Benjamin Netanyahu

• 1. Introduction

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  Benjamin Netanyahu, nicknamed Bibi, sat in front of a Boston television camera in 1978 and gave his name as Ben Nitay. He was making a blunt case about the conflict in the Middle East. "The real core of the conflict is the unfortunate Arab refusal to accept the State of Israel," he said. He added that for twenty years the Arabs had held both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. If self-determination were truly the issue, he argued, they could easily have built a Palestinian state then.

  Decades later, the man on that screen would hold a record. He became Israel's longest-serving prime minister, across three stretches in office: 1996 to 1999-2009 to 2021, and again from 2022.

  How does a soldier, an architecture student and a corporate consultant end up there? What did he build with that power, and what did he refuse to give up? And why does a career this long also include a criminal indictment, an international arrest warrant and some of the largest street protests his country has seen? The answers begin far from any parliament.

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• 2. Soldier and Student

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  On the 21st of October 1949, Netanyahu was born in Tel Aviv, the second of three children. His father, Benzion, was born in Warsaw as Benzion Mileikowsky and became a historian of the Jewish Golden Age of Spain. On reaching Mandatory Palestine, Benzion took the Hebrew surname Netanyahu, meaning "God has given." His mother, Tzila Segal, was born in Petah Tikva after her family had moved from Minneapolis in 1911, and she later studied law at Gray's Inn in London.

  At Henrietta Szold Elementary School in Jerusalem, a sixth-grade teacher named Ruth Rubenstein described him as "responsible and punctual." She also called him courteous, cheerful, brave and disciplined. Then the family moved. From 1956 to 1958, and again from 1963 to 1967, they lived in Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania, while Benzion taught at Dropsie College. Benjamin joined the debate club, the chess club and the soccer team at Cheltenham High School. He and his brother Yonatan found the local youth counterculture shallow, and they felt the same about the liberal Reform synagogue the family attended in Philadelphia.

  After finishing high school in 1967, he went back to Israel and enlisted. He spent five years in Sayeret Matkal, an elite special forces unit of the Israel Defense Forces. He joined raids across the border during the War of Attrition, including the Battle of Karameh in March 1968. There the IDF attacked Jordan hoping to capture Yasser Arafat but was driven back with heavy casualties. He rose to team leader and was wounded several times. In May 1972, during the rescue of the hijacked Sabena Flight 571, he was shot in the shoulder.

  Late in 1972 he arrived at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study architecture. In October 1973 he flew home to fight in the Yom Kippur War, then returned to Cambridge. He finished the bachelor's degree in February 1975 and a master's from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 1976. His doctoral studies in political science ended when Yonatan was killed leading the Entebbe raid. Professor Leon B. Groisser remembered him this way: "He knew what he wanted to do and how to get it done."

  At MIT he went by Ben Nitai, a name his father had used on newspaper articles. It referred both to Mount Nitai and to the sage Nittai of Arbela. Netanyahu later said he wanted Americans to find it easier to pronounce. His political rivals still use the choice to question his national loyalty.

  From 1976 to 1978 he worked as a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group, where a colleague named Mitt Romney became a lasting friend. Romney recalled "a strong personality with a distinct point of view." In 1978 Netanyahu left Boston for Israel to run an institute for the study of terrorism that carried the name Jonathan Netanyahu.

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• 3. A Voice Abroad

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  From 1980 to 1982, Netanyahu worked as director of marketing at Rim Industries in Jerusalem. Then Moshe Arens, serving as Israel's ambassador to the United States, named him deputy chief of mission in Washington, D.C. The post lasted until 1984. When the 1982 Lebanon War brought harsh international criticism, Netanyahu was called up for reserve duty. He asked to be released so he could stay in America and speak for Israel to the press. He also set up a highly efficient public relations system inside the embassy.

  From 1984 to 1988, he served as Israel's ambassador to the United Nations. In the 1980s he grew close to Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, whom he called "the most influential man of our time." During the same decade he befriended Fred Trump, whose son Donald would later become president.

  Before the 1988 election, Netanyahu returned to Israel and joined the Likud party. Party members placed him fifth on its list. As a member of the 12th Knesset, he served as deputy to foreign ministers Moshe Arens and later David Levy. He and Levy did not cooperate, and their rivalry hardened over time. In early 1991 the Gulf War made him the face of Israel on CNN and other networks, because of his fluent English. At the Madrid Conference later that year, he sat in the delegation led by Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, and afterward he became a deputy minister in the Prime Minister's Office.

  Likud lost the 1992 election, and Shamir retired soon after. In the party's 1993 leadership contest, Netanyahu beat Benny Begin, son of the late prime minister Menachem Begin, as well as David Levy. Ariel Sharon briefly sought the post, then withdrew when his support proved thin. Two years later, the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin at the end of a rally for the Oslo Accords would lead to early elections, and to a ballot unlike any Israel had held.

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• 4. First Term

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  On the 29th of May 1996, Israelis voted for their prime minister directly for the first time. Netanyahu, running with American strategist Arthur Finkelstein, beat the favorite, Shimon Peres. At that point he was the youngest person ever to hold the office. He was also the first prime minister born in the State of Israel, since Rabin had been born in Jerusalem under the British Mandate. His campaign slogan was "Netanyahu - making a safe peace."

  The decisive blow to Peres came from violence. On the 3rd and the 4th of March 1996, two suicide bombings killed 32 Israelis. They followed the Shin Bet's killing of Hamas military leader Yahya Ayyash on the 5th of January, after which Mohammed Deif organized a retaliatory campaign. Journalist Ronen Bergman noted that "after the election, the attacks stopped for almost a year." Labor still won more Knesset seats than Likud, so Netanyahu had to build a coalition around the ultra-Orthodox parties Shas and UTJ.

  On the 4th of September 1996, he met Arafat for the first time, after an earlier phone call. Their talks led to the Hebron Protocol, signed on the 14th of January 1997. That same year, Netanyahu and Jerusalem mayor Ehud Olmert opened a new exit for the Western Wall Tunnel in the Muslim Quarter, a project Peres had shelved. Three days of rioting followed, and dozens of Israelis and Palestinians died. Later talks produced the Wye River Memorandum, which the Knesset approved on the 17th of November 1998 by 75 votes to 19. Netanyahu summed up his own limits as "three no(s)": no withdrawal from the Golan Heights, no discussion of Jerusalem, and no negotiations under preconditions.

  In September 1997, Netanyahu approved a Mossad operation to kill Hamas leader Khaled Mashal in Jordan. Five agents posed as Canadian tourists. On the 27th of September, they injected poison into Mashal's ears on a street in Amman. Jordanian police arrested two of them, while three more took shelter in the Israeli embassy, which troops then surrounded. King Hussein threatened to cancel the peace treaty. Under pressure from President Bill Clinton, Netanyahu released 61 Jordanian and Palestinian prisoners, among them Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

  At home, Netanyahu pushed the economy toward free markets. The government sold its shares in banks and state companies. He also loosened foreign exchange controls, so Israelis could hold foreign currency, open accounts abroad and invest overseas. But he lost the left over his dealings with Arafat and lost part of the right over his concessions in Hebron. Scandals added to the damage. In 1997, police recommended indicting him for influence-peddling, though prosecutors found the evidence insufficient. In 1999, police recommended a trial over $100,000 in free services from a government contractor, and the attorney general declined to prosecute. The release of militant leaders had already undercut his tough image, and in 1999 Ehud Barak defeated him.

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• 5. Economic Overhaul

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  For two years after the 1999 defeat, Netanyahu worked as a senior consultant at BATM Advanced Communications, an Israeli communications equipment maker. When the Barak government fell in late 2000, he demanded general elections rather than a vote for prime minister alone. Then he chose not to run, which helped Ariel Sharon rise, though Sharon was then considered less popular than he was. In 2002 Sharon made him foreign minister. That same year Netanyahu challenged Sharon for the Likud leadership and failed. On the 12th of September 2002, speaking as a private citizen before a U.S. House committee, he promised that removing Saddam's regime would have "enormous positive reverberations on the region."

  After the 2003 election, Sharon surprised observers by giving the Foreign Ministry to Silvan Shalom and offering Netanyahu the Finance Ministry. Some pundits suspected Sharon wanted to dim a rival's popularity during hard economic times. Their bargain was simple. Netanyahu would have a free hand on the economy, backed by Sharon, and in return he would stay quiet about military and foreign affairs.

  The economy was still reeling from the Second Intifada, and Netanyahu blamed a bloated public sector and heavy regulation. His plan required welfare recipients to apply for jobs or training. It froze government spending for three years and capped the budget deficit at 1%. The top individual tax rate fell from 64% to 44%, and the corporate rate from 36% to 18%. The state privatized banks, oil refineries, the airline El Al and the shipping firm Zim. Retirement ages for men and women went up. Commentators spoke of an "economic miracle," with unemployment down, growth up and foreign investment at record highs. Labor critics, and even a few in Likud, called the program "Thatcherite" and said it attacked the cherished social safety net.

  In 2004 Netanyahu threatened to resign unless the Gaza pullout plan went to a referendum. He then voted for it in the Knesset and gave himself 14 days to see a referendum held. He submitted his resignation letter on the 7th of August 2005, shortly before the cabinet voted 17 to 5 to approve the first phase of withdrawal. On the 20th of December 2005, he retook the Likud leadership with 47% of the primary vote, against 32% for Silvan Shalom and 15% for Moshe Feiglin. Opposing the 2008 ceasefire with Hamas, he asked a pointed question: "What are we getting for this?"

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• 6. Peace and Its Limits

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  The election of the 10th of February 2009 left Likud one seat behind Tzipi Livni's Kadima, yet right-wing parties held a majority of 65 seats. Netanyahu still courted a broader coalition, but Livni refused over how to pursue peace. Ehud Barak's Labor Party joined instead. On the 31st of March 2009, the Knesset approved the new government by 69 votes to 45, with five abstentions.

  On the 14th of June 2009, ten days after Barack Obama's Cairo speech, Netanyahu endorsed a "Demilitarized Palestinian State" for the first time. His conditions were that Jerusalem stay Israel's united capital, that Palestinians have no army and that they drop any demand for a right of return. Livni doubted he meant it, and right-wing coalition partners objected. Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said the speech had "closed the door to permanent status negotiations." The EU called it "a step in the right direction."

  On the 25th of November 2009, under American pressure, he announced a partial ten-month freeze on settlement construction. U.S. envoy George J. Mitchell said it was more than any Israeli government had done, but Palestinians called it insignificant and it changed little on the ground. In March 2010, during a visit by Vice President Joe Biden, Israel approved 1,600 more apartments in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo, and Washington publicly condemned the plan. The freeze expired on the 27th of September 2010. In 2012 Netanyahu wrote to Mahmoud Abbas, formally recognizing for the first time a Palestinian right to a state, with the condition that it be demilitarized.

  The record is not one-directional, and Netanyahu's critics point to what he said in private. In a 2001 video, apparently unaware he was being recorded, he described how he had handled Oslo. He said he would read the accords so as to "put an end to this galloping forward to the '67 borders." He argued that the whole Jordan Valley could count as a defined military zone. Earlier, he had opposed Oslo in his 1993 book, A Place Among the Nations. Peace envoy Dennis Ross later said that neither Clinton nor Secretary of State Madeleine Albright believed Netanyahu had any real interest in peace.

  Before the 2015 election, asked whether a Palestinian state would not arise on his watch, he answered "indeed." He added, "I don't want a one-state solution." Relations with Washington were strained as well. In October 2014 he called criticism of settlements "against the American values," and in 2015 he delivered his third address to a joint session of Congress. On the 21st of September 2025, he rejected any Palestinian state west of the Jordan River. As he began that speech at the United Nations General Assembly, dozens of delegates walked out.

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• 7. Trial and Return

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  Since January 2017, Israeli police have investigated Netanyahu in cases numbered 1000, 2000 and 4000. Case 1000 concerns favors from businessmen, including James Packer and the Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan. Case 2000 involves an alleged deal with Arnon Mozes, publisher of the newspaper Yedioth Ahronot, for friendlier coverage in return for legislation weakening a competitor. Case 4000 centers on regulatory favors for Shaul Elovitch, owner of the telecom company Bezeq, in exchange for positive stories on the news site Walla!. Netanyahu has called the allegations baseless.

  In August 2017, police confirmed he was a suspect in fraud, breach of trust and bribery, and his former chief of staff Ari Harow signed a deal to testify against him. Police recommended charges in February 2018. On the 21st of November 2019, Netanyahu was formally indicted, the first sitting prime minister in Israel's history to be charged with a crime. Bribery carries up to ten years in prison, and fraud and breach of trust up to three. Two days later, following a 1993 Supreme Court precedent, he gave up his agriculture, health, social affairs and diaspora affairs portfolios. He was officially charged on the 28th of January 2020. His trial was set for the 24th of May 2020, and the pandemic had already pushed back its original March start. On the 30th of November 2025, he formally asked President Isaac Herzog for a pardon.

  On the 17th of May 2020, he was sworn in for a fifth term in a coalition with Benny Gantz. Protests gathered outside his residence. His government limited them to 20 people, kept at a distance of 1,000 meters from homes, using pandemic regulations. Instead, the demonstrations multiplied across more than 1,000 locations. By March 2021, Israel had the highest share of its population vaccinated against COVID-19 of any country. In May 2021, rockets from Gaza prompted Operation Guardian of the Walls, which lasted eleven days. Afterward, Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid agreed to a rotation government. On the 13th of June 2021, it took office and ended Netanyahu's 12 years as prime minister.

  He spent the next stretch as leader of the opposition, with Likud still the largest party in the twenty-fourth Knesset. Then the 2022 election brought him back at the head of a hardline coalition. His sixth term began on the 29th of December 2022, and its first project was the courts.

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• 8. War Years

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  Early in 2023, Netanyahu's government began a judicial overhaul that critics said would weaken the separation of powers, the economy and Israeli democracy itself. Reservists joined the protests. On the 25th of March, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called for a halt "for the sake of Israel's security." When Netanyahu announced he would remove Gallant, protests grew, and he agreed to delay the legislation for a month. Meanwhile, the government legalized nine settler outposts in the West Bank. In the first six months, it advanced construction of 13,000 housing units in settlements, almost triple the total for all of 2022.

  On the 7th of October 2023, Palestinian militants from Gaza launched a massive surprise attack, and Netanyahu announced that Israel would go to war with Hamas. He vowed to turn Hamas hideouts into "cities of ruins." Critics called it the biggest intelligence failure in 50 years. A 2023 poll found that 56% of Israelis thought he should resign after the war, and 86% blamed the country's leadership for the lapses. On the 29th of October he blamed security chiefs in a post on X, then deleted it after criticism. A Shin Bet inquiry admitted its own failures, but said the agency had warned the prime minister that Hamas was not deterred. In December, a released hostage accused him of putting politics "above the return of the kidnapped." That month, South Africa brought a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, accusing it of genocide in Gaza.

  In May 2024, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said he would seek an arrest warrant for Netanyahu. In July, Netanyahu addressed Congress again, called protesters "useful idiots," and promised "total victory" in Gaza. In October, a drone believed to have come from Lebanon struck his residence in Caesarea. He was not home, and Netanyahu blamed Hezbollah for trying to kill him. On the 5th of November, he fired Gallant, setting off protests across Israel. On the 21st of November 2024, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant and Hamas commander Mohammed Deif over alleged war crimes. Netanyahu called the ruling "absurd and false lies" and said it was antisemitic.

  On the night of the 18th of March 2025, Israel attacked Gaza and ended the January ceasefire, which postponed his scheduled testimony in the corruption trial. That month he also fired Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, who said he was dismissed for investigating Qatari influence in the Prime Minister's Office. On the 13th of June, Netanyahu authorized strikes on Iran, starting the Twelve-Day War. He told the public that his son Avner had cancelled a wedding for the second time because of missile threats. In November, prosecutors in Turkey issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and 36 other officials. In December, Israel became the first country to recognize Somaliland.

  In February 2026, Israel and the United States launched a major offensive against Iran aimed at regime change. Several diplomatic sources said Netanyahu had lobbied President Trump to start the strikes. By April, with fighting renewed against Hezbollah, he declared: "There is no ceasefire in Lebanon."

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