Meir Sheetrit (Hebrew: מאיר שטרית‎, born 10 October 1948) 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 & Sport.

Sheetrit was born in Ksar es Souk (now Er Rachidia), Morocco. His family immigrated to Israel in 1957. He earned a BA and an MA in Public Policy from Bar-Ilan University.

Sheetrit began his political career in 1974 as mayor of the city of Yavne, a position he held until 1987.

He was first elected to the Knesset in 1981 on the Likud list. He was re-elected in 1984, but lost his seat in 1988. That year he was elected treasurer of the Jewish Agency and served in this position until 1992, when he returned to the Knesset. In 1998 he was appointed Minister of Finance, serving until the fall of Benjamin Netanyahu's first government in 1999. He returned to the cabinet in 2001 as Minister of Justice. After being re-elected in 2003, he was appointed Minister in the Ministry of Finance, where he worked closely with then Minister of Finance Netanyahu who was spearheading a sweeping privatization reform. He was appointed Minister of Transportation in 2004, and later served as Minister of Education, Culture and Sport until 2006.

Leon Charney is an American real estate tycoon, author, philanthropist, political pundit, media personality, and Jewish cantor. He lives in Manhattan in New York City, dividing his time between his residences in Tel Aviv and Boca Raton, Florida. Forbes lists Charney as #308 among the wealthiest Americans.

Charney is best known as a New York real estate baron, but in recent years, his role as one of the backdoor players integral to sealing the Camp David Peace Treaty between Israel and Egypt has emerged. In 1979, Charney played an important role as the unofficial adviser to former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, most well known for his behind-the-scenes role in the Camp David accord which created the first comprehensive peace between Israel and Egypt in 1978 and 1979.

In 2008, some thirty years later, Charney, a major real estate owner in New York's Times Square, appeared for the first time on the Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest Americans, debuting at #321. The 2009 list - the first to reflect the world financial crisis, indicates Charney's net worth had fallen $200 million in the previous year, although his rank had jumped to #296, up 35 notches, indicating that while he lost wealth, he lost comparatively less than other fellow billionaires. For 2010, Charney ranked #308 on the Forbes 400.

Shelly Yachimovich (Hebrew: שלי יחימוביץ׳‎, born 28 March 1960) is an Israeli journalist and politician. A member of the Knesset since 2006, she is currently leader of the Israeli Labor Party and the Leader of the Opposition.

Yachimovich was born in Kfar Saba. Her parents were Holocaust survivors who immigrated to Israel from Poland. In 1985, Yachimovich graduated from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev with a degree in behavioural science. She lives in south Tel Aviv and has two children, Gal and Rama.

While studying in Beersheba, she worked as a correspondent for the Al HaMishmar newspaper. She went on to become an anchor for the Israel Broadcasting Authority's radio station Reshet Bet, earning a reputation as opinionated and critical of conventional wisdom and the establishment. She has also been described as an assertive, abrasive radio journalist with very pronounced feminist and social-democratic views. As a journalist, she covered women's and social welfare issues. In October 2000, following a work dispute, she left her radio job and joined Channel 2 TV, where she hosted a political talk show and served as a news commentator. She also did a weekly program for Israel Army Radio (Galei Tzahal). She has written two novels, "Eshet Ish" (2001) and "Miskhakei Zuggot" (2003) and recently published a nonfiction book, "Anakhnu" (2011).