Before you get carried away with visions of hot sunny days, palm trees, camels, and plates of felafel and hummus, this is your chance to get familiar with some of the legendary figures that have played a part in Israel’s history. Without some of these guys, I doubt you’d be able to settle into that beach chair looking out across the Mediterranean…
And some of you might not agree with some of their views and political leanings, and yes, even their place in the list, but there’s no doubting their influence on Israeli history. Please, repeat after me: this list is intended as a good read, an introduction to some of the characters behind Israel, nothing more, nothing less…
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God – Quite probably the first real original Israeli hero. Some might argue whether or not he’s exclusively Israeli, but without him it’s hard to see how Israel could exist. Also now accessible via Twitter (@God). Read more about God… |
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Jesus of Nazareth – The son of God (see above), Jesus had an important part to play in the history of the Holy Land some 2000 years ago. Ever since his birth in Bethlehem, his presence here has been celebrated by millions of Christian visitors via the many Holy Land Christian sites. For more… |
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Moses – God’s right-hand man in creating the Holy Land, Moses was handed the Ten Commandments by God and also asked to bring back the Hebrews from Egypt. He lived til 120 years old but never made it to Israel. As far as we know, he has no connection with the chain of Holy Moses restaurants in Israel. For more… |
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Theodore Herzl – The founding father of Zionism, Herzl is the main man behind the finding of a homeland for the Jewish nation. After attempts to create a homeland in Uganda and Russia failed, he helped initiate a plan in the Middle East – the Israel that we know and love today. For more… |
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David Ben Gurion – Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurionplayed a big part in the 1948 War of Independence. He also helped build many of the country’s systems and infrastructure and also helped to bring many Jews from all over the world. After his death in 1973 he was voted one of Time’s 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century. For more… |
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Simcha Blass– Who? That’s right, Simcha Blass, Israel’s water engineer extraordinaire. He was the man who developed and produced the water dripping system during the 1950s that has done a great deal to make Israel bloom, despite the very difficult climate. For more… |
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Avraham Stern – One of Israel’s first real freedom fighters, Stern even created an underground unit known as Lehi in his efforts to oust the British from the Holy Land in the 1930’s/40s. I’ve always had a soft spot for him ever since living in Stern street in the Florentine neighbourhood a few years back. For more… |
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Menachem Begin – Begin was another of Israel’s freedom fighters during the 1930s/40s, who led the Irgun. He later became the 6th Prime Minister of Israel, during which time he signed a peace treaty with Sadat of Egypt in 1979, which earned them both a Nobel Peace prize. For more… |
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Yitzhak Shamir – Quite possibly the shortest legend on the list, Shamir was another who first made his name as a freedom fighter struggling against British rule, as a member of both the Irgun and Lehi. He later worked for the Mossad (Israel secret service) before moving into politics. He was Prime Minister twice during the 1980s. For more… |
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Uziel Gal– A German born gun designer, he is the man behind the Uzi submachine gun, which was officially adopted by the Israeli army in 1951. Uzi gets a place on this list because I’ve had the privilege to handle one of his guns when I played an Israeli paratrooper in a movie partly filmed in Tel Aviv. For more… |
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Eli Cohen– A legendary Israeli spy who infiltrated the Syrian intelligence and upper echelons of the Syrian Army. Thanks largely to his work, the Syrian defences on the Golan Heights were quickly wiped out at the start of the Six Day War in 1967. Caught in the act, he was publicly executed in 1965. He was extremely well connected; at one point he was apparently third in line to succeed as Syrian President! For more… |
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Moshe Dayan – Perhaps the man with the world’s most famous eyepatch (he lost his eye in battle), Dayan is the face that represents the fighting State of Israel that battled so valiantly throughout the 50s and 60s. As a very charismatic Defence Minister he took a lot of credit for the Six Day War in 1967. For more… |
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Golda Meir – Israel’s first woman Prime Minister, from 1969 to 1974, often known as the Iron Lady (long before Maggie Thatcher) and “the best man in the government”. She was partly blamed for the losses during the Yom Kippur War of 1973, which ultimately brought an end to her Premiership. She died 4 years later. For more… |
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Ariel Sharon – The former Prime Minister now lying in a coma, Sharon has always been a controversial figure in Israel. From his early army days as the leader of Israel’s first special unit force, to his withdrawal from Gaza in 2004, he has always been in the headlines, for good or bad. Perhaps the last of Israel’s golden generation. For more… |
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Yitzhak Rabin – Twice Israel’s Prime Minister during the 70s and 90s, Rabin was mainly a military man, including a famous stint as Chief of Staff through the victorious Six Day War. He was one of the architects of the Oslo Accords which won him, Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat Nobel Peace prizes, but which ultimately led to his assassination in 1995, an act that rocked a nation…For more… |
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Mirabilis (ICQ) – Just think how the modern techie world would look without ICQ’s groundbreaking messaging system. Who knows, would we even have gone down the road of Facebook or Twitter? And selling to AOL for $400m for a product that wasn’t generating any revenue guarantees their legendary status, at least among the IT set. For more… |
