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Menahem Begin (1913–1992) was the former commander of the Irgun Zeva'i Le'ummi (I.Z.L.), a Zionist resistance leader, and after the founding of Israel, a parliamentarian, prime minister, and Israeli statesman. Begin was born and educated in Brest-Litovsk. He graduated in law at Warsaw University. After a short association with Ha-Shomer ha-Za'ir he joined Betar, becoming a member of its leadership in Poland in 1931, and head of the movement in that country in 1938. During the Palestine riots of 1936–38, Begin organized a mass demonstration near the British Embassy in Warsaw and was imprisoned by the Polish police. When the Germans occupied Warsaw, Begin escaped to Vilna, where he was arrested by the Soviet authorities and sentenced to eight years hard labor in the Arctic region. Because he was a Polish citizen, Begin was released at the end of 1941, and arrived in Palestine in 1942 with the Polish army formed in the U.S.S.R. Toward the end of 1943, after having been released from the Polish ranks, Begin became commander of I.Z.L., declared "armed warfare" against the Mandatory government at the beginning of 1944, and led a determined underground struggle against the British (who offered a reward for his apprehension). Begin tried, at the same time, to avoid violent clashes within the yishuv. He was on board the I.Z.L. ship Altalena when it approached Tel Aviv with a consignment of arms during the Arab-Israel ceasefire of June 1948 and was shelled by order of the Israel government. In 1948 Begin founded the Herut Party and became its leader. In May 1967, on the eve of the Six-Day War, Begin was named minister without portfolio in the Government of National Unity. However, he and his colleagues left the government in 1970 when the majority accepted the U.S. initiative for peace talks with the Arabs implying the evacuation by Israel of territories. Following the elections to the Knesset on May 17, 1977, at which the Likkud gained a striking victory, emerging as the largest party, Begin became prime minister. He immediately devoted himself to the task of establishing peace with the Arab states and his efforts resulted in the dramatic visit of President Anwar Sadat to Jerusalem and his address to the Knesset on Nov. 20th, and the inception of the peace negotiations which reached a historic stage with the signing of the Camp David Agreements on Sept. 17, 1978. The succeeding negotiations absorbed much of hIs energies. Begin's efforts in this direction were recognized by the award to him of the Nobel Prize for Peace for 1978.

Yitzhak Navon (b. 1921-2015), Israeli politician, writer, and the fifth president of the state of Israel; member of the Sixth to Twelfth Knessets. Navon was born in Jerusalem to an old Sephardi family of well-known rabbis that had settled in Ereẓ Israel in the 17^th century. He received religious schooling until the end of primary school, and then attended the Beit ha-Kerem high school. After graduating from the Hebrew University, where he studied Literature, Arabic, Islamic Culture and Education, he became a teacher. In 1946–48 he headed the Haganah Arab Department in Jerusalem. After serving in the Israeli embassy in Argentina and Uruguay in 1949–50, he was appointed political secretary to Minister for Foreign Affairs Moshe Sharett in 1951, and director of the prime minister's office, serving under both David Ben-Gurion and Sharett in 1952–63. In 1963–65 he was director of the cultural section in the Ministry of Education and Culture. Navon joined the Rafi party in 1965 and that year was elected to the Sixth Knesset in which he served as one of its deputy speakers. Within the framework of Rafi he joined the Israel Labor Party when it was formed in 1968. In 1972 he was elected chairman of the Zionist General Council, in which capacity he served until 1977. In the Eighth Knesset Navon served as chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee. In 1977 Navon headed the public committee established to determine the method for determining tuition in universities. In 1978, even though the Likud was in power, Navon was elected by the Knesset as Israel's fifth president. In October 1980 he paid the first-ever official state visit to Egypt by an Israeli president. Navon decided not to run for a second term as president, resigning in 1983 in order to run for the leadership of the Labor Party, being encouraged to do so by Uzi Baram. He finally decided not to run opposite Shimon Peres but ran in the elections to the Eleventh Knesset. In the National Unity governments that served from 1984 to 1988 Navon was appointed deputy prime minister and minister of education and culture, continuing to serve as minister of education and culture until March 1990, when Labor left Yitzhak Shamir 's government. As minister of education he paid special attention to education for democracy, the battle against racism, and the inculcation of Jewish and universal values. After leaving the government Navon served as chairman of the public council that prepared the events in commemoration of the 500^th anniversary of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain that was to take place in 1994. Navon did not run in the elections to the Thirteenth Knesset, and declined a proposal to run in the 1993 elections for mayor of Jerusalem. Had he run he might well have defeated the Likud candidate Ehud Olmert. In 1996 he served as chairman of the public committee appointed to investigate the scandal of the destruction of blood donated by Ethiopian immigrants. He served as president of the National Authority for Ladino which acts for the preservation of the Ladino language and culture.

Gideon Patt - is a former Israeli politician who served in several ministerial positions between the late 1970s and early 1980s. Born in Jerusalem during the Mandate era, Patt served in the Nahal brigade and studied economics at New York University, gaining a BA.

For the 1969 elections he was placed 27th on the Gahal list, but missed out on a seat when the alliance won only 26 seats. However, he entered the Knesset on 29 January 1970 as a replacement for the deceased Aryeh Ben-Eliezer. He was re-elected in 1973 and 1977, and was appointed Minister of Housing and Construction in Menachem Begin's government. In January 1979 he switched to the Industry, Trade and Tourism portfolio.

Following the 1981 elections the Tourism and Industry and Trade portfolios were separated, though Patt continued to hold both until August 1981 when he gave up the Tourism post. After the 1984 elections he became Minister of Science and Development, and reverted to Minister of Tourism after the 1988 elections. Although he retained his seat in the 1992 elections, the government was formed by Labor, and Patt lost his place in the cabinet. He was not re-elected in 1996.

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