Benjamin Netanyahu

Benjamin Netanyahu was born in Tel Aviv on October 21, 1949, and grew up in Jerusalem.[1] His father, Benzion Netanyahu, was a historian specializing in Spanish Jewry who wrote a biography of Don Isaac Abravanel and a major history of the Spanish Inquisition.[8] By 1963 the family had relocated to Pennsylvania, where Benzion taught Jewish history in Philadelphia while conducting his historical research, and Benjamin spent his high-school years in the United States.[3][9]

Benzion Netanyahu was deeply embedded in Zionist politics: he had been active in Vladimir Jabotinsky's Revisionist movement and served briefly in 1940 as Jabotinsky's secretary in New York; after Jabotinsky's death that same year, he became director of the movement's American branch.[8] This ideological environment shaped the younger Netanyahu's outlook from an early age. Benzion and his wife raised three sons in the United States: Jonathan, who would later be killed during the 1976 Entebbe rescue operation; Iddo, who became a radiologist and playwright; and Benjamin, who would become Israel's longest-serving prime minister.[8]

At eighteen, Netanyahu returned to Israel in 1967 to perform his mandatory military service.[1] He volunteered for Sayeret Matkal, the Israel Defense Forces' elite special-operations commando unit, and served as a soldier and officer from 1967 to 1972.[3][10] During those years he participated in multiple counterterrorism operations, including Operation Gift in 1968, and the 1972 operation in which he was injured while working with his unit to rescue hostages from a hijacked Sabena airplane at Tel Aviv's airport.[1][3][21]

After leaving active service, Netanyahu returned during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, following which he was promoted to the rank of captain in the reserves.[3] He was ultimately discharged after six years of service.[1] The death of his elder brother Jonathan in 1976, while commanding the raid on Entebbe, Uganda, to free Israeli hostages, left a lasting mark on Netanyahu. In Jonathan's memory he established an anti-terrorism foundation called the Jonathan Institute, and he edited both International Terrorism: Challenge and Response and The Letters of Jonathan Netanyahu.[9][10]

From 1972 to 1976, Netanyahu studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in architecture and a Master of Science in business management.[3][9] He also studied political science at MIT and Harvard University.[3] These years at MIT produced a lasting personal connection: working at the Boston Consulting Group in 1976, he became friends with future U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney.[1] He subsequently joined the management of Rim Industries in Jerusalem.[1]

The death of his brother at Entebbe in 1976 redirected Netanyahu's energies toward Israel's security challenges. His editorial work on international terrorism established him as a public intellectual on counterterrorism before he entered formal diplomacy or politics.[10] An archival biographical document from that period identifies him as having written articles on the Middle East for leading American newspapers.[10]

Netanyahu's formal diplomatic career began in 1982, when he was appointed deputy chief of mission at Israel's diplomatic mission in Washington under Ambassador Moshe Arens.[1][4] During his two years in that post he participated in the first U.S.-Israeli strategic-cooperation talks.[1]

From 1984 to 1988, he served as Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, becoming known for his forceful advocacy of Israel's positions in the international arena.[4] One significant achievement of this period came in 1987, when he led an effort that resulted in the opening of the U.N. Nazi War Crimes Archives.[1] His high-profile tenure at the UN gave him visibility in American media and political circles that would later prove valuable when he entered Israeli domestic politics.

Netanyahu entered the Knesset in 1988, elected as a Likud member, and served as deputy minister of foreign affairs.[1] He later became deputy minister in Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir's office.[9] On March 25, 1993, he was elected chairman of Likud, winning 52.1 percent of the party vote, and became the opposition's candidate for prime minister.[1][4]

His rise to leadership coincided with one of the most turbulent periods in Israeli political history. The assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, a series of bombings in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Syrian President Hafiz al-Asad's refusal to advance the peace process, and shifting sentiment among Israel's new Russian immigrant population all contributed to the political environment in which Netanyahu competed for the premiership.[11] In Israel's May 1996 direct election — the first in which voters cast separate ballots for the prime minister and the Knesset — Netanyahu defeated Labor's Shimon Peres with 50.49 percent of the vote, approximately 1.501 million votes, to Peres's 49.6 percent.[4][12] At 46 he became Israel's youngest prime minister and the first to be born after the establishment of the Jewish state in 1948, as well as the first to be directly elected.[9]

The 1996 election also produced a fragmented Knesset: Labor won 34 seats, Likud won 32, Shas won 10, the National Religious Party won 9, and Yisrael Ba'aliyah won 7, with smaller parties claiming the rest.[12] Netanyahu's coalition government included the religious parties, Yisrael BaAliyah, and the Third Way.[4] During the campaign he had promised not to reverse agreements already signed with the Palestinians and other Arab partners while simultaneously advocating settlement expansion, infrastructure investment for Israeli settlers, and possible IDF operations in the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria — to suppress terrorism.[12]

Netanyahu's first term lasted until May 1999. Its foreign-policy landmarks included the January 1997 partial withdrawal of Israeli troops from Hebron under the Hebron Agreement and the October 1998 Wye River Memorandum, an interim land-for-security arrangement with the Palestinians.[4][9] Coalition disagreements and difficulties passing the budget created persistent political instability, and coalition resignations followed the Wye agreement.[4] In May 1999, Labor leader Ehud Barak won the premiership, ending Netanyahu's first tenure.

After losing the 1999 election, Netanyahu withdrew from politics and worked as a private-sector consultant to Israeli high-tech companies and as an international lecturer.[1] He returned to government in November 2002, serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon until February 2003.[3][4] That month he moved to the Finance Ministry, a post he held until August 7, 2005.[1]

As finance minister, Netanyahu pursued a program of economic liberalization, privatizing several state-owned enterprises, including El Al, Zim, and a number of banks.[13] His resignation came over a matter of principle: when the Sharon Cabinet approved the first phase of settlement evacuations under Sharon's Gaza disengagement plan, Netanyahu stepped down in protest.[1][13]

In December 2005, he was elected leader of Likud.[13] After Kadima won the March 2006 election under Ariel Sharon's successor, Netanyahu became leader of the opposition, a position he held until 2009.[3][13]

The 2009 general election produced an unusual outcome: Tzipi Livni's Kadima won one more Knesset seat than Likud, but right-wing parties collectively won more seats than the center-left bloc. After Livni failed to assemble a governing coalition, President Shimon Peres tasked Netanyahu with forming a government, and Netanyahu was sworn in for a second term as prime minister in March 2009.[13]

In June 2009, Netanyahu gave a speech at Bar-Ilan University in which he expressed conditional support for a demilitarized Palestinian state whose leaders recognized Israel as a Jewish state.[9] In November of that year, he announced a ten-month freeze on construction in West Bank settlements, describing it as an effort to restart stalled peace negotiations.[9] In May 2011, he addressed a joint session of the U.S. Congress and reiterated support for Palestinian statehood on the condition that it be demilitarized and established through direct bilateral negotiations.[1]

Several major events marked this extended period in office. In July 2014, Netanyahu launched a 50-day military operation in the Gaza Strip after Hamas launched rockets into Israel.[9] In September 2020, he signed the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain at a White House ceremony — the first Israeli normalization agreements with Arab states since the peace agreement with Jordan in 1994.[9][5] The accords provided for diplomatic, economic, aviation, tourism, and technological cooperation; a separate declaration with Morocco followed in December 2020.

On July 20, 2019, Netanyahu surpassed David Ben-Gurion's 8,475 days in office to become Israel's longest-serving prime minister, a milestone attributed at the time to his campaign skills, the decline of the Israeli left, economic conditions, diplomatic relationships, security concerns, and his relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump.[1]

His later years in this period were turbulent domestically. Between April 2019 and March 2021, Israel held four successive national elections, each failing to produce a stable majority government.[9] In April 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Netanyahu formed an emergency unity government with Blue and White leader Benny Gantz, under which Gantz was designated Alternative Prime Minister and scheduled to assume the premiership after 18 months.[9] That arrangement collapsed before it was completed. In June 2021, a coalition assembled by Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett passed a 60–59 Knesset vote, ending Netanyahu's 12 consecutive years in office.[1][9]

After serving as opposition leader following his 2021 removal, Netanyahu led Likud into the November 1, 2022 election. His bloc and its supporting parties won 64 Knesset seats — more than pre-election polls, which had forecast approximately 61 — and he received the mandate to form a government.[1] To construct the coalition, Netanyahu brokered an electoral alliance between Bezalel Smotrich's Religious Zionism and Itamar Ben Gvir's Otzma Yehudit and made concessions to Shas and United Torah Judaism, including increased school budgets and exemptions from teaching secular studies.[1] On December 29, 2022, the Knesset voted in favor of the coalition, which comprised Likud, Shas, United Torah Judaism, Religious Zionism, Otzma Yehudit, and Noam.[6]

The Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and the subsequent Gaza war defined Netanyahu's third stint in power. On July 24, 2024, he addressed the U.S. Congress during the war — becoming the first foreign leader ever to address Congress four times, surpassing Winston Churchill's three addresses.[1] Relations with the Biden administration grew strained as the war continued, non-combatant deaths increased, and humanitarian conditions deteriorated.[1]

Netanyahu's opposition to Iran's nuclear program remained a constant of his foreign policy throughout all three premierships. He had spoken against the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action before Congress in March 2015 and welcomed President Trump's May 2018 withdrawal from the agreement and the reimposition of sanctions on Iran's core economic sectors.[7] In April 2018, Israeli intelligence operatives reportedly seized an archive from Iran, which Netanyahu publicly presented shortly before Trump announced the U.S. withdrawal.[7] The Congressional Research Service characterizes him as committed to countering Iran's nuclear program and regional influence while also describing him as both "a consummate political dealmaker" and "a security-minded nationalist" who has at times shown caution in decisions about the nature and scale of military operations.[7]

Netanyahu's relationship with the United States Congress has been a defining feature of his international standing. He addressed a joint session of Congress on July 10, 1996; May 24, 2011; March 3, 2015; and July 24, 2024.[14] The 2015 invitation, extended by Speaker John Boehner on January 21, 2015, generated significant debate because no procedure for inviting foreign leaders to address Congress is codified in law or in House or Senate rules, and the White House was not consulted in advance.[14] In his March 2015 appearance, Netanyahu argued against the Iran nuclear deal at a moment when negotiations between Iran and world powers were ongoing.[1]

His relationship with successive U.S. administrations has varied. The Congressional Research Service notes that he cultivated particularly close ties with President Donald Trump, including during Trump's first term, and that his relationship with the Biden administration became strained over the conduct of the Gaza war.[1][7] A spring 2026 Pew Research Center survey reported that 27 percent of Americans surveyed expressed confidence in Netanyahu to do the right thing regarding world affairs, while 59 percent expressed no confidence.[16]

A significant diplomatic achievement of Netanyahu's career came in September 2020 with the signing of the Abraham Accords. At a White House ceremony, he signed normalization agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, formalizing diplomatic relations and opening pathways for cooperation in economics, aviation, tourism, and technology.[5] A separate declaration with Morocco was concluded in December 2020.[5][24][25] These agreements represented the first formal normalization between Israel and Arab states since Israel reached peace with Jordan in 1994.[9]

Earlier, during his tenure as UN ambassador from 1984 to 1988, Netanyahu led the effort that opened the U.N. Nazi War Crimes Archives in 1987 — a significant achievement in the broader effort to document and preserve evidence of the Holocaust.[1] His participation in the first U.S.-Israeli strategic-cooperation talks in the early 1980s, while serving under Ambassador Moshe Arens in Washington, also marked a formative contribution to the bilateral security relationship.[1]

Netanyahu's record as Israel's longest-serving prime minister places him in a category apart from any other figure in Israeli political history. Having led Likud for all but six years since 1993 and served three separate terms as prime minister, he has been the central figure in Israeli governance for the better part of three decades.[2] A 2024 Cambridge University Press book description notes that he cultivated a self-image as Israel's "Mr. Security" over decades of political activity and that this reputation resonated with large sections of the Israeli public, enabling his electoral longevity.[15]

His political durability has been attributed to multiple reinforcing factors: strong campaigning skills, the structural decline of the Israeli left, favorable economic conditions during parts of his tenure, strategic diplomatic relationships, persistent security concerns among the electorate, and the fragmented nature of the Israeli political system.[1] The Congressional Research Service identifies him as skeptical of exchanging land for peace with the Palestinians while remaining committed to countering Iranian influence — a combination of positions that seems to have commanded a durable majority among Israeli voters across multiple election cycles.[7]

At the same time, a significant body of criticism has emerged from within Israel's own security establishment. A book drawing on interviews with dozens of senior veterans of the Mossad, Shin Bet, and the IDF describes unprecedented civil-military tensions during the Netanyahu era and notes that retired generals and former intelligence chiefs — including some appointed by Netanyahu himself — publicly rejected his leadership and policies.[15] A spring 2026 Pew Research Center survey found that only 27 percent of Americans surveyed expressed confidence in him to do the right thing regarding world affairs.[16] A survey of British Jewish adults found that 79 percent of those with an opinion of Netanyahu disapproved of him, with 65 percent strongly disapproving.[17]

His early biography as a combat veteran, an anti-terrorism intellectual, and a skilled advocate at the United Nations gave him a foundation that few Israeli politicians could replicate. HonestReporting describes him as the first Israeli prime minister born after the founding of the state — a generational marker that distinguished him from the founding-era leadership.[9] The Jonathan Institute he established after his brother's death at Entebbe connected his personal loss to a lifetime of policy focus on terrorism and security.[9]

Netanyahu faces criminal indictments in three separate cases, all of which he denies and which he has characterized as politically motivated. Case 1000 concerns alleged receipt of luxury gifts from Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan and allegations of favors provided by Netanyahu in return. Case 2000 concerns an alleged arrangement with Arnon Mozes, publisher of Yedioth Ahronoth, under which Netanyahu would receive more favorable media coverage in exchange for legislation designed to weaken the competing newspaper Israel Hayom. Case 4000 — the most serious — involves allegations that Netanyahu made regulatory decisions benefiting Bezeq shareholder Shaul Elovitch in exchange for favorable coverage on the Walla news site; the government indictment document charges him with bribery and fraud and breach of trust in this case and with fraud and breach of trust in Case 2000.[18][23] Netanyahu denies all wrongdoing.[18]

Israeli authorities began suspecting him of corruption in January 2017; in February 2018, police announced that sufficient evidence existed to recommend charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust.[9] The decision to formally indict Netanyahu was announced in November 2019, and after withdrawing an appeal for parliamentary immunity, his corruption trial began in the Jerusalem District Court in May 2020.[22][9] Netanyahu completed his testimony after appearing in 98 hearings over 18 months, with his first day on the witness stand on December 10, 2024; the proceedings were repeatedly delayed for health reasons, diplomatic travel, and requests related to security and diplomatic responsibilities.[18] The case was expected to continue with testimony from remaining defense witnesses.[18]

The Congressional Research Service also recorded allegations, which did not result in a reported conviction, involving possible misconduct related to the procurement of German submarines and questions about possible social-media efforts to spread rumors against political opponents.[7]

In November 2024, the International Criminal Court's Pre-Trial Chamber unanimously approved Prosecutor Karim Khan's request and issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.[19] The ICC's stated allegations — arising from its investigation into the "Situation in the State of Palestine" — include the war crime of using starvation as a method of warfare; the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts; and the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against a civilian population, covering the period from at least October 8, 2023, through at least May 20, 2024.[19] These are pre-trial allegations, not findings following a completed trial. Israel submitted an appeal challenging the ICC's jurisdiction on November 27, 2024.[19] The American Jewish Committee disputes the court's jurisdiction and rejects the allegations.[20] The arrest warrant does not expire, but a trial could occur only if Netanyahu were arrested and surrendered to the court or surrendered voluntarily.[19]