Forbes ranks Netanyahu 24th most powerful person

In list of 68 powerful figures: Hu Jintao ranks 1st; Obama 2nd; Angela Merkel highest-ranking woman, and Sergey Brin highest-ranking Jew.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Bibi smiling and pointing 311 ap (photo credit: Associated Press)
Bibi smiling and pointing 311 ap
(photo credit: Associated Press)
Forbes released its list of "The World's Most Powerful People" on Wednesday, ranking the top 68 people who, according to the magazine, "matter."
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ranked 24th on the list, with Forbes saying, "As leader of an undeclared nuclear power, Netanyahu remains the biggest menace to Iran's nuclear ambitions."
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China's President Hu Jintao came in at first place, as the "paramount political leader of more people than anyone else on the planet" who "exercises near dictatorial control over 1.3 billion people."
Landing the number two spot was US President Barack Obama who "remains commander-in-chief of world's largest, deadliest military, leader of the world's largest (in spending) and most dynamic economy and holds the unofficial title of 'Leader of the Free World.'"
Other figures who made the top ten include, in descending order: King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud of Saudi Arabia, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin; Pope Benedict XVI; German Chancellor Angela Merkel, which makes her the highest ranking woman on the list; Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom; US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke; Indian National Congress President Sonia Gandhi; and Microsoft magnate Bill Gates.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ranked 12th on the list, while the so-called "Jesus Christ of Italian politics" Silvio Berlusconi came in at 14th place.
Grand Ayatollah Ali Hoseini-Khamenei of Iran took the 26th spot, and WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Julian Assange ranked last on the list.
In addition to Merkel and Gandhi, women on the list, of which there were a total of five, include: the soon-to-be first female president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, who ranked 16th; US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who came in at 20th; and "the world's most successful female media executive," Oprah Winfrey, who took the 64th spot.
Some other Jews who made the list were: Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who ranked 22nd, making him the highest ranking Jew; New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg who followed Brin taking the 23rd spot; Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg who ranked 40, just one above UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon; and Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs, who came in at 42nd.