Israel
102 profiles with fame based in Israel
Israelis with roots in the Russian Empire and USSR
No country was shaped by the Russian-Jewish diaspora more profoundly than Israel. The founders of the state — David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir, Shimon Peres, Chaim Weizmann — were born in the Russian Empire, and the Hebrew revival, the kibbutz movement, and Israeli political culture were carried directly from the Pale of Settlement.
The post-1989 wave brought over a million Russian-speaking immigrants from the collapsing Soviet Union, reshaping Israeli science, music, chess, and technology within a single generation. This page documents Israeli figures — statesmen, scientists, artists, and athletes — whose roots lie in the Russian and Soviet world.
Arkady Volozh
Co-founder of Yandex, Russia's answer to Google
David Ben-Gurion
Israel's founder, born in Płońsk, Russian Empire
Golda Meir
Israel's Iron Lady, born in Kyiv
Mikhail Fridman
Oligarch born in Lviv, exiled by war
Natan Sharansky
Soviet dissident who defied the KGB for Israel
Roman Abramovich
Oligarch who bought Chelsea FC, worth $10B+
Ada Yonath
Crystallographer who mapped the structure of the ribosome; Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2009, the first Israeli woman Nobel laureate (1939–2026)
Alexander Shatilov
Tashkent-born gymnast who represented Israel at four Olympic Games
Alma Zack
Israeli singer with Polish-German Jewish roots — winner of HaKokhav HaBa
Amos Oz
Israeli novelist born in Jerusalem to parents from Odessa and Rovno; author of A Tale of Love and Darkness
Anastasia Michaeli
Russian-born Israeli model elected to the Knesset
Ania Bukstein
Israeli actress with Russian immigrant roots who starred in Game of Thrones
Anna Smashnova
Minsk-born fighter who conquered Israeli tennis
Arcadi Gaydamak
Moscow-born oligarch who bought Israeli influence
Ari Folman
Animated trauma into the Beirut massacre
Ariel Sharon
Prime Minister of Israel (2001-2006); son of emigrants from Brest-Litovsk and Mogilev
Arik Einstein
The voice Israel called its own.
Arkady Duchin
Soviet-born Israeli jazz pianist bridging Russian conservatory tradition and Middle Eastern music
Artem Dolgopyat
Ukrainian-born Israeli gymnast, Olympic floor champion at Tokyo 2020
Assi Azar
Israeli TV host with Russian immigrant roots
Avigdor Lieberman
Soviet-born powerbroker who reshaped Israeli politics.
Avram Hershko
Biochemist who shared the 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation.
Bar Refaeli
Israel's global face with Eastern European roots.
Boris Gelfand
Minsk's grandmaster who reshaped elite chess
Chaim Weizmann
Chemist and first President of Israel, born in Motal
Chava Alberstein
Voice of the Israeli Yiddish revival, born a child of the Russian Empire's Pale
Check Point Founders
Soviet-born founders who invented the commercial firewall and built the world's largest pure cybersecurity company
Dan Shechtman
Materials scientist who discovered quasicrystals; sole winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2011; grandson of Second Aliyah pioneers from Russia
Daniel Kahneman
Psychologist who founded behavioural economics with Amos Tversky; Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences 2002; son of Lithuanian Jews
David Grossman
Israeli novelist; winner of the 2017 Man Booker International Prize and the 2018 Israel Prize
Eli Cohen
Israeli intelligence officer, born in Alexandria to Syrian Jewish parents from Aleppo; executed in Damascus in 1965
Eliezer Ben-Yehuda
Lexicographer born Eliezer Perlman in Luzhki in 1858; principal reviver of Hebrew as a spoken language and author of the Complete Dictionary of Ancient and Modern Hebrew
Elon Lindenstrauss
Israeli mathematician with Russian roots who won the Fields Medal for work in ergodic theory
Emil Sutovsky
Baku-born chess grandmaster and CEO of FIDE, the world chess federation
Ephraim Katzir
Kyiv-born biophysicist who became the fourth President of Israel
Ephraim Kishon
Budapest-born Israeli satirist, playwright and filmmaker who escaped a transport to Sobibor and emigrated to Israel in 1949
Esti Ginzburg
Israeli model and actress with Russian-Jewish roots who became a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit star
Etgar Keret
Israeli short story master with Russian-Polish roots who writes fables for the absurd present
Gal Gadot
Israeli actress, born in Petah Tikva
Gideon Raff
Israeli showrunner with Russian roots who created Prisoners of War — the Israeli series that became Homeland
Hagai Levi
Israeli showrunner with Russian roots who created BeTipul — the series that became HBO's In Treatment
Harel Skaat
Israeli pop idol and Eurovision representative with Yemenite-Iraqi Jewish roots
Idan Raichel
Israeli world-music pioneer whose ancestors came from Russia and Poland
Ilia Smirin
Vitebsk-born grandmaster who became one of Israel's greatest chess champions
Inbar Lavi
Israeli actress with Polish-Moroccan Jewish roots who starred in Imposters and Prison Break
Isser Harel
Born in Vitebsk, built the Mossad and personally captured Adolf Eichmann
Ivri Lider
Israeli pop star with Polish-Russian roots
Jonathan Erlich
Israeli tennis doubles Grand Slam champion with Russian roots
Joseph Cedar
New York-born Israeli film director; two Academy Award nominations for Best Foreign Language Film (Beaufort, Footnote)
Joshua Jortner
Tarnów-born Israeli physical chemist; Israel Prize (1982) and Wolf Prize (1988) laureate
Katia Pisetsky
Zaporizhzhia-born Israeli actress and public figure
Keren Peles
One of Israel's most successful pop singers with Polish-Russian Jewish heritage
Kira Radinsky
Kyiv-born Israeli computer scientist, co-founder of SalesPredict and Diagnostic Robotics
Konstantin Razvozov
Birobidzhan-born judoka who competed for Israel at Athens 2004 and served as Minister of Tourism
Leonid Nevzlin
Yukos co-owner who fled Russia, bankrolled opposition media and became a top anti-Putin activist from Israel
Levi Eshkol
Third Prime Minister of Israel (1963–69), born Levi Shkolnik in Oratov, Kiev Governorate, in 1895
Lior Raz
Creator and star of Fauda — the Israeli Netflix thriller that became a global phenomenon
Marina Maximilian
Dnipro-born Israeli pop star who brought Russian musical soul into Hebrew music
Mark Ivanir
Chernivtsi-born actor who appeared in Schindler's List and The Terminal
Maxim Rodshtein
Leningrad-born chess grandmaster who became one of Israel's strongest players
Mayumana (group)
Israeli percussion and dance troupe with Russian-Soviet roots that became a global theatrical phenomenon
Meir Dagan
Born in Novosibirsk to Holocaust survivors — became the most feared Mossad chief in history
Menachem Begin
Prime Minister of Israel (1977-1983), born in Brest-Litovsk
Michael Cherney
Tashkent-born Israeli businessman, co-founder of Trans World Group in the post-Soviet aluminium industry
Michael Levitt
Pretoria-born biophysicist whose father came from Plungė; Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2013
Misha Zilberman
Moscow-born Israeli chess grandmaster — one of the strongest players in Israeli history
Morgenshtern (Alisher Morgenshtern)
Ufa-born rapper who became Russia's most-streamed artist — then fled Russia and became a vocal war opponent
Moshe Dayan
Chief of Staff and minister; son of emigrants from Zhashkiv
Moshe Sharett
Israel's first foreign minister (1948–56) and second prime minister (1954–55), born Moshe Shertok in Kherson in 1894
Netta Barzilai
Israeli Eurovision winner with Polish Jewish roots — Toy became an anthem for a generation
Nicolle Zelikman
Baku-born Israeli singer and Eurovision representative who became a popular figure in Israeli music
Ninet Tayeb
Israeli pop phenomenon who won Kokhav Nolad and sang with Roger Waters at the Wall
Robert Aumann
Frankfurt-born Israeli-American mathematician and economist; Nobel Prize for game theory (2005)
Robert Shwartzman
St. Petersburg-born Formula 2 champion racing toward Formula 1 with Haas and Ferrari
Rotem Sela
Israeli actress and model with Turkish and Polish Jewish roots — voice of a generation on social media
Sasha Demidov
Born in Tashkent, trained at GITIS in Moscow — became one of Israel's most beloved stage and screen actors
Shari Arison
Israeli-American businesswoman and philanthropist; daughter of Carnival founder Ted Arison
Shimon Peres
Born in Wiszniew (now Vishnyeva, Belarus); Prime Minister and President of Israel
Shlomo Artzi
Israel's most beloved male singer — his family came from Romanian Bukovina, on the fringes of the Russian Empire
Shoshana Damari
Yemenite-born Queen of Hebrew Song — the voice of Israel's founding generation
Sofa Landver
Born in Leningrad — became Israel's Minister of Immigrant Absorption and voice of the Russian-speaking community
Tal Gilboa
Israeli singer with Romanian-Russian Jewish roots who won The X Factor Israel
Tali Ploskov
Born in Balti, Moldova — Israeli actress and public figure from the Russian-speaking community
Tomar Kapon
Israeli actor with Russian-Iraqi Jewish roots who starred in When Heroes Fly
Topol (Chaim Topol)
Israeli actor, Tevye of the 1971 film Fiddler on the Roof and of thousands of stage performances; his father was born in Russia
Yitzhak Ben-Zvi
Second and longest-serving President of Israel (1952–63), historian and Labour Zionist leader, born Yitzhak Shimshelevich in Poltava in 1884
Yitzhak Rabin
Prime Minister of Israel; son of emigrants from the Kiev Governorate and Mogilev
Yitzhak Shamir
Seventh Prime Minister of Israel (1983–84, 1986–92), born Yitzhak Yezernitsky in Ruzhany in 1915
Yuli Edelstein
Born in Chernivtsi, Ukraine — imprisoned by the KGB as a Zionist, became Speaker of the Israeli Knesset
Zalman Shazar
Third President of Israel (1963–73), journalist and scholar, born Shneur Zalman Rubashov in Mir, Minsk Governorate, in 1889
Ze'ev Elkin
Born in Kharkiv — Israeli Cabinet minister and one of the most prominent Russian-born politicians in Israel
German Khan
Kyiv-born businessman, head of Alfa Eco and executive director of TNK-BP
Moshe Kantor
Moscow-born fertilizer billionaire and President of the European Jewish Congress
Igor Kolomoisky
Dnipro oligarch who co-owned Privat Group and financed Ukraine's defence — then fell out with Zelensky
Gennady Bogolyubov
Co-founder of PrivatBank, Ukraine's largest bank before its 2016 nationalisation
Michael Mirilashvili
Tbilisi-born Israeli billionaire and president of the World ORT charitable network
Vyacheslav Kantor
Moscow-born businessman, principal shareholder of Acron and President of the European Jewish Congress
Lev Khasis
Samara-born executive; former CEO of X5 Retail Group and First Deputy CEO of Sberbank (2013–2022)
Mikhail Iakovlev
World-class Russian track cyclist who broke world records then switched to Israel to bypass international bans
Aharon Appelfeld
Escaped a Romanian labour camp at nine, survived three years alone in the forests, became Israel's foremost Hebrew novelist of the Holocaust
Avraham Shlonsky
Hebrew poet born in Kryukov, Poltava Governorate, in 1900; leader of the modernist poets of the 1920s and translator of Eugene Onegin and Hamlet; Israel Prize 1967
Ze'ev Jabotinsky
Journalist, writer and translator born in Odessa in 1880; founder of the Jewish Legion in the First World War, of Revisionist Zionism and of the Betar movement