Benjamin Netanyahu

Benjamin Netanyahu (born October 21, 1949) is an Israeli politician serving as Prime Minister of Israel since 2009, and previously from 1996 to 1999.

Netanyahu is also the Chairman of the Likud – National Liberal Movement.

He is the longest-serving Prime Minister in Israeli history and the first to be born in Israel after the establishment of the state.

Born in Tel Aviv to secular Jewish parents, Netanyahu is raised in both Jerusalem and the Philadelphia area of the United States.

He returns to Israel immediately upon graduating high school in 1967 to join the Israel Defense Forces shortly after the Six-Day War.

Netanyahu becomes a team leader in the Sayeret Matkal special forces unit and  part in many missions, including Operation Gift (1968) and Operation Isotope (1972), during which he is shot in the shoulder.

Netanyahu fights on the front lines in the War of Attrition and the Yom Kippur War in 1973, taking part in special forces raids along the Suez Canal, then leading a commando assault deep into Syrian territory.

Netanyahu achieves the rank of captain before being discharged.

After graduating from MIT with a Bachelor of Science (SB) and a Master of Science (SM), Netanyahu becomes an economic consultant for the Boston Consulting Group.

He moves back to Israel in 1978 to found the Yonatan Netanyahu Anti-Terror Institute, named after his brother Yonatan Netanyahu, who died leading Operation Entebbe.

In 1984, Netanyahu is appointed the Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations by Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, a role he holds until 1988

He is subsequently elected to the Knesset before becoming the leader of Likud in 1993; he now leads the party to victory at the 1996 election, becoming Israel's youngest-ever prime minister.

After being defeated in the 1999 election, Netanyahu leaves politics, returning to the private sector

He later served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Finance in the government of Ariel Sharon, but eventually resigns over disagreements regarding the Gaza disengagement plan.

As Finance Minister, Netanyahu initiates major reforms of the Israeli economy that are credited by commentators as having significantly improved Israel's subsequent economic performance.

Netanyahu returns to the leadership of Likud in December 2005 after Sharon stesd down to form a new party, Kadima.

Although Likud finishes second in the 2009 election to Kadima, Netanyahu is able to form a coalition government with other right-wing parties and is sworn in as Prime Minister for a second time.

He goes on to lead Likud to victory in the 2013 and 2015 elections.

After the April 2019 election results in no party being able to form a government, a second election takes place in September 2019; in this election, the centrist Blue and White party emerges slightly ahead of Netanyahu's Likud.

However, neither Netanyahu nor Benny Gantz of the Blue and White Party is able to form a government, and Gantz returns the mandate to the president.

Since December 2016, Netanyahu has been under investigation for corruption by Israeli police and prosecutors.

On November 21, 2019, he is indicted on charges of breach of trust, bribery and fraud.

Due to the indictment, Netanyahu is legally required to relinquish all of his ministry posts other than the prime minister position.

No related events match the current filters.