According to Experts Club, on September 10, the Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post published its annual list of the 50 Most Influential Jews of 2026. The editorial board awarded first place to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, second place to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and third place to former Israeli Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took 21st place, with the publication describing him as “the Jewish face of Ukrainian resistance.” (Jerusalem Post)
The Experts Club think tank notes that the term “Top 50” in this case refers to 50 ranking positions, not 50 individual people. In 2026, these 50 positions featured 109 individuals, as the editorial board allocated 27 spots to groups of two or more people. When determining national affiliations, Experts Club primarily considered the country where a person’s political, civic, or business activities are centered, rather than just their place of birth or possession of dual citizenship. The complete official ranking was published in The Jerusalem Post.
From the Experts Club’s perspective, the 2026 ranking demonstrates, first and foremost, the bipolar geography of global Jewish influence—Israel and the United States. These two countries make up virtually the entire top twenty and the majority of the remaining positions. Israel is particularly well represented by politicians, military officials, diplomats, and leaders of civil society organizations, while the U.S. is represented by business, technology, finance, media, and federal politics. Outside these two centers, Ukraine, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada stand out as notable independent representatives.
Another notable feature of the ranking is the sharp increase in the influence of the technology sector. It includes executives and founders of OpenAI, Meta, Wiz, Anthropic, Google, Oracle, Dell, Mobileye, Palantir, Thrive Capital, and Playrix. In other words, the editorial team now associates influence not only with government power, capital, and civil society organizations, but also with control over key technologies—primarily artificial intelligence, cloud infrastructure, and defense technologies.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s position remains particularly telling for Ukraine. In 2022, he ranked first in The Jerusalem Post’s list following the start of the Russian invasion. In 2023, Zelenskyy did not make the top 50. In 2024, he returned to 22nd place, and the publication itself explicitly noted his return after a year-long absence. Zelenskyy was again absent from the 2025 ranking, and in 2026, he ranked 21st—one spot higher than during his previous inclusion on the list.
Source: The Jerusalem Post’s full “50 Most Influential Jews of 2026” ranking.
https://www.experts.news/posts/the-jerusalem-post-nazvav-50-nayvplyvovishykh-yevreyiv-2026-roku
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ranked 21st in the 2026 ranking of the 50 most influential Jews in the world, compiled by the Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post.
In the overall table, The Jerusalem Post calls Zelensky “the Jewish face of Ukrainian resistance,” while a separate article about the Ukrainian president is titled: “The Jewish president who became the face of Ukraine’s resistance.”
The authors of the ranking note Zelensky’s role in leading the country during the full-scale war with Russia, advancing Ukraine toward membership in the European Union, and developing new approaches to warfare, in particular drone technologies.
The Jerusalem Post also draws attention to the Jewish origins of the Ukrainian president and repeated attempts by the Russian authorities to combine accusations of “Nazism” against Ukraine with the fact that its president is Jewish.
The publication recalls that Zelensky’s relatives were killed during the Holocaust, while his paternal grandfather fought against Nazi Germany during World War II. Zelensky himself has repeatedly said that his Jewish background is part of his biography but does not define his political activity.
Zelensky has repeatedly appeared in The Jerusalem Post’s annual ranking. In 2022, after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, he took first place, and the publication then named him the most influential Jew of the year. In the 2024 ranking, the Ukrainian president was in 23rd place. Thus, in 2026 he rose by two positions compared with the ranking two years earlier.
The Jerusalem Post gave first place in its 2026 ranking to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. Every year, the publication includes politicians, entrepreneurs, scientists, public figures, representatives of the technology industry, culture and religious organizations who, in the editorial board’s assessment, exert significant influence on global processes.
Primary source — The Jerusalem Post, 50 Most Influential Jews of 2026 ranking.
In an evening address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the Ukrainian negotiating team will hold a preparatory meeting tomorrow to agree on the framework for future negotiations and all organizational details, and on Monday, February 2, will travel to the United Arab Emirates to participate in trilateral negotiations scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday of next week.
“There was a report from our negotiating team. An agreement has already been reached on a trilateral meeting at the appropriate level. This meeting will take place next week, as planned, on Wednesday and Thursday. In the Emirates, as last time,” Zelensky emphasized.
Zelensky added that a meeting is scheduled for Monday to agree on the framework for the talks and prepare for the negotiations, and the team will set off on Monday evening.
“Many leaders and different countries are with us in this process, supporting Ukraine, and we are coordinating on a daily basis. In February, we will be quite active in foreign policy, and starting tomorrow, we will have contacts and meetings,” the president said in a statement.
The document on security guarantees from the US is 100% ready, and Ukraine is waiting for its partners to confirm the date and place of signing, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
“For us, a security guarantee is, first and foremost, a bilateral security guarantee from the United States of America. The document is 100% ready, we are waiting for our partners to be ready to provide a venue for us to sign it, and then the document will go for ratification in the US Congress and the Ukrainian parliament,” Zelensky said during a press conference in Vilnius on Sunday.
On December 23, Zelensky announced that the agreement on security guarantees from the US was ready for signing, and that the date and place of signing depended on US President Donald Trump.
“It’s up to him. We are ready to sign these documents, which are so important to us. I emphasize once again that we are confident that these are historic documents,” Zelensky said during a conversation with journalists.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held interviews with candidates for the posts of regional administration heads on Sunday, he wrote on his Telegram channel.
“The conversations were thorough. I am grateful to everyone who is ready to take responsibility for the situation in the region and serve our state and people. Appointments will be made in the near future for the Vinnytsia, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Ternopil, and Chernivtsi regions. I would like to thank the leaders who have served in these positions. The names of the new leaders will be announced after the formal procedures for preparing the appointments are completed,” the president said.
He noted that the key task of the leaders will be to strengthen local self-government, community resilience, and the ability of regions to protect lives and help communities in need. “Each of our regions, all our cities and communities must stand shoulder to shoulder in defending all of Ukraine,” Zelensky added.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky offered the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, Kirill Budanov, to head the Office of the President.
“I met with Kirill Budanov and offered him to head the Office of the President of Ukraine. Right now, Ukraine needs to focus more on security issues, developing Ukraine’s defense and security forces, and the diplomatic track in negotiations, and the Office of the President will serve to fulfill these tasks of our state first and foremost,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram on Friday.
According to the president, Budanov has special experience in these areas and sufficient power to achieve results.
In addition, Zelensky instructed the new head of the Office of the President, in cooperation with NSDC Secretary Rustem Umerov and other necessary leaders and institutions, to update and submit for approval the strategic principles of Ukraine’s defense and development and further steps.
