Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to lose top spot as Israel's richest serving politician, according to the latest rankings by Forbes Israel.
Former Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, who has won a top ten place on the Likud list, will become Israel's wealthiest politician with an estimated fortune of NIS 500 million. In second place is his sister-in-law Alona Barkat, owner of the Hapoel Beersheva soccer team, with a fortune of NIS 460 million, who has won a high place on Naftali Bennett's New Right list. Both Barkats (Alona is married to Nir's brother Eli), made their money from the same source - an investment in the fledgling Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: CHKP) that yielded $100 million. The Barkats also have a controlling stake in the Meitav DS Investment House Ltd..
In third place is former Prime Minister Ehud Barak with NIS 120 million. Technically he is a businessman rather than a politician but he is still considered to be deeply involved and influential in Israeli politics.
In fourth place is Netanyahu with an estimated fortune of NIS 50 million, much of it earned as a private consultant during his retirement from politics after losing the 1999 election. In fifth place is Minister of Education Naftali Bennett with NIS 32 million, mainly from selling his startup company Cyote and in sixth place is Labor party leader Avi Gabbay with NIS 29 million, much of it earned as Bezeq Israeli Telecommunication Co. Ltd. (TASE: BEZQ) CEO.
In seventh place is Welfare Minister Haim Katz with NIS 28 million and in eighth place is Yair Lapid with NIS 25 million.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on February 25, 2019
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