of taking $155,000 in bribes while serving as Interior Minister and given a three-year jail sentence in 2000, he was replaced by Eli Yishai...

     - politician, and former leader of Israel's Shas Party
  • Eli Yishai
    Eli Yishai
    Eliyahu "Eli" Yishai is an Israeli politician and head of the Shas party. He currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Shas, and as both one of four Deputy Prime Ministers and Minister of Internal Affairs.- Political life :...

     - politician, and current leader of Israel's Shas Party
  • Silvan Shalom
    Silvan Shalom
    ' , born 4 October 1958) is an Israeli politician, member of the Knesset for Likud and the country's Vice Prime Minister and Minister for Regional Development. He previously served as the country's Foreign Minister and Finance Minister.-Biography:...

     - politician who previously served as Israel's Foreign Minister and Finance Minister
  • Dalya Itzik - politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Kadima
    Kadima
    Kadima is a centrist and liberal political party in Israel. It was established on 24 November 2005 by moderates from Likud largely to support the issue of Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan, and was soon joined by like-minded Labor politicians...

  • Shlomo Ben Ami - diplomat, politician and historian
  • Amir Peretz
    Amir Peretz
    Amir Peretz is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for the Labour Party. He is a former Defense Minister of Israel and former leader of the Labour Party, having left those positions in June 2007....

     - politician and member of the Knesset
    Knesset
    The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...

     for the Labour Party
  • David Levy
    David Levy (Israeli politician)
    David Levy is an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset between 1969 and 2006, as well as Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Immigrant Absorption, Minister of Housing & Construction and as a Minister without Portfolio...

     - politician who served as a member of the Knesset between 1969 and 2006
  • Meir Sheetrit
    Meir Sheetrit
    Meir Sheetrit is a Moroccan-born Israeli politician. He is currently a member of the Knesset for Kadima. He has served as Minister of the Interior, Minister of Housing & Construction, Minister of Finance, Minister of Justice, Minister of Transportation and Minister of Education, Culture &...

     - politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Kadima
    Kadima
    Kadima is a centrist and liberal political party in Israel. It was established on 24 November 2005 by moderates from Likud largely to support the issue of Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan, and was soon joined by like-minded Labor politicians...

  • Yitzhak Mordechai
    Yitzhak Mordechai
    Yitzhak Mordechai is an Israeli former general and politician. He served as a member of the Knesset between 1996 and 2001, and as Minister of Defense and Minister of Transport. He retired from political life after being indicted for sexual assaults during his military service and later...

     - former general and former politician
  • Michael Ben-Ari
    Michael Ben-Ari
    Michael Ben-Ari is an Israeli politician, and a current member of the Knesset for the National Union party. He is the first outspoken disciple of Rabbi Meir Kahane to be elected to the Knesset. He has a Ph.D in Land of Israel studies.-Biography:...

     – Israeli politician and current member of the Knesset
  • Mordechai Zar
    Mordechai Zar
    Mordechai Zar was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Mapai and its successors between 1959 and 1974.-Biography:...

     – Israeli politician and former member of the Knesset
  • Moshe Katsav
    Moshe Katsav
    Moshe Katsav is an Israeli politician. He served as the eighth President of Israel, a leading Likud member of the Israeli Knesset, and a Cabinet Minister in its government....

     – Former President of Israel (2000–2007)
  • Shaul Mofaz
    Shaul Mofaz
    Lt. General Shaul Mofaz is an Israeli politician who serves as the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs And Defense Committee at the Knesset...

     – Former Israeli Minister of Defense, currently number two on the Kadima
    Kadima
    Kadima is a centrist and liberal political party in Israel. It was established on 24 November 2005 by moderates from Likud largely to support the issue of Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan, and was soon joined by like-minded Labor politicians...

     list in the Knesset
  • Orly Levy
    Orly Levy
    Orly Levy-Abekasis is an Israeli politician. She is a member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu and serves as Deputy Speaker of the Knesset.-Biography:...

     – former model whom is currently a politician
  • Haim Amsalem – politician. Former member of the Shas Party. In 2011 Amsalem established the Whole Nation
    Whole Nation
    Whole Nation is a new political party in Israel.It was established on 14 April 2011 by Knesset member Haim Amsalem, five months after he was expelled from Shas, and took its name from the Hebrew translation of his surname. The party intends to run for the 19th Knesset, on a secular-religious unity...

     party.

Military

  • Gabi Ashkenazi
    Gabi Ashkenazi
    Gavriel "Gabi" Ashkenazi , was the Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defence Forces from 2007 to 2011.- Background and early life :...

     – Chief of the IDF General Staff
    Ramatkal
    The Chief of the General Staff, also known as the Commander-in-Chief of the Israel Defense Forces is the supreme commander and Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces. At any given time, the Chief of Staff is the only active officer holding the IDF's highest rank, Rav Aluf , which is usually...

     (2007–)
  • Eli Cohen
    Eli Cohen
    Eli Cohen was an Israeli spy. He is best known for his work in Syria, where he developed close relationships with the political and military hierarchy and became the Chief Adviser to the Minister of Defense. He was eventually exposed and executed in Syria in 1965...

     – Israeli spy who worked in Syria and was eventually exposed and executed in Syria in 1965
  • Moshe Barazani
    Moshe Barazani
    Moshe Barazani, also Barzani , was an Iraqi Kurdish Jew and a member of Lehi . He was born in Baghdad to a Jewish family from Northern Iraq that moved to Jerusalem when he was an infant. He joined Lehi at an early age and took part in sabotage operations...

     - Iraqi Kurdish Jew and a member of Lehi
    Lehi (group)
    Lehi , commonly referred to in English as the Stern Group or Stern Gang, was a militant Zionist group founded by Avraham Stern in the British Mandate of Palestine...

  • Yitzhak Mordechai
    Yitzhak Mordechai
    Yitzhak Mordechai is an Israeli former general and politician. He served as a member of the Knesset between 1996 and 2001, and as Minister of Defense and Minister of Transport. He retired from political life after being indicted for sexual assaults during his military service and later...

     - former general and former politician
  • Eitan Ben Eliyahu
    Eitan Ben Eliyahu
    Aluf Eitan Ben Eliyahu is a retired Major General in the Israel Defense Forces and was the Commander of the Israeli Air Force .-Early life and military career:...

     – Former Major General in the Israeli Defence Forces
  • Dan Halutz
    Dan Halutz
    ' is an Israeli Air Force Lt. General and former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces and commander of the Israeli Air Force. Halutz was appointed as Chief of Staff on June 1, 2005. On January 17, 2007 he announced his resignation. He has a degree in economics. He was born to a Mizrahi...

     – Former chief of staff
    Ramatkal
    The Chief of the General Staff, also known as the Commander-in-Chief of the Israel Defense Forces is the supreme commander and Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces. At any given time, the Chief of Staff is the only active officer holding the IDF's highest rank, Rav Aluf , which is usually...

     of the Israel Defense Forces
    Israel Defense Forces
    The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...

  • Shaul Mofaz
    Shaul Mofaz
    Lt. General Shaul Mofaz is an Israeli politician who serves as the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs And Defense Committee at the Knesset...

     – Former Israeli Minister of Defense, currently number two on the Kadima
    Kadima
    Kadima is a centrist and liberal political party in Israel. It was established on 24 November 2005 by moderates from Likud largely to support the issue of Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan, and was soon joined by like-minded Labor politicians...

     list in the Knesset

Activists

  • Israel Shahak
    Israel Shahak
    Israel Shahak was a Polish-born Israeli professor of chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, known especially as a radical political thinker, author, and civil rights activist. Between 1970-1990, he was president of the Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights and was an outspoken critic...

     – political activist
  • Abie Nathan
    Abie Nathan
    Avraham "Abie" Nathan was an Israeli humanitarian and peace activist, perhaps best known as the founder of the Voice of Peace radio station.-Early years:...

     – Humanitarian and peace activist

Religious figures

  • Moshe Shmuel Shapira
    Moshe Shmuel Shapira
    Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Shapiro was a Rosh Yeshiva and important rabbinic figure in Israel. His father, Rabbi Aryeh Shapiro, was the son of Rabbi Refoel Shapiro of Volozhin and grandson of Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin His mother was a descendant of Rabbi Yom Tov Lipman Heilpern of Bialystock , a...

    , rosh yeshiva
    Rosh yeshiva
    Rosh yeshiva, , , is the title given to the dean of a Talmudical academy . It is made up of the Hebrew words rosh — meaning head, and yeshiva — a school of religious Jewish education...

     of Beer Yaakov
  • Mordechai Eliyahu
    Mordechai Eliyahu
    Mordechai Tzemach Eliyahu ) was a prominent rabbi, posek and spiritual leader. He served as the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1983 to 1993.-Biography:...

    , Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel 1983–93, (1929–2010)
  • Ovadia Yoseph
  • Yosef Sholom Eliashiv
    Yosef Sholom Eliashiv
    Yosef Shalom Elyashiv is a Haredi rabbi and posek who lives in Jerusalem, Israel.At the age of , Elyashiv is active and remains the paramount leader of both Israel and the Diaspora Lithuanian-Haredi community, and many Ashkenazi Jews regard him as the posek ha-dor, the contemporary leading...

  • Rabbi Shlomo Moshe Amar
    Shlomo Amar
    Rabbi Shlomo Moshe Amar has been the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel and the Rishon LeZion since his appointment in 2003. His colleague is Rabbi Yona Metzger, the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel....

    , Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel and Rishon LeZion
    Rishon LeZion (title)
    This list of Sephardi chief rabbis of the Land of Israel documents the rabbis who served as the spiritual leader of the Sephardic community in the Land of Israel from the mid 17th-century to present. The Hebrew title for the position, Rishon le-Zion, This list of Sephardi chief rabbis of the Land...

  • Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto, Israeli Jewish spiritual leader and Kabbalist who lives in New York City.
  • Rabbi ShalArush, is an Israeli Breslov rabbi and founder of the Chut Shel Chessed Institutions. Arush is considered one of today's leading Hasidic spiritual guides.
  • Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak
    Amnon Yitzhak
    Amnon Yitzhak , is an Orthodox Haredi Israeli.Harav Amnon Yitzhak is best known for his involvement in Orthodox Judaism outreach . He is involved in activities which are centered on helping Jews to become more religious or observant...

    , an Sephardic Haredi rabbi
  • Elazar Abuhatzeira
    Elazar Abuhatzeira
    Elazar Abuhatzeira was an Orthodox Sefardi rabbi and kabbalist, known among his followers as the "Baba Elazar."He was born in Rissani, Morocco to Meir and Simcha Abuhatzeira, was the grandson of the Baba Sali, Rabbi Yisrael Abuhatzeira, and the brother of Rabbi David Chai Abuhatzeira of...

    , Orthodox Sefardi rabbi and kabbalist.
  • Yosef Qafih
    Yosef Qafih
    Yosef Qafih , widely known as Rabbi Kapach , was one of the foremost leaders of the Yemenite Jewish community, first in Yemen and later in Israel. He was the grandson of Rabbi Yihhyah Qafahh, also a prominent Yemenite leader and grandson of the founder of the Dor Deah movement in Yemen...

    , Yemen
    Yemen
    The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....

    -born rabbi and scholar

Businesspeople and entrepreneurs

  • Shai Agassi
    Shai Agassi
    Shai Agassi is an Israeli entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of Better Place, which has developed a model and infrastructure for employing electric cars as an alternative to fossil fuel technology. Agassi was President of the Products and Technology Group at SAP AG...

     - Israeli entrepreneur. The founder and CEO of Better Place, which has developed a model and infrastructure for employing electric cars as an alternative to fossil fuel
    Fossil fuel
    Fossil fuels are fuels formed by natural processes such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms. The age of the organisms and their resulting fossil fuels is typically millions of years, and sometimes exceeds 650 million years...

     technology.
  • Haim Saban
    Haim Saban
    Haim Saban is an Egyptian born Israeli-American television and media proprietor. With an estimated net worth of $3.5 billion, he is ranked by Forbes as the 104th richest person in America.-Biography:...

     – Israeli-American television and media proprietor
    Media proprietor
    A media proprietor is a person who controls, either through personal ownership or a dominant position in any media enterprise. Those with significant control of a public company in the mass media may also be called "media moguls", "tycoons", "barons", or "bosses".The figure of the media proprietor...

    . Saban was ranked by Forbes
    Forbes
    Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...

    as the 104th richest person in America
    Forbes 400
    The Forbes 400 or 400 Richest Americans is a list published by Forbes Magazine magazine of the wealthiest 400 Americans, ranked by net worth. The list is published annually in September, and 2010 marks the 29th issue. The 400 was started by Malcom Forbes in 1982 and treats those in the list like...

    .
  • Lev Leviev
    Lev Leviev
    Lev Avnerovich Leviev is a Bukharian-Israeli billionaire businessman, with a net worth of roughly $1.5 billion following the 2008 global financial crisis. Leviev is one of the most prominent Mizrahi Jewish individuals in the world and has been a major philanthropist for Jewish causes in Eastern...

     – diamond tycoon

Academic figures

  • Michel Abitbol
    Michel Abitbol
    Michel Abitbol is an Israeli Jewish historian, professor, and chair of the Department of African Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is considered an expert on the history of the Jews of North Africa. He is also the scientific director of the Center for Research on Moroccan Jewry,...

    , historian, professor, and chair of the Department of African Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
    Hebrew University of Jerusalem
    The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...

    .
  • Amnon Netzer
    Amnon Netzer
    Amnon Netzer was an Iranian-Jewish historian, researcher, professor and journalist.He dedicated much of his life to uncovering, analyzing, and recording the literature, culture, and 2,700-year history of Iran's Jewry.He founded Israel Broadcasting Authority's Persian Service in 1958 and was a...

     – historian, researcher, professor and journalist.
  • Avshalom Elitzur
    Avshalom Elitzur
    Avshalom Cyrus Elitzur is an Israeli physicist and philosopher.-Biography:Avshalom Elitzur was a senior lecturer at the Unit for Interdisciplinary Studies, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel...

     – physicist and philosopher
  • Moshe Bar-Asher
    Moshe Bar-Asher
    Moshe Bar-Asher is an Israeli linguist and the president of the Academy of the Hebrew Language in Jerusalem.-Background:Bar-Asher was born in Ksar es Souk , Morocco, in 1939. He immigrated to Israel in 1951 when he was twelve years old....

     – linguist


Film, TV, and stage

  • Ze'ev Revach
    Ze'ev Revach
    Ze'ev Revach is an Israeli comedian, movie actor, and director. He is a star of the Israeli movie genre known as bourekas films.-Biography:...

     - actor and comedian
  • Moshe Ivgy
    Moshe Ivgy
    Moshe Ivgy is a Moroccan-born Israeli actor and director.-Biography:Moshe Ivgy was born in Casablanca, Morocco. He was married to actress Irit Sheleg. Their daughter Dana Ivgy is also an actress...

     - actor
  • Uri Gavriel
    Uri Gavriel
    Uri Gavriel is an Israeli actor. He works in Israeli cinema. He has won Award of the Israeli Film Academy and Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2005 as Best Actor in film "What a Wonderful Place".-Film and television credits:-External links:...

     - actor
  • Gabi Amrani - actor
  • Yosef Shiloach
    Yosef Shiloach
    Yosef Shiloach was a Kurdish Jews film actor. Shiloach was considered by many in Israel one of the nation's most beloved actors, mostly thanks to his parts in many Bourekas Films, a series of films made primarily in the 1970s, portraying the life of Sepharadim in an exaggerated comic manner,...

     - actor
  • Ronit Elkabetz
    Ronit Elkabetz
    Ronit Elkabetz is an Israeli actress and filmmaker. She works in both Israeli and French cinema. She has won three Ophir Awards and has received a total of seven nominations.- Biography :...

     - actress and filmmaker
  • Gali Atari
    Gali Atari
    Avigail "Gali" Atari is an Israeli actress and singer.-Career:She first appeared on the international scene in 1971, when she represented Israel at the World Popular Song Festival in Japan with the songs "All free" and "Give love away"...

     – singer and actress
  • Ofra Haza
    Ofra Haza
    Ofra Haza was an Israeli singer of Yemeni origin, an actress and international recording artist....

     – singer, actress and international recording artist.
  • Liraz Charhi – actress and singer.
  • Shiri Maimon
    Shiri Maimon
    Shiri Maimon is an Israeli pop/R&B singer, TV show host and actress, who rose to fame as the runner-up in the TV show Kokhav Nolad. She represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005.-Early life:...

     - singer, TV show host and actress
  • Alon Abutbul
    Alon Abutbul
    Alon Abutbul is an Israeli actor.In 2005, he was voted the 158th-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.-Biography:...

     - actor
  • Yigal Bashan – singer, composer and actor
  • Sasson Gabai
    Sasson Gabai
    Sasson Gabai is an Israeli actor, Jewish and originally from Iraq. He works in Israeli cinema. He has won Award of the Israeli Film Academy, Asia Pacific Screen Award, European Film Awards and Jerusalem Film Festival in 2007 as Best Actor in a highly acclaimed Israeli film "The Band's Visit".He is...

     - actor
  • Yehuda Levi
    Yehuda Levi
    Yehuda Levi is an Israeli actor and male model. He was born and now lives in Tel Aviv, but spent much of his childhood in South Africa. He attended the "Thelma Yellin" High school, and graduated with excellence. His noticeable breakthrough was in the TV series "Lechayey Ha'ahava" .He is an...

     - actor and model
  • Oshik Levi
    Oshik Levi
    Oshik Levi is an Israeli singer, actor, and entertainer.He started his career in the late 1960s, as a rock singer, first in the group Shlishiyat Ha-Teomim Oshik Levi (Hebrew: אושיק לוי, born April 7, 1944) is an Israeli singer, actor, and entertainer.He started his career in the late 1960s, as a...

     – singer, actor, and entertainer
  • Eli Yatzpan
    Eli Yatzpan
    Eliyahu Yatzpan is an Israeli television host and comedian, best known as the host of the Channel 3 late-night talk show/variety show Yatzpan between 2001 and 2006.-Early life:...

     - television host and comedian
  • Meir Suissa - comedian and actor
  • Orna Banai
    Orna Banai
    Orna Banai is an Israeli actress, comedian and entertainer.Banai was born in Beersheba, Israel. Her father was a local judge, and her mother was an education executive for the City of Beer Sheva. Many of her relatives are successful Israeli actors and singers. The next generation of the Banai...

     - actress, comedian and entertainer
  • Shaike Levi
    Shaike Levi
    Yeshayahu "Shaike" Levi is an Israeli comedian, singer and actor. He is best known for his role in the Gashash HaHiver comedy trio, which won the Israel Prize in 2000..-Biography:...

     - comedian, singer and actor
  • Gavri Banai - comedian, singer and actor
  • Eli Finish
    Eli Finish
    Eli Finish is an Israeli actor and comedian. He is well known for acting in the popular TV show Eretz Nehederet.-Career:After his release from the IDF in 1996, Finish studied acting in the art school HaBustan in Netanya...

     - actor and comedian
  • Mariano Idelman
    Mariano Idelman
    Mariano Idelman is an Israeli actor and comedian. He is well known for acting in the popular TV show Eretz Nehederet.-Career:In 1996 he appeared in Dudu Topaz's stand-up comedy show called The First in Entertainment with Eli Finish, and signed a 2-year contract with the show.Idelman and Finish...

     - actor and comedian
  • Asi Cohen - comedian and actor
  • Shalom Assayag - comedian
  • Israel Katorza - comedian, actor and screenwriter
  • Naor Zion
    Naor Zion
    Naor Zion is an Israeli comedian, actor, writer and director. Zion was the creator, head writer and an actor for the Israeli sitcom television series "Naor's Friends".- Biography :...

     – comedian/actor/director
  • Guri Alfi - comedian and actor
  • Erez Tal
    Erez Tal
    Erez Tal is an Israeli broadcasting personality.-Biography:His first hit program was "Ma Yesh" , broadcast on Galatz, Israel's Army radio, where he started his partnership with Avri Gilad....

     - media personality
  • Didi Harari - media personality

  • Models

    • Moran Atias
      Moran Atias
      -Early life and family:Atias was born in Haifa, Israel, to parents of Moroccan Jewish descent. Atias appeared on the youth TV show "Out of Focus" at age 15, although plans of serving in the Israeli Defense Forces were cut short with a diagnosis of meningitis at age 17...

       – model
    • Sandy Bar
      Sandy Bar
      Sandy Bar is an Israeli actress and model.Bar was born in 1976 in Tel Aviv, Israel, to a mother of Yemenite Jewish background and a father with Moroccan-Jewish roots. She was "discovered" at the age of 17 by Adi Barkan, who became her first agent. Bar became a successful model in Israel, leading...

       – model and actress
    • Yael Abecassis
      Yael Abecassis
      Yael Abecassis is an Israeli actress and model. She married Israeli actor Lior Miller in 1996 and has one child. They divorced in 2003. Abecassis is the daughter of Raymonde Abecassis, a Moroccan-born Israeli actress.- Career:...

       – model and actress
    • Linor Abargil – Israeli beauty pageant contestant who won the Miss World beauty pageant in 1998
    • Miri Bohadana
      Miri Bohadana
      Miri Bohadana is an Israeli actress, model and presenter.-Career:Bohadana was born in Beer Sheva Israel on October 12, 1977 to Moroccan Jewish parents and raised in the town of Sderot. She took part in the "Miss Beer Sheva" contest at age 15. Two years later, in 1995, Bohadana was chosen first...

       – model and actress
    • Ilanit Levi – model and actress
    • Orly Levy
      Orly Levy
      Orly Levy-Abekasis is an Israeli politician. She is a member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu and serves as Deputy Speaker of the Knesset.-Biography:...

       – former model whom is currently a politician
    • Mali Levi – model and actress
    • Natalie Attiya – model and actress
    • Becky Griffin
      Becky Griffin
      Becky Griffin is an Israeli model, TV presenter and an actress. She was born to Jewish parents, a Yemenite mother and an American father....

       – model, TV presenter and an actress
    • Yehuda Levi
      Yehuda Levi
      Yehuda Levi is an Israeli actor and male model. He was born and now lives in Tel Aviv, but spent much of his childhood in South Africa. He attended the "Thelma Yellin" High school, and graduated with excellence. His noticeable breakthrough was in the TV series "Lechayey Ha'ahava" .He is an...

       - actor and model

    Popular musicians

    • Etti Ankri
      Etti Ankri
      Esther "Etti" Ankri is an Israeli singer-songwriter. She is a former Female Singer of the Year in Israel, and has also performed in the United States, England, and India. Ankri has been called a "rock genius", the "poet of Israeli spirituality," and "the contemporary voice of.....

       – singer/songwriter
    • Harel Skaat
      Harel Skaat
      Harel Skaat is an Israeli singer and songwriter. He represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song "Milim" ....

       – singer/songwriter
    • Ehud Banai
      Ehud Banai
      -Early life:Banai, of Persian Jewish and Afghan Jewish descent, was born in Jerusalem to the actor Yaakov Banai, the eldest of the Banai siblings, and moved to Givataim at the age of four.-Music career:...

       – singer/songwriter
    • Amir Benayoun
      Amir Benayoun
      Amir Benayoun is an Israeli singer-songwriter.-Biography:Benayoun was born in 1975 in Beersheba. His first album, "Rak Ath", was sold in 40,000 copies. after it, he created 11 other albums....

       – singer-songwriter
    • Boaz Mauda – singer-songwriter
    • Moshe Peretz
      Moshe Peretz
      Moshe Peretz is an Israeli Mizrahi Pop singer-songwriter and composer. He was born on May 10, 1983 in Tiberias.-Biography:Born in Tiberias To a Moroccan-Iraqi Jewish family....

       – singer-songwriter and composer
    • Boaz Sharabi
      Boaz Sharabi
      Boaz Sharabi is an Israeli singer-songwriter, composer, guitarist, crooner, pianist, actor, tenor, chazan and lyricist, well-known for such integral Israeli classics as Latet, Halevai, At Li Laila, Pamela, Lashir Itach, Kol Od, Mi Yada Shekach Yihiyeh, K'Shetavo , Im At Adain Ohevet Oti and Etzli...

       – singer/songwriter and composer
    • Avihu Medina
      Avihu Medina
      Avihu Medina is an Israeli composer, arranger, songwriter, and singer of Mediterranean Israeli music.-Biography:Medina is the third son of Aaron and Leah Medina. His mother's family immigrated in 1906 and she was born in Jerusalem, and his father immigrated to Israel from Yemen in 1939 when it was...

       – singer-songwriter and composer
    • Shlomi Shabat
      Shlomi Shabat
      Shlomi Shabat is a popular Israeli singer, musician, and artist who sings in the oriental Mizrahi style. He comes from a sephardic family that immigrated from Turkey, and sings in Hebrew, Turkish, and Spanish.-Musical career:...

       – singer and composer
    • Avi Toledano
      Avi Toledano
      Born in Meknes in Morocco April 4, 1948, Avraham Toledano is known to European audiences for his involvement with the Eurovision Song Contest. In 1982 he represented Israel in Harrogate, UK with the uptempo revivalist number Hora...

       – singer and composer
    • Izhar Cohen
      Izhar Cohen
      Izhar Cohen is an Israeli singer and actor.Representing Israel, he won the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest with the group Alphabeta performing "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" with music by Nurit Hirsh and words by Ehud Manor...

       - singer and composer
    • Miki Gavrielov – singer and composer
    • Dana International
      Dana International
      Sharon Cohen , professionally known as Dana International is an Israeli pop singer of Yemenite Jewish ancestry. She has released eight albums and three additional compilation albums, positioning herself as one of Israel's most successful musical acts ever...

       – pop singer
    • Ishtar
      Ishtar (singer)
      Ishtar is an Israeli-born pop singer who performs in Arabic, Hebrew, Bulgarian, French, Spanish, and English...

       – vocalist for Alabina
      Alabina
      Alabina is a French-based group that performs a mix of world music: Middle Eastern, Arabic, French, Hebrew, and Spanish Gypsy music. Alabina consists of lead singer Ishtar, who does the female vocals, and the band Los Niños de Sara, who provide male vocals and music.Although the name of the group...

    • Ahinoam Nini (Noa) – singer
    • Ninet Tayeb - pop rock singer and actress
    • Rita – Israeli pop-star
    • Subliminal (rapper)
      Subliminal (rapper)
      Ya'akov "Kobi" Shimoni , generally known by his stage name Subliminal , is an Israeli hip hop artist and music producer.-Background:...

       – Israeli rap singer
    • Yossi Banai
      Yossi Banai
      Yossi Banai was an Israeli performer, singer, actor, and dramatist.-Biography:Banai was born in Jerusalem, and grew up in the neighborhood of the Mahane Yehuda market...

       – performer, singer, and actor
    • Ofra Haza
      Ofra Haza
      Ofra Haza was an Israeli singer of Yemeni origin, an actress and international recording artist....

       – singer, actress and international recording artist
    • Oshik Levi
      Oshik Levi
      Oshik Levi is an Israeli singer, actor, and entertainer.He started his career in the late 1960s, as a rock singer, first in the group Shlishiyat Ha-Teomim Oshik Levi (Hebrew: אושיק לוי, born April 7, 1944) is an Israeli singer, actor, and entertainer.He started his career in the late 1960s, as a...

       – singer, actor, and entertainer
    • Rami Fortis
      Rami Fortis
      Rami Fortis , often Fortis, is an Israeli rock singer.-Biography:Rami Fortis is of Iraqi and Italian origin. He served in the 1973 Yom Kippur war and was influenced by his experiences at the front. He began his musical career in 1975 as a lighting-man in the shows of Tamuz - one of Israel's...

       – rock singer
    • Korin Allal – rock singer, composer and songwriter.
  • Zohar Argov
    Zohar Argov
    Zohar Argov was a popular Israeli singer and a distinctive voice in the Mizrahi music scene.- Background :The most serious hurdle on the way to stardom was Argov's socioeconomic background. He was born in Rishon LeZion, and grew up in a poor family, the eldest of ten children...

     – singer
  • Shoshana Damari – singer
  • Gali Atari
    Gali Atari
    Avigail "Gali" Atari is an Israeli actress and singer.-Career:She first appeared on the international scene in 1971, when she represented Israel at the World Popular Song Festival in Japan with the songs "All free" and "Give love away"...

     – singer and actress
  • Lior Narkis
    Lior Narkis
    Lior Narkis is a male Israeli singer. He was born to a mixed Iraqi and Serbian Jewish family.-Music career:...

     – singer
  • Margalit Tsan'ani – singer and television personality
  • Haim Moshe
    Haim Moshe
    Haim Moshe born 1956)is an Israeli singer whose musical style has crossed over from Yemenite and Mediterranean "ethnic" music to include mainstream Israeli and western pop elements. He has helped Mizrahi music achieve wide popularityboth in Israel...

     – singer
  • Daklon
    Daklon
    Daklon is the nickname of an Israeli musical artist Yosef Levy. He was born in 1944 in Tel Aviv's Kerem Hateimanim neighborhood, as a son of Jewish-Yemeni immigrants from the Shar'ab region in Yemen....

     – singer
  • Eyal Golan
    Eyal Golan
    Eyal Golan, , is a popular Israeli singer who sings in the Mizrahi style. Golan is one of the most successful singers of the Mizrahi genre in Israel...

     – singer
  • Shimi Tavori
    Shimi Tavori
    Shimi Tavori is an acclaimed Israeli singer. He performs in Hebrew and French.-Biography:Shimi Tavori was born to a Yemenite Jewish family in Ness Ziona, Israel....

     – singer
  • Zion Golan
    Zion Golan
    Zion Golan , also known as Tzion Golan, is an Israeli singer of Yemeni origin.-Background:Most of Golan's songs are in Yemeni Arabic. Many songs are from Yemen and are also sung by contemporary Yemeni singers. He also sings some songs in the ancient Yemeni dialect of Hebrew.-Personal life:Golan was...

     – singer
  • Kobi Oz
    Kobi Oz
    Kobi Oz is the lead singer of Israeli group Teapacks.-Biography:Yaakov Oz was born in Sderot to Tunisian Jewish parents. He began playing music and composing at the age of 15...

     – singer
  • Shlomo Bar
    Shlomo Bar
    Shlomo Bar is an Israeli musician, composer, and social activist. He is a pioneer of ethnic music in Israel.- Biography :Born in Rabat, Morocco, in 1943, Bar emigrated to Israel a few years later. He learnt how to play the darbuka and other ethnic percussion instruments, performing in various small...

     – singer
  • Zehava Ben
    Zehava Ben
    Zehava Ben is one of the most popular Israeli female vocalists in the Mizrahi music genre; the Middle Eastern-style of singing rising from Israel's Mizrahi Jewish population, dominating Israeli music in the 1990s and popular ever since.-Early life:...

     – singer
  • Kobi Peretz
    Kobi Peretz
    Kobi Peretz , also Koby Perez, is a popular Israeli singer who sings in the Mizrahi style. Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, Kobi comes from a big family, being the youngest of 10 siblings. After his one hit wonder Balbeli Oto , He sang in major concerts...

     – singer
  • Moshik Afia
    Moshik Afia
    Moshik Afia is a popular Israeli singer who sings in the Mizrahi style. He was born in Holon, Israel.-Selected discography:*A rain dripped- 1997 - גשם טפטף*A Story of love- 1998- סיפור אהבה*In my dreams- 1999- מתוך חלומותיי...

     – singer
  • Gad Elbaz
    Gad Elbaz
    Gad Elbaz is an Israeli haredi singer of Sephardic origin. He is best known by his #1 hit; Halayla Zeh Hazman , and for being the son of mizrahi singer Benny Elbaz.-Early life:...

     – singer
  • Sarit Hadad
    Sarit Hadad
    Sarit Hadad is an acclaimed Israeli singer. She stems from a musician family with both origins in the Tunisia and Caucases...

     – singer
  • Shiri Maimon
    Shiri Maimon
    Shiri Maimon is an Israeli pop/R&B singer, TV show host and actress, who rose to fame as the runner-up in the TV show Kokhav Nolad. She represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005.-Early life:...

     - singer, TV show host and actress
  • Mosh Ben-Ari
    Mosh Ben-Ari
    Mosh Ben Ari is an Israeli musician, lyricist and composer.- Biography :Ben Ari was born in Afula, Israel in 1970. He comes from a Yemenite and Iraqi Jewish background. He first discovered music as a child through the traditional Jewish and ethnic chants that were part of his everyday life...

     - musician, lyricist and composer
  • Yigal Bashan – singer, composer and actor
  • Sharon Haziz – singer
  • Yuval Banai
    Yuval Banai
    Yuval Banay is an Israeli musician, best known as the lead singer of the influential Israeli pop rock band Mashina.-Personal life:Yuval was born on June 9, 1962 in Tel-Aviv to Yossi and Ilana Banai...

     – singer
  • Berry Sakharof
    Berry Sakharof
    Berry Sakharof is an Israeli rock guitarist, songwriter and singer.-Biography:Sakharof was born in Izmir, Turkey in 1957. His family immigrated to Israel when he was 3 years old.-Start of career:...

     – rock guitarist, songwriter and singer

  • Association Football

    • Dudu Aouate
      Dudu Aouate
      David "Dudu" Aouate is an Israeli footballer who plays for RCD Mallorca in Spain, as a goalkeeper.-Club career:Aouate began his career at Maccabi Haifa F.C. at youth level, as an understudy to Nir Davidovich...

       – goalkeeper (RCD Mallorca
      RCD Mallorca
      Real Club Deportivo Mallorca is a Spanish football team based on Palma, Majorca, in the Balearic Islands. Founded on 5 March 1916, the team currently plays in the Spanish first division, holding home games at Son Moix....

      , national team)
    • Gai Assulin
      Gai Assulin
      Gai Yigaal Assulin is an Israeli professional footballer who plays for Manchester City and the Israel national under-21 football team, mainly as a winger or attacking midfielder...

       – winger/attacking midfielder (Manchester City, national team)
    • Pini Balili
      Pini Balili
      Pini Balili is an Israeli-Turkish footballer currently playing for Bnei Yehuda.-Move back to Hapoel:As a youngster, Balili grew up supporting Hapoel Tel Aviv and was part of the youth system there before moving to Shimshon Tel Aviv in his teens...

      , Israel/Turkey – striker (Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv, national team)
    • Yossi Benayoun
      Yossi Benayoun
      Yosef Shai "Yossi" Benayoun is an Israeli international footballer who plays for Arsenal on loan from Chelsea.Benayoun plays as an attacking midfielder, often occupying the space just behind the striker. In Israel, he is sometimes nicknamed "The Diamond from Dimona". He is also the captain of the...

       – attacking midfielder, national team captain, Hapoel Be'er Sheva, Maccabi Haifa
      Maccabi Haifa F.C.
      Maccabi Haifa Football Club is an Israeli football team from the city of Haifa, a section of Maccabi Haifa sports club. The club has won 12 championships, 5 State Cups and 4 Toto Cups...

      , Racing Santander, West Ham United
      West Ham United F.C.
      West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Upton Park, Newham, East London. They play in The Football League Championship. The club was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks FC and reformed in 1900 as West Ham United. In 1904 the club relocated to their current...

      , Liverpool
      Liverpool F.C.
      Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...

      , Chelsea
      Chelsea F.C.
      Chelsea Football Club are an English football club based in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been English champions four times, FA Cup winners six times and League Cup winners four...

    • Tal Ben Haim
      Tal Ben Haim
      Tal Ben Haim is an Israeli professional footballer who currently plays for Portsmouth.He can play at either centre back or right back. He is also a member of the Israeli national squad...

       – center back/right back, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Bolton Wanderers, Chelsea, West Ham United
      West Ham United F.C.
      West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Upton Park, Newham, East London. They play in The Football League Championship. The club was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks FC and reformed in 1900 as West Ham United. In 1904 the club relocated to their current...

    • Avi Cohen
      Avi Cohen
      Avraham "Avi" Cohen was an Israeli footballer who played as a defender. He was best known for his spell playing for Liverpool in England. After retirement from active football and management, he was the chairman of the Israel Professional Footballers Association for over five years until he was...

       – defender, Liverpool and national team
    • Yaniv Katan
      Yaniv Katan
      Yaniv Katan is an Israeli international football forward and winger. He is currently contracted to Maccabi Haifa.-Personal life:Katan is Jewish, grew up in Haifa most of his life and then moved to Tel Aviv shortly after his parents divorced. His parents are Iraqi immigrants who moved from Baghdad...

       – forward/winger (Maccabi Haifa
      Maccabi Haifa F.C.
      Maccabi Haifa Football Club is an Israeli football team from the city of Haifa, a section of Maccabi Haifa sports club. The club has won 12 championships, 5 State Cups and 4 Toto Cups...

      , national team)
    • Eli Ohana
      Eli Ohana
      Eli Ohana is a former Israeli football player and later a manager. He is currently the manager of the Israel U21 team. He is considered to be one of the greatest Israeli players ever.-Early life and playing career:...

       – won UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
      UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
      The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a football club competition contested annually by the most recent winners of all European domestic cup competitions. The cup is one of the many inter-European club competitions that have been organised by UEFA. The first competition was held in the 1960–61 season—but...

       and Bravo Award
      Bravo Award
      The Bravo Award is an annual award which is handed out by the Italian magazine Guerin Sportivo to the most outstanding young European footballer. The first winner of the award was English Jimmy Case. Until 1992 only under-23 players participating in one of the three European club cups were eligible...

       (most outstanding young player in Europe); national team; manager
    • Haim Revivo
      Haim Revivo
      Haim Michael Revivo is a retired Israeli football player, and a businessman. He was especially famous for his free-kick goals and his entertaining celebrations after these goals.- From Ashdod to Tel Aviv :...

       – attacking/side midfielder (national team), Maccabi Haifa, Celta de Vigo, Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray
      Galatasaray S.K. (football team)
      Galatasaray Anonim Şirketi is a Turkish football club, part of the Galatasaray S.K. multi-sport club of Istanbul. Galatasaray is a major sports club in Turkey, holding 17 Turkish Super League titles and the highest number of Turkish Cups....

    • Idan Tal
      Idan Tal
      Idan Tal is an Israeli footballer who plays for Hapoel Jerusalem, as a midfielder.-Club career:Tal started his career at Maccabi Petah Tikva FC during the 1996–97 season, and played 71 games until his move to Hapoel Tel Aviv FC in the midst of the 1998–99, winning the state cup, the first title in...

       – midfielder (Beitar Jerusalem FC
      Beitar Jerusalem FC
      Beitar Jerusalem Football club is an Israeli football club from Jerusalem. The club is based at the Teddy Stadium in the Malha neighborhood, and plays in black and yellow...

       & national team)
    • Itzik Zohar
      Itzik Zohar
      Itzik Zohar is a former Israeli international footballer and television sports personality. Born in Bat Yam, Israel to a family of North African extraction, he holds the distinction of scoring the first two goals for Israel in its first world cup qualifier in the UEFA confederation on October 28,...

       – attacking midfielder (national team), Maccabi Jaffa, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Royal Antwerp, Beitar Jerusalem, Crystal Palace, Maccabi Haifa, Maccabi Herzliya, Maccabi Netanya, F.C. Ashdod, Hapoel Nazareth Illit

    Sailing

    • Shahar Zubari
      Shahar Zubari
      Shahar Zubari is an Israeli windsurfer and Olympic bronze medalist, surfing in the "Neil Pryde" RS:X discipline. He was born in Eilat, Israel.-Early career:...

      , Israel, windsurfer, Olympic bronze (RS:X discipline); 2009 & 2010 European Windsurf champion


    Criminals

    • Benny Sela
      Benny Sela
      Benny Sela is an Israeli serial rapist.Sela grew up in the Hatikva Quarter of Tel Aviv, and as a young boy, witnessed his alcoholic father commit suicide. He subsequently entered foster care...

       – convicted serial rapist and escapee
    • Eden-Nathan Zada – Israeli terrorist whom was an army defector when he committed the 2005 Shfar'am shooting attack in which he used his military rifle to shot the passengers of a commuter bus in the Arab village of Shfar'am, murdering four Arab citizens of Israel
      Arab citizens of Israel
      Arab citizens of Israel refers to citizens of Israel who are not Jewish, and whose cultural and linguistic heritage or ethnic identity is Arab....

       and wounding twenty-two others.
    • Yigal Amir
      Yigal Amir
      Yigal Amir is the Israeli assassin of Prime Minister of Israel Yitzhak Rabin. The assassination took place on November 4, 1995 at the conclusion of a rally in Tel Aviv. Amir is currently serving a life sentence for murder plus six years for injuring Rabin's bodyguard, Yoram Rubin, under...

       – assassin of the Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin
      Yitzhak Rabin
      ' was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77 and 1992 until his assassination in 1995....

    • Yaakov Alperon
      Yaakov Alperon
      Yaakov Alperon , was an Israeli mobster who was murdered in a car bomb attack. He was reputed to have run Tel Aviv's third-largest crime family, the Alperon crime family.-Biography:...

       – Israeli mobster who was murdered in a car bomb attack
    • Uzi Meshulam – leader of a radical group of Yemenite Jews who in 1994 violently resisted Israeli law enforcement authorities.
    • Aryeh Deri
      Aryeh Deri
      Aryeh Deri is an Israeli politician, and former leader of Israel's Shas Party.-Biography:After Deri was convicted of taking $155,000 in bribes while serving as Interior Minister and given a three-year jail sentence in 2000, he was replaced by Eli Yishai...

       – politician, and former leader of Israel's Shas Party. During 1999 Deri was convicted of taking $155,000 in bribes while serving as Interior Minister and given a three-year jail sentence.
    • Yitzhak Mordechai
      Yitzhak Mordechai
      Yitzhak Mordechai is an Israeli former general and politician. He served as a member of the Knesset between 1996 and 2001, and as Minister of Defense and Minister of Transport. He retired from political life after being indicted for sexual assaults during his military service and later...

       – former general and former politician. Mordechai retired from political life after being convicted of harassing and sexually assaulting two women during his military service.
    • Moshe Katsav
      Moshe Katsav
      Moshe Katsav is an Israeli politician. He served as the eighth President of Israel, a leading Likud member of the Israeli Knesset, and a Cabinet Minister in its government....

       – Former President of Israel (2000–2007). On 30 December 2010 Katsav was convicted of two counts of rape
      Rape
      Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...

       and obstruction of justice
      Obstruction of justice
      The crime of obstruction of justice, in United States jurisdictions, refers to the crime of interfering with the work of police, investigators, regulatory agencies, prosecutors, or other officials...

      .
    • Felix Halfon
      Felix Halfon
      -Controversy:In August 2003 Halfon was caught smuggling cocaine in the Ben Gurion International Airport. In 2004 Felix was sentenced for 4.5 years in prison but was released in June 2006 after 2.5 years for good behavior.-External links:* at IFA...

       – Former Israeli footballer who in 2004 was convicted of drug smuggling.

    See also

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