Every year, Forbes Israel release their most influential people in Israel in honor of Women Awareness Month. I want to tell you a little bit about some influential women that you might not have heard of yet.
Dr. Karnit Flug
Dr. Karnit Flug is an Israeli economist. She holds the position of Governor of the Central Bank of Israel since November 2013. She is the first female Governor of the Bank of Israel. She obtained her MA in Economics at Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1980, and received a Ph.D in Economics at Columbia University in New York City in 1985, with thesis titled “Government policies in a general equilibrium model of international trade and human capital”. Flug joined the Bank of Israel in 1988 and worked for a few years in the bank’s research department. From 1994 to 1996, she worked at the Inter-American Development Bank as a research economist, and returned to the Bank of Israel in 1997. She was appointed deputy governor of the bank in 2011, and served as acting governor since July 2013, following Stanley Fischer’s resignation. In October 2013 she was appointed as the next governor of the bank, and in November 2013, she officially assumed office.
Rona Ramon
Rona Ramon is the widow of Ilan Ramon (z”l) the first Israeli astronaut. Rona Ramon started the Ramon Fund in honor of her husband and son, Assaf Ramon, who died during his IDF service as a fighter pilot. The fund promotes education infused with their character and values of academic excellence, social leadership and innovation. The fund has three main programs: Ramon Spacelab – giving students the special opportunity to send their invention to the international space station. The Squadron Club – empowering periphery children by mentoring IAF pilots, and the Ramon award – given to excellent high school graduates that reflect in their educational and social activity the principles of the foundation.
Prof. Rivka Carmi
Prof. Rivka Carmi is a pediatrician and geneticist who, since May 2005, has served as President of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU). She was the first woman appointed president of an Israeli university. Prior to her entry into the administrative arena of the University, Professor Carmi’s research focused mainly on the delineation of the clinical manifestations and molecular basis of genetic diseases in the Negev Arab-Bedouin population. Author of over 150 publications in medical genetics, her research included the identification of 12 new genes] and the delineation of two new syndromes, one of which is known as the Carmi Syndrome. Professor Carmi was the Director of the Genetics Institute at the Soroka University Medical Center and held several important academic administrative positions in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Promoted to full professor in 1995, she is the incumbent of the Kreitman Foundation Chair in Pediatric Genetics. In 2000, she was elected Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at BGU – also the first woman to hold this position in Israel – and held this position for five years. Between the years 2002 – 2005, she was the first in the country to chair the Israeli Association of Medical Deans. Between the years 2010-2012, she chaired VERA – Association of University Heads.
Lucy Aharish
Lucy Aharish is an Israeli news presenter, reporter, and television host on Israel’s Channel 2. She is also the prime time manager and the anchor of Israeli news channel i24news, receivable on livestream, on cable TV and via satellite around the world. She was born in 1981 in the southern Israeli town of Dimona. Growing up, she was the only Arab Muslim student at her school. In the summer of 1987, a few months before she turned six years old, she was injured when Palestinian militants threw a Molotov cocktail at her family’s car, while driving in the Gaza Strip. Lucy is a graduate of the Hebrew University, where she studied political sciences and theater. After that, she studied journalism at the Koteret School in Tel Aviv and then interned for six months in Germany. Upon returning Lucy became the first Arab to present the news on a mainstream Israeli television channel. In April 2015, Lucy Aharish was one of twelve Israeli personalities chosen to light torches in the official ceremony kicking off Israel’s 67th Independence Day celebrations. The government committee selected her for promoting pluralism and fighting racism in the Israeli society. In October of 2015, she received the OMETZ (courage) award for her fight against racism in Israeli society. She currently hosts a morning news show on Israeli channel 2 and presents the evening edition of i24news.
Want to hear more about influential Israeli women? Email me at or.hmdetroit@gmail.com
Until next time…
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