Israel's 100 most influential people this Jewish year / The full list

Israel is ripe for the emergence of a new and committed band of professionals who want to change the existing order. TheMarker lists the top players of the 2011-2012 Jewish New Year.

By TheMarker | Sep.16, 2012 | 4:21 AM |

TheMarker’s 100 top influencers of 2012

1. Rami Levi, owner of Rami Levi Shivuk Hashikma; Michael Golan, CEO of Golan Telecom

2. Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minister; Harel Locker, Prime Minister’s Office director general

3. Stanley Fischer, Bank of Israel governor

4. Ehud Barak, defense minister; Benny Gantz, Israel Defense Forces chief of staff; Udi Shani, Defense Ministry director general; Ram Aminoah, Gantz’s economic adviser

5. Shelly Yacimovich, Labor Party chairwoman

6. Ofer Eini, Histadrut chairman; Haim Katz, Israel Aerospace Industries union chairman; Alon Hassan, Ashdod Port union chairman; Meir Turjeman, Haifa Port union chairman; Miko Zarfati, Israel Electric Corporation union chairman; Pinchas Idan, Israel Airports Authority union chairman

7. Angela Merkel, German chancellor; Barack Obama, United States president; Francois Hollande, French president; Ben Bernanke, U.S. Federal Reserve chairman; Mario Draghi, European Central Bank chairman; Maria Fekter, Austrian finance minister; Eric Cantor, Republican House leader; David Cameron, British prime minister; Ron Paul, U.S. congressman ‏(R-Texas‏); Grover Norquist, U.S. tax lobbyist; Timo Soini, leader of the True Finns party

8. Zion Kenan, Bank Hapoalim CEO; Rakefet Russak-Aminoach, Bank Leumi CEO

9. Ilan Raviv, Meitav CEO; Hagai Badash, Psagot CEO; Shlomi Bracha, investment manager at Psagot; Amir Hessel, investment manager at Harel Insurance; Yair Hamburger, Harel controlling shareholder; Omer Kreizel and Limor Danesh, investment managers at Migdal; Yonel Cohen, Migdal CEO; Roy Yakir, investment manager at Clal Insurance; Shy Talmon, Clal Insurance CEO; Yoni Tal, Menora CEO; Menahem Gurvitz, Menora controlling shareholder; Gady Greenstein, investment manager at Phoenix; Eyal Lapidot, Phoenix CEO

10. The Iranian bomb

11. Daphni Leef, tent protest leader

12. The lost generation

13. Reuven Kogen, Finance Ministry deputy budgets director; Binat Schwartz, planning administration head at the Interior Ministry; Bentzi Lieberman, Israel Lands Administration chairman

14. Sheldon Adelson, owner of Israel Hayom

15. Moshe Kahlon, communications minister

16. Shlomo Mor Yosef, National Insurance Institute chairman

17. Asher Grunis, Supreme Court president

18. Moshe Lador, state prosecutor

19. Yuval Steinitz, finance minister; Yisrael Katz, transportation minister, Shalom Simhon, industry and trade minister; Gilad Erdan, environmental protection minister; Eli Yishai, interior minister; Ariel Atias, housing and construction minister; Michael Eitan, minister for improving public service; Gideon Sa’ar, education minister

20. Michal Abadi-Boiangiu, Finance Ministry accountant general; Moshe Asher, Tax Authority deputy head; Gal Hershkovitz, budgets director head; Michael Sarel, head of Economics and State Revenues Administration; Doron Arbely, Tax Authority chairman; Koby Amsalem, Finance Ministry wages director; Doron Cohen, Finance Ministry director general

21. David Zaken, banks commissioner

22. David Gilo, Antitrust Authority chairman

23. Gad Somekh, chairman of KPMG Somekh Chaikin accounting firm

24. Moshe Gafni, Knesset Finance Committee chairman

25. Yitzhak Tshuva, Delek Group controlling shareholder

26. Charles Davidson, president of Noble Energy

27. Noni Mozes, owner of Yedioth Ahronoth

28. Avi Nir, Keshet CEO

29. Nimrod Halevi, Facebook’s advertising manager for Israel

30. Oded Sarig, capital markets commissioner

31. Ofra Strauss, Strauss Group chairwoman; Roni Kobrovsky, president of the Central Bottling Company; Arik Shor, Tnuva CEO; Itzik Abercohen, Super-Sol CEO; Dan Propper, Osem chairman; Itzik Alrov, cottage cheese protest leader; Eyal Ofer, leader of Israel Yekara Lanu protest movement; Benny Gruberman, Israel Yekara Lanu activist; Miki Lapid, Smart Consumers Club founder

32. Moshe Dayan, civil service commissioner

33. Maxine Fassberg, Intel Israel CEO

34. Ayman Saif, head of the authority for minority advancement within the Prime Minister’s Offic

35. Yossi Vardi, entrepreneur

36. Eyal Waldman, Mellanox founder and CEO

37. Zika Abzuk, Cisco corporate investment manager

38. Shmuel Hauser, Israel Securities Authority chairman

39. Zadik Bino, Paz Group and Bank Beinleumi controlling shareholder

40. Ishay Davidi, FIMI fund chairman

41. Shlomo Eliahu, owner of Eliahu Insurance

42. Idan Ofer, Israel Corporation chairman

43. Eli Yones, Mizrahi-Tefahot Bank CEO

44. Mozi Wertheim, owner of the Central Bottling Company and partner in Mizrahi-Tefahot and Keshet

45. Arnon Mantver, JDC Israel director

46. Ariel Weiss, Yad Hanadiv fund CEO

47. Ron Huldai, Tel Aviv mayor; Nir Barkat, Jerusalem mayor; Yael German, Herzliya mayor; Shimon Lankry, Acre mayor; Simon Alfasi, Yokneam Ilit mayor; Nader Sarsur, Kafr Qasem mayor; Yehiel Lasri, Ashdod mayor; Sigal Moran, Bnei Shimon regional council head; Faiz Abu Sahiban, Rahat mayor

48. Keren Neubach, journalist

49. Ariel Deri, Tov movement head; Betzalel Cohen, social activist; Tali Farkash; journalist; Shmuel Chaim Pappenheim, founder of Calcala Bria movement

50. Patrick Drahi, HOT controlling shareholder

51. Stella Handler, HOT Group chairwoman; Herzl Ozer, HOT Group CEO

52. Lia Nirgad and Daniel Doron, founders of the Social Guard

53. Yaakov Litzman, deputy health minister; Roni Gamzu, Health Ministry director general; Leonid Eidelman, Israel Medical Association president; Moshe Bar Siman Tov, deputy budgets director; Shuki Shemer, Assuta chairman; Eli Depes, CEO of Clalit Health Services

54. Nili Arad, national labor court president

55. Lipa Meir, Arie Danziger, Alon Binyamini, Raanan Kalir, Guy Gissin, Yehuda Ressler, lawyers representing bondholders

56. The small business owners

57. Len Blavatnik, Clal Industries controlling shareholder

58. Shaul Elovich, Bezeq controlling shareholder

59. Orit Farkash-Hacohen, Electricity Authority chairwoman

60. Manuel Trajtenberg, chairman of the Council for Higher Education in Israel’s Planning and Budgeting Committee

61. Uriel Lederberg, CEO of Civic Leadership -- the Israeli Association of Nonprofit & Voluntary Associations

62. Dafna Lifshitz, CEO of Tapuah NGO

63. Shlomo Dushi, CEO of Sheatufim -- the Israel Center for Civil Society

64. The new teachers

65. David Azrieli, Azrieli Group founder

66. Leora Ofer, Melisron chairwoman

67. Haim Romano, Partner CEO

68. Nir Stern, Cellcom CEO

69. Varda Alshech, Tel Aviv District Court vice president

70. Orna Berry, vice president of EMC Center for Excellence

71. Shlomo Merkel, vice president at Broadcom

72. Rony Dahan, researcher at the Technion biology faculty

73. Yossi Yovel, neuro-ecologist at Tel Aviv University

74. Yoav Horowitz, Avis CEO; Eran Yaakov, Tax Authority deputy chairman; Yossi Dahan; owner of Eldan; Shai Agassi, founder of Better Place; Gil Agmon, CEO of Delek Motors; Yinon Amit, CEO of Alber; Shlomo Shmeltzer, owner of Shlomo Sixt; Shmuel Harlap, chairman of Colmobil

75. Eliezer Fishman, controlling shareholder of Jerusalem Economic Corporation and one of the owners of Yedioth Ahronoth and Globes

76. Uri Paz, Jerusalem Bank CEO

77. Avi Licht, deputy attorney general

78. Li Ka-shing, owner of Horizons Ventures and Hutchinson Whampoa

79. Assaf Rotem, Maya Sapir, Ophir Yehezkeli and Doron Nehemia, leaders of Likud and Labor Party membership drives

80. Aladin Jabar, founder of the Renaissance School

81. Yoav Ben Or, Amitim CEO

82. Johny Srouji, vice president of VLSI at Apple

83. Sammy Saadi, founder of Tsofen

84. Michal Tzuk, Industry and Trade Ministry employment commissioner

85. Peretz Lavie, Technion − Israel Institute of Technology president

86. Zahava Gal-On, Meretz party chairwoman

87. Eli Hurvitz, Trump Foundation director

88. Alona Winograd, director of the Movement for Freedom of Information

89. Bina Bar-On, director general of the Industrial Cooperation Authority

90. Gidi Raf, television producer

91. Didi Lahman Messer, former deputy attorney general; Yaron Zelekha, head of the accounting faculty at Ono Academic College; Avi Ben Bassat, Tel Aviv University economics professor; Dan Ben David, Taub Center director and economics professor; Dror Strum, head of the Israeli Institute for Economic Planning

92. Jeremy Levin, Teva CEO

93. Stephen Burgess, Israel Chemicals CEO

94. Amal Ayoub, CEO and founder of Metallo Therapy; Alia Abu Shamis, founder of Yooyaland; Rim Younis, founder of Alpha Omega

95. Oren Glanz, founder of By the People

96. Itai Svirski, a founder of Koach La Ovdim democratic workers’ organization

97. Nochi Dankner, IDB Holdings controlling shareholder

98. Yossi Maiman, Ampal controlling shareholder

99. Alex Stefanski, deputy chairman of the Modiin Ezrachi union

100. Benjamin Netanyahu, uber-finance minister