This article lists the prime ministers of Israel since the adoption of the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948.
Fourteen people have served as prime minister of Israel, five of whom have served on two or three non-consecutive occasions. Additionally, one person, Yigal Allon, has served solely as an acting prime minister. The other two who have served as acting prime minister have gone on to become the prime minister.
| width=15% rowspan=2 | Name | Portrait | Political party | width=25% rowspan=2 colspan=2 | Term of office | Elected | Government | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Composition | ||||||||||||
| 1 | David Ben-Gurion (1886–1973) | Mapai | 14 May 1948 | 10 March 1949 | — | Prov. | ||||||
| 10 March 1949 | 1 November 1950 | 1949 | rowspan=2 | |||||||||
| 1 November 1950 | 8 October 1951 | |||||||||||
| 8 October 1951 | 24 December 1952 | 1951 | ||||||||||
| 24 December 1952 | 7 December 1953 | rowspan=2 | rowspan=3 | |||||||||
| 2 | Moshe Sharett | Mapai | 7 December 1953 | 26 January 1954 | ||||||||
| 26 January 1954 | 29 June 1955 | |||||||||||
| 29 June 1955 | 3 November 1955 | |||||||||||
| David Ben-Gurion | Mapai | 3 November 1955 | 7 January 1958 | 1955 | rowspan=3 | |||||||
| 7 January 1958 | 17 December 1959 | |||||||||||
| 17 December 1959 | 2 November 1961 | 1959 | ||||||||||
| 2 November 1961 | 26 June 1963 | 1961 | rowspan=3 | |||||||||
| 3 | Levi Eshkol | Mapai | 26 June 1963 | 22 December 1964 | ||||||||
| 22 December 1964 | 12 January 1966 | |||||||||||
| nowrap | Alignment | 12 January 1966 | 26 February 1969 | 1965 | rowspan=2 | rowspan=3 | ||||||
| — | Yigal Allon | Alignment | 26 February 1969 | 17 March 1969 | ||||||||
| 4 | Golda Meir | Alignment | 17 March 1969 | 15 December 1969 | ||||||||
| 15 December 1969 | 10 March 1974 | 1969 | ||||||||||
| 10 March 1974 | 3 June 1974 | 1973 | ||||||||||
| 5 | Yitzhak Rabin | Alignment | 3 June 1974 | 20 June 1977 | ||||||||
| 6 | Menachem Begin | Herut | 20 June 1977 | 5 August 1981 | 1977 | |||||||
| 5 August 1981 | 10 October 1983 | 1981 | rowspan=2 | |||||||||
| 7 | Yitzhak Shamir | Herut | 10 October 1983 | 13 September 1984 | ||||||||
| 8 | Shimon Peres | Alignment | 13 September 1984 | 20 October 1986 | 1984 | rowspan=2 | ||||||
| Yitzhak Shamir | Herut | 20 October 1986 | 22 December 1988 | |||||||||
| Likud | 22 December 1988 | 11 June 1990 | 1988 | |||||||||
| 11 June 1990 | 13 July 1992 | |||||||||||
| Yitzhak Rabin | Labor | 13 July 1992 | 4 November 1995 | 1992 | rowspan=3 | |||||||
| — | Shimon Peres | Labor | 4 November 1995 | 22 November 1995 | rowspan=2 | |||||||
| 22 November 1995 | 18 June 1996 | |||||||||||
| 9 | Benjamin Netanyahu | Likud | 18 June 1996 | 6 July 1999 | 1996 | |||||||
| 10 | Ehud Barak | nowrap | One Israel | 6 July 1999 | 7 March 2001 | 1999 | ||||||
11 | Ariel Sharon | Likud | 7 March 2001 | 28 February 2003 | 2001 | |||||||
| 28 February 2003 | 21 November 2005 | 2003 | rowspan=4 | |||||||||
| Kadima | 21 November 2005 | (4 January 2006) 14 April 2006 | rowspan=3 | |||||||||
| — | Ehud Olmert | Kadima | 4 January 2006 | 14 April 2006 | ||||||||
| 12 | 14 April 2006 | 4 May 2006 | ||||||||||
| 4 May 2006 | 31 March 2009 | 2006 | ||||||||||
| Benjamin Netanyahu | Likud | 31 March 2009 | 18 March 2013 | 2009 | ||||||||
| 18 March 2013 | 6 May 2015 | 2013 | ||||||||||
| 6 May 2015 | 9 April 2019 | 2015 | rowspan=3 | rowspan=3 | ||||||||
| — | 9 April 2019 | 17 May 2020 | Apr 2019 | |||||||||
| Sep 2019 | ||||||||||||
| 17 May 2020 | 13 June 2021 | 2020 | rowspan=1 | rowspan=1 | ||||||||
| 13 | Naftali Bennett | Yamina | 13 June 2021 | 30 June 2022 | 2021 | |||||||
| 14 | Yair Lapid | Yesh Atid | 1 July 2022 | 29 December 2022 | ||||||||
| Benjamin Netanyahu | Likud | 29 December 2022 | Incumbent | 2022 | ||||||||
For the 1965 elections, Mapai allied with Ahdut HaAvoda to form the Labor Alignment, later renamed Alignment. This first Alignment ended when Mapai, Ahdut HaAvoda and Rafi merged to form the Labor Party on 23 January 1968. On 28 January 1969, Labor formed a second Alignment in alliance with Mapam.
Eshkol died while in office. Yigal Allon briefly served as Acting Prime Minister until he was replaced by Meir.
Rabin resigned and called for early elections in December 1976. After he was re-elected as the Alignment's leader, he resigned as candidate for the upcoming elections on 7 April 1977, but legally remained Prime Minister until Begin's first government was formed. However, Shimon Peres unofficially served as Acting Prime Minister from 22 April 1977 until 21 June 1977.
Until 1988, Likud was simply an electoral alliance between Herut and the Liberal Party, much like Alignment. A single united Likud party was only established in 1988.
After the 1984 elections, Likud and the Alignment reached a coalition agreement by which the role of Prime Minister would be rotated mid-term between them. Shimon Peres of the Alignment served as prime minister for the first two years, and then the role was passed to Yitzhak Shamir. After the 1988 election Likud was able to govern without the Alignment, and Yitzhak Shamir continued as Prime Minister.
Rabin was assassinated while in office. Shimon Peres served as Acting Prime Minister until 22 November 1995.
On 21 November 2005, Prime Minister Sharon, along with several other ministers and MKs, split from Likud over the issue of disengagement from the Gaza Strip and negotiations over the final status of the West Bank. Sharon formed a new party, Kadima, which would go on to compete in the following elections of March 2006. Sharon continued as Prime Minister.
As the result of Ariel Sharon suffering a severe stroke on 4 January 2006, and being put under general anesthetic, Ehud Olmert served as the Acting Prime Minister (Hebrew: ממלא מקום ראש הממשלה בפועל) from 4 January[1] to 14 April, according to Basic Law: The Government: "Should the Prime Minister be temporarily unable to discharge his duties, his place will be filled by the Acting Prime Minister. After the passage of 100 days upon which the Prime Minister does not resume his duties, the Prime Minister will be deemed permanently unable to exercise his office." Basic Law: the Government 2001, section 16b In Sharon's case, this occurred on 14 April 2006, upon which Olmert became Interim Prime Minister for the remainder of the 30th government, finally becoming full Prime Minister on the formation of the 31st government.[2]
Olmert officially resigned on 21 September 2008. With this, his cabinet became an interim government, and he was Interim Prime Minister until the establishment of a new governing coalition (he was officially the Prime Minister, however, the government under him was an interim government, in this case).[3]
Under the coalition agreement establishing the thirty-sixth government of Israel, Naftali Bennett's tenure as Prime Minister concluded at the end of 30 June 2022 and Yair Lapid took office at the beginning of 1 July 2022.
The following parties were members of a government during only part of its term:
This is a graphical lifespan timeline of prime ministers of Israel. The prime ministers are listed in order of office, with prime ministers who held the office more than once listed in order of their first term.