List of Jewish heads of state and government

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a list of heads of state and government who are Jewish, whether by religion, ethnicity, culture, or nationality.

Heads of state and government[]

  Denotes incumbent head of state or government.
Head of State or Government Title Country In Office from In Office until Born in Jewish Origin
Coat of Arms of the House of Sanudo.svg Joseph Nasi Duke of Naxos  Duchy of the Archipelago 1566 1579 Kingdom of Portugal Portuguese Sephardi
Royal Coat of Arms of Spain (1580-1668).svg Luis de Carvajal y de la Cueva Governor of the New Kingdom of León  New Kingdom of León 1580 1588 Mogadouro, Kingdom of Portugal Jewish converso
Royal Arms of Norway & Denmark (1699-1819).svg Gabriel Milan Governor of The Danish West Indies  The Danish West Indies 7 May 1684 5 July 1686 Glückstadt, Germany Sepharadi
Juan Álvarez Mendizábal.jpg Juan Álvarez Mendizábal Prime Minister of Spain  Spain 25 September 1835 15 May 1836 Chiclana de la Frontera, Spain Converso origin[1]
Juan Lindo00001.JPG Juan Lindo President of Honduras  Honduras 2 February 1847 1 February 1852 Tegucigalpa, Honduras Spanish[2]
President of El Salvador  El Salvador 7 January 1841 1 February 1842
Benjamin Disraeli by Cornelius Jabez Hughes, 1878.jpg Benjamin Disraeli Prime Minister of the United Kingdom  United Kingdom 27 February 1868 1 December 1868 Bloomsbury, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom Ashkenazi[3]
20 February 1874 21 April 1880
Julius Vogel, ca 1870s.jpg Julius Vogel Premier of New Zealand  New Zealand 8 April 1873 6 July 1875 London, United Kingdom English[citation needed]
15 February 1876 1 September 1876
Vaiben Solomon1.jpg Vaiben Louis Solomon Premier of South Australia  South Australia 1 December 1899 8 December 1899 Adelaide, South Australia Australian
Sir Matthew Nathan.jpg Matthew Nathan Governor of the Gold Coast  Gold Coast 17 December 1900 9 February 1904 London, United Kingdom English
Governor of Hong Kong  Hong Kong 29 July 1904 29 July 1907
Governor of Natal South Africa Colony of Natal 2 September 1907 23 December 1909
Alessandro Fortis.jpg Alessandro Fortis Prime Minister of Italy  Italy 28 March 1905 8 February 1906 Forlì, Papal States Italian[4]
Sidney Sonnino 2.jpg Sidney Sonnino Prime Minister of Italy  Italy 8 February 1906 29 May 1906 Pisa, Grand Duchy of Tuscany Italian[4]
11 December 1909 31 March 1910
Luigi Luzzatti.jpg Luigi Luzzatti Prime Minister of Italy  Italy 31 March 1910 30 March 1911 Venice, Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia Italian[4]
Francisco Henriquez Carvajal.jpg Francisco Henríquez y Carvajal President of the Dominican Republic  Dominican Republic 31 July 1916 29 November 1916 Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Dutch[5]
Lev Kamenev 1920s (cropped).jpg Lev Kamenev Chairman of All-Russian Central Executive Committee  Soviet Russia 9 November 1917 21 November 1917 Moscow, Russian Empire Russian[6]
Deputy Premier as part of the Troika May 1922 April 1925
Свердлов Яков Михайлович.jpg Yakov Sverdlov Chairman of All-Russian Central Executive Committee  Soviet Russia 21 November 1917 16 March 1919 Nizhny Novgorod, Russian Empire Russian[citation needed]
M. Abraham Schrameck, Ministre de l'Intérieur.png Governor-general of French Madagascar  French Madagascar 1 August 1918 12 July 1919 Saint-Étienne, France French-Jewish origin
Kurt Eisner.jpg Kurt Eisner Minister President of the People's State of Bavaria  Bavaria 8 November 1918 21 February 1919 Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia German Jew
Eugene Levine1.jpg Eugen Leviné Leader of the Bavarian Council Republic Bavarian Soviet Republic 12 April 1919 3 May 1919 St Petersburg, Russian Empire Ashkenazi
Bela Kun (cropped).png Béla Kun De facto leader
People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs 		 Hungary 21 March 1919 1 August 1919 Lele, Austria-Hungary Hungarian[citation needed]
Alexandre Millerand (cropped).jpg Alexandre Millerand Prime Minister of France  France 20 January 1920 24 September 1920 Paris, France French Jewish (mother[7])
President of France 23 September 1920 11 June 1924
Herbert Samuel.jpg Herbert Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel High Commissioner for Palestine  Mandatory Palestine 1 July 1920 30 June 1925 Liverpool, England British
Rufus Isaacs, 1st Marquess of Reading in 1917.jpg Rufus Isaacs, 1st Marquess of Reading Viceroy and Governor-General of India  British India 2 April 1921 3 April 1926 London, England British
Zigfrids-Anna-Meierovics.jpg Zigfrīds Anna Meierovics Prime Minister of Latvia  Latvia 19 June 1921 26 January 1923 Durbe, Latvia Latvian[citation needed]
28 June 1923 26 January 1924
Grigorii Zinovieff 1920 (cropped).jpg Grigory Zinoviev Commitern Chairman as part of the Troika  Soviet Union May 1922 April 1925 Yelizavetgrad, Russian Empire Russian Jew
Sir Francis Henry Dillon Bell, ca 1924.jpg Francis Bell Prime Minister of New Zealand  New Zealand 14 May 1925 30 May 1925 Nelson, New Zealand English[citation needed]
Isaac Isaacs 1936 (cropped).jpg Sir Isaac Isaacs Governor-General of Australia  Australia 21 January 1931 23 January 1936 Melbourne, Australia Polish[8]
Léon Blum Meurisse b 1927.jpg Léon Blum Prime Minister of France  France 4 June 1936 22 June 1937 Paris, France French-Jewish
13 March 1938 10 April 1938
16 December 1946 22 January 1947
Léon-Geismar-en-uniforme.JPG Acting governor-general of French West Africa  French West Africa 14 July 1938 28 October 1938 Dambach-la-Ville, Alsace-Lorraine French-Jewish origin[9]
Matyas Rakosi.jpg Mátyás Rákosi General Secretary of the Hungarian Communist Party/Hungarian Working People's Party  Hungary 23 February 1945 18 July 1956 Ada, Austria-Hungary Hungarian[10]
Prime Minister of Hungary 14 August 1952 4 July 1953
Ben-Gurion.jpg David Ben-Gurion
 Prime Minister of Israel  Israel 17 May 1948 26 January 1954 Płońsk, Congress Poland, Russian Empire Polish
3 November 1955 26 June 1963
Flickr - Government Press Office (GPO) - President Chaim Weizmann.jpg Chaim Weizmann President of Israel  Israel 17 February 1949 9 November 1952 Motal, Russian Empire Russian-Belarusian
Yitzhak Ben-Zvi.jpg Yitzhak Ben-Zvi President of Israel  Israel 16 December 1952 23 April 1963 Poltava, Russian Empire Russian-Ukrainian
Standard of the Governor of the Uganda Protectorate.svg Andrew Cohen Governor of Uganda Uganda Protectorate January 1952 1957 Berkhamsted, United Kingdom British Jew
Rene Mayer.jpg René Mayer Prime Minister of France  France 8 January 1953 28 June 1953 Paris, France French Jew[11]
Pierre Mendès France 1968.jpg Pierre Mendès France Prime Minister of France  France 18 June 1954 23 February 1955 Paris, France Portuguese[12]
Moshe Sharett (1948).jpg Moshe Sharett Prime Minister of Israel  Israel 26 January 1954 3 November 1955 Kherson, Russian Empire Ukrainian
Peter Lambda, Bust of David Marshall (1956), School of Law, Singapore Management University - 20150401-03.jpg David Marshall Chief Minister of Singapore  Singapore 6 April 1955 7 June 1956 Singapore, Straits Settlements Sephardi, Baghdadi
Gerő Ernő 1955 (cropped).jpg Ernő Gerő General Secretary of the Hungarian Working People's Party  Hungary 18 July 1956 25 October 1956 Terbegec, Austria-Hungary Hungarian[citation needed]
Roy welensky.jpg Roy Welensky Prime Minister of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland 2 November 1956 31 December 1963 Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia Lithuanian Jew, Afrikaner
Michel Debré.jpg Michel Debré Prime Minister of France  France 8 January 1959 14 April 1962 Paris, France French Jew, French
Zalman Shazar.jpg Zalman Shazar President of Israel  Israel May 21, 1963 May 24, 1973 Mir, Minsk Governorate, Russian Empire Polish-Belarusian
Levi Eshko portrait 1964.jpg Levi Eshkol
 Prime Minister of Israel  Israel 26 June 1963 26 February 1969 Orativ, Russian Empire Ukrainian
Joshua Hassan.jpg Joshua Hassan Chief Minister of Gibraltar  Gibraltar 11 August 1964 6 August 1969 Gibraltar Gibraltarian Jews
25 June 1972 8 December 1987
Coat of arms of Panama.svg Max Delvalle President of Panama  Panama April 8, 1967 April 15, 1967 Panama City, Panama Portuguese-Spanish[13]
Golda Meir 03265u.jpg Golda Meir Prime Minister of Israel  Israel 17 March 1969 3 June 1974 Kiev, Russian Empire Ukrainian
Bruno Kreisky 1983.jpg Bruno Kreisky Chancellor of Austria  Austria 21 April 1970 24 May 1983 Vienna, Austria-Hungary Austrian[14]
EKatzir771.jpg Ephraim Katzir President of Israel  Israel 24 May 1973 24 May 1978 Kiev, Russian Empire Polish-Ukrainian
Flickr - Israel Defense Forces - Life of Lt. Gen. Yitzhak Rabin, 7th IDF Chief of Staff in photos (11).jpg Yitzhak Rabin Prime Minister of Israel  Israel 3 June 1974 20 June 1977 Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine Israeli, Ukrainian-Russian
13 July 1992 4 November 1995
Menachem Begin, Andrews AFB, 1978.JPG Menachem Begin Prime Minister of Israel  Israel 20 June 1977 10 October 1983 Brest, Russian Empire Polish-Belarusian- Russian
Zelman Cowen.jpg Sir Zelman Cowen Governor-General of Australia  Australia 8 December 1977 29 July 1982 Melbourne, Australia Belarusian[15]
Yitzhak Navon 1.jpg Yitzhak Navon President of Israel  Israel 24 May 1978 5 May 1983 Jerusalem, Mandate Palestine Israeli, Turkish-Moroccan
Léon Kengo Senate of Poland 01.JPG Léon Kengo wa Dondo Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo  Democratic Republic of the Congo 5 November 1982 31 October 1986 Libenge, Belgian Congo Tutsi-Polish Jew (father)
26 November 1988 4 May 1990
6 July 1994 2 April 1997
Chaim Herzog.png Chaim Herzog President of Israel  Israel 5 May 1983 13 May 1993 Belfast, Ireland Irish-Belarusian-Russian
Yitzhak Shamir (1980).jpg Yitzhak Shamir Prime Minister of Israel  Israel 10 October 1983 13 September 1984 Ruzhinoy, Russian Empire Belarusian - Russian
20 October 1986 13 July 1992
Laurent Fabius.jpg Laurent Fabius Prime Minister of France  France 17 July 1984 20 March 1986 Paris, France French Jewish origin[16]
Shimon Peres, WJC Plenary Assembly, 2009.jpg Shimon Peres
 Prime Minister of Israel  Israel 13 September 1984 20 October 1986 Wiszniew, Poland Polish Jew
22 November 1995 18 June 1996
President of Israel 15 July 2007 14 July 2014
Eric Arturo Delvalle.png Eric Arturo Delvalle President of Panama  Panama 28 September 1985 26 February 1988 Panama City, Panama Portuguese-Spanish[citation needed]
Henny Eman (1986).jpg Henny Eman Prime Minister of Aruba  Aruba 1 January 1986 9 February 1989 Aruba Aruban[citation needed]
29 July 1994 30 October 2001
Petre Roman.jpg Petre Roman Prime Minister of Romania  Romania 26 December 1989 1 October 1991 Bucharest, Romania Transylvanian Hungarian-Jewish, Spanish
פרופ' שלמה אקשטיין ועזר ויצמן (24519769611) (cropped).jpg Ezer Weizman President of Israel  Israel 13 May 1993 13 July 2000 Tel Aviv, Mandate Palestine Israeli
Ruth Dreifuss (2014, cropped).jpg Ruth Dreifuss Member of Swiss Federal Council   Switzerland 10 March 1993 31 December 2002 St. Gallen, Switzerland Swiss[17]
President of Switzerland 1 January 1999 31 December 1999
Escudo nacional del Perú.svg Efraín Goldenberg Prime Minister of Peru  Peru 17 February 1994 28 July 1995 Lima, Peru Romanian[citation needed]
Benjamin Netanyahu 2012.jpg Benjamin Netanyahu Prime Minister of Israel  Israel 18 June 1996 6 July 1999 Tel Aviv, Israel Israeli, Eastern Ashkenazi
31 March 2009 13 June 2021
Janet Jagan.png Janet Jagan Prime Minister of Guyana  Guyana 17 March 1997 19 December 1997 Chicago, United States American[18]
President of Guyana 19 December 1997 11 August 1999
Sergei Kirienko - World Economic Forum Annual Meeting Davos 2000 (cropped).jpg Sergey Vladilenovich Kiriyenko Prime Minister of Russia  Russia 24 April 1998 23 August 1998 Sukhumi, Abkhaz ASSR, Georgian SSR Russian-Russian Jew(father)
E Primakov 03.jpg Yevgeny Primakov Prime Minister of Russia  Russia 11 September 1998 12 May 1999 Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union Russian[citation needed]
Ehud Barak official.jpg Ehud Barak
 Prime Minister of Israel  Israel 6 July 1999 7 March 2001 Mishmar HaSharon, Mandatory Palestine Israeli
Moshe Katsav 2, by Amir Gilad.JPG Moshe Katsav President of Israel  Israel 1 August 2000 1 July 2007 Yazd, Iran Iranian
Ariel Sharon, by Jim Wallace (Smithsonian Institution).jpg Ariel Sharon
 Prime Minister of Israel  Israel 7 March 2001 14 April 2006 Kfar Malal, Mandatory Palestine Israeli, Belarusian- Russian
US Navy 030820-F-2828D-168 Honduran President Ricardo Maduro 2003-08-20.jpg Ricardo Maduro President of Honduras  Honduras 27 January 2002 27 January 2006 Panama Portuguese Jewish, Honduran
Zurab zhavnia senate.JPG Zurab Zhvania Prime Minister of Georgia  Georgia 17 February 2004 3 February 2005 Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union Georgian-Armenian Jew
Mikhail Fradkov, 2014.jpg Mikhail Fradkov Prime Minister of Russia  Russia 5 March 2004 14 September 2007 Samara, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union Russian[19]
Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (cropped 2).jpg Pedro Pablo Kuczynski Prime Minister of Peru  Peru 16 August 2005 27 July 2006 Lima, Peru German Jew, Peruvian
President of Peru 28 July 2016 23 March 2018
Ehud Olmert 2006May23.jpg Ehud Olmert Prime Minister of Israel  Israel 14 April 2006 31 March 2009 Binyamina, Mandatory Palestine Israeli, Eastern Ashkenazi
Yehude Simon Munaro.JPG Yehude Simon Prime Minister of Peru  Peru 14 October 2008 11 July 2009 Lima, Peru Peruvian Jew
John Key February 2015.jpg John Key Prime Minister of New Zealand  New Zealand 19 November 2008 12 December 2016 Auckland, New Zealand Austrian[citation needed]
Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Jan Fischer.JPG Jan Fischer Prime Minister of the Czech Republic  Czech Republic 8 May 2009 13 July 2010 Prague, Czechoslovakia Czech[citation needed]
Mike Eman.jpg Mike Eman Prime Minister of Aruba  Aruba 30 October 2009 17 November 2017 Oranjestad, Aruba Aruban[20]
Salomón Lerner.jpg Salomón Lerner Ghitis Prime Minister of Peru  Peru 28 July 2011 10 December 2011 Lima, Peru Peruvian[21]
Reuven Rivlin as the president of Israel.jpg Reuven Rivlin President of Israel  Israel 24 July 2014 7 July 2021 Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine Israeli
Volodymyr Groysman 2016.jpg Volodymyr Groysman Prime Minister of Ukraine  Ukraine 14 April 2016 29 August 2019 Vinnytsia, Soviet Union Ukrainian[22]
Volodymyr Zelensky Official portrait.jpg Volodymyr Zelensky President of Ukraine  Ukraine 20 May 2019 Incumbent Kryvyi Rih, Ukrainian SSR Ukrainian[22]
Laurentino Cortizo (cropped).jpg

Laurentino Cortizo

President of Panama  Panama 1 July 2019 Incumbent Panama City, Panama Greek-Jewish[23]
Egils Levits.jpg Egils Levits President of Latvia  Latvia 8 July 2019 Incumbent Riga, Latvian SSR, Soviet Union Latvian, Jewish Latvian[24](father)
Sophie Wilmès 2020 (cropped) 2.jpg Sophie Wilmès Prime Minister of Belgium  Belgium 27 October 2019 1 October 2020 Ixelles, Brussels Belgian (mother[25])
Naftali Bennett official portrait.jpg Naftali Bennett Prime Minister of Israel  Israel 13 June 2021 Incumbent Haifa, Israel Israeli, American-Jewish
Isaac Herzog.jpg Isaac Herzog President of Israel  Israel 7 July 2021 Incumbent Tel Aviv, Israel Israeli, Eastern Ashkenazi

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Converso Non-Conformism in Early Modern Spain: Bad Blood and Faith from Alonso de Cartagena to Diego Velázquez Kevin Ingram Springer, 06 Dec 2018
  2. ^ Arbell, Mordechai (16 August 2002). "The World's Other Jewish President". Haaretz. Retrieved 15 July 2018.
  3. ^ Wolf, Lucien. 1905. The Disraeli Family, "Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of England", vol. 5, pp. 202-218.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c Adler, Franklin Hugh (Fall 2009). "The Jews in Mussolini's Italy: From Equality to Persecution, and: L'Italie fasciste et la persécution des juifs (review)". Holocaust and Genocide Studies. 23 (2): 303–306. doi:10.1093/hgs/dcp018. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  5. ^ Read, Jaime (23 August 2010). "Familias capitaleñas: Los Henríquez". Cápsulas Genealógicas (in Spanish). Santo Domingo: Hoy (1/3). Retrieved 3 February 2014. Este apellido se origina en la península Ibérica, tanto en Portugal como en España, de familias judías sefardíes que marcharon posteriormente hacia el norte, llegando a Holanda, a raíz de la expulsión de judíos luego de la Reconquista. De allí parten hacia las colonias neerlandesas del Caribe, llegando a Curazao. En la República Dominicana, el tronco de esta familia fue Noel Henríquez Altías (n. 25 diciembre de 1813), natural de Curazao
  6. ^ Lindemann, Albert S. (1997). Esau's Tears: Modern Anti-Semitism and the Rise of the Jews. Cambridge University Press. p. 430. ISBN 0-521-79538-9.
  7. ^ Alexandre Millerand: socialiste discuté, ministre contesté et président déchu : 1859-1943 Jean-Louis Rizzo Harmattan, 2013
  8. ^ Green, David B. (11 February 2014). "Australian Jurist, anti-Zionist Dies". Haaretz. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  9. ^ Job, Françoise. « Léon Geismar, gouverneur des colonies [Dambach-la-Ville (Bas-Rhin), 15 juillet 1895 – Casablanca, 11 mai 1944] », Archives Juives, vol. vol. 38, no. 2, 2005, pp. 145-150.
  10. ^ Varga, László (16 November 2010). "Rákosi, Mátyás". YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  11. ^ {cite web |url=https://www.jta.org/1972/12/18/archive/rene-mayer-former-prime-minister-of-france-dead-at-age-77 |author= |title=Rene Mayer, Former Prime Minister of France, Dead at Age 77 |date=18 December 1972 |website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |access-date=16 June 2019}}
  12. ^ "Pierre Mendes-France Dead at 75". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 19 October 1982. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  13. ^ "Max Shalom Delvalle". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  14. ^ "Jewish Communities of Austria". anumuseum.org. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  15. ^ Starck, Nigel (2 January 2012). "Sir Zelman Cowen obituary". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017.
  16. ^ American Jewish Year Book 1986 Milton Himmelfarb, David Singer American Jewish Committee, 1986
  17. ^ Breger, Jennifer (27 February 2009). "Ruth Dreifuss". Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  18. ^ Green, David B. (16 December 2012). "1997: Jewish-American Woman Becomes President of Guyana". Haaretz. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  19. ^ Krichevsky, Lev (2 March 2004). "Russian Jew named prime minister". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  20. ^ "Chabad couple detail life as members of Aruba's Jewish community". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
  21. ^ Robert T. Buckman (9 August 2012). Latin America 2012. Stryker Post. pp. 341. ISBN 978-1-61048-888-4. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
  22. ^ Jump up to: a b Higgins, Andrew (24 April 2019). "Ukraine's Newly Elected President Is Jewish. So Is Its Prime Minister. Not All Jews There Are Pleased". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  23. ^ Jackson, Eric (2019-05-08). "What to look for from Nito Cortizo: foreign affairs". The Panama News. Retrieved 2020-10-22.
  24. ^ "Levits ir pret īpašumu atgriešanu ebreju kopienai". delfi.lv. April 18, 2019.
  25. ^ Liphshiz, Cnaan. "Belgium's First Female Prime Minister Is Jewish". The Forward.
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