Israel elected a female Prime Minister 10 years before the United Kingdom did.
America has elected a non-white President. The United Kingdom has yet to elect a non-white Prime Minister.
The next time you hear a smug British leftie diss Israel or America, please remind them of the above.
Israel also had a Sephardic president in 2000, Moshe Katzav (although he is hardly a role model, based on his later problems).
And, for one week, Israel had an acting President who was Arab:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2007/feb/28/20070228-104953-9003r/
Katzav is Iranian-born and speaks Farsi which makes him (and former Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz) Mizrahi, not Sephardi. Labour had a Moroccan-born Sephardi leader at one point, but I don’t think he ever made it to P.M.