Benjamin Netanyahu

Lore & Background

Born in Tel Aviv, Netanyahu was raised in West Jerusalem and the United States. He returned to Israel in 1967 to join the Israel Defense Forces and served in the Sayeret Matkal special forces. In 1972, he returned to the US, and after graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Netanyahu worked for the Boston Consulting Group. He moved back to Israel in 1978 and founded The Jonathan Institute.

Between 1984 and 1988 Netanyahu was Israel's ambassador to the United Nations. Netanyahu rose to prominence after his election as chair of Likud in 1993, becoming leader of the opposition. In the 1996 general election, Netanyahu became the first Israeli prime minister elected directly by popular vote.

Netanyahu was defeated in the 1999 election and entered the private sector. He served as minister of foreign affairs and finance, initiating economic reforms, before resigning over the Gaza disengagement plan. Netanyahu returned to lead Likud in 2005, leading the opposition between 2006 and 2009.

After the 2009 legislative election, Netanyahu formed a coalition and became prime minister again. Netanyahu made his closeness to Donald Trump central to his appeal from 2016. During Trump's first presidency, the US recognized Jerusalem as capital of Israel, Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and brokered the Abraham Accords between Israel and the Arab world. Netanyahu received criticism over expanding Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, deemed illegal under international law.

In 2019, Netanyahu was indicted on charges of breach of trust, bribery and fraud, and relinquished all ministerial posts except prime minister. The 2018–2022 Israeli political crisis resulted in a rotation agreement between Netanyahu and Benny Gantz. This collapsed in 2020, leading to a 2021 election. In June 2021, Netanyahu was removed as prime minister, before returning after the 2022 election.

Prime Minister (2022–present)

Netanyahu's prime ministerships have been criticized for perceived democratic backsliding and an alleged shift towards authoritarianism. Netanyahu's coalition pursued judicial reform, which was met with large-scale protests in early 2023. The October 7 attacks by Hamas-led Palestinian groups in the same year triggered the Gaza war, with Netanyahu facing nationwide protests for the security lapse and failure to secure the return of Israeli hostages.

Reader's Guide

Early life, education, and military career: Netanyahu was born in 1949 in Tel Aviv. His mother, Tzila Segal, was born in Petah Tikva in the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem. His father, Warsaw-born Benzion Netanyahu (né Mileikowsky), was a historian specializing in the Jewish Golden Age of Spain. His paternal grandfather, Nathan Mileikowsky, was a rabbi and Zionist writer.

Netanyahu was the second of three children. He was initially raised in Jerusalem, where he attended Henrietta Szold Elementary School. Between 1956 and 1958, and from 1963 to 1967, his family lived in the United States in Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania.

Benjamin graduated from Cheltenham High School. After graduating from high school in 1967, Netanyahu returned to Israel to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces. He trained as a combat soldier and served for five years in Sayeret Matkal. He took part in numerous cross-border raids during the 1967–70 War of Attrition, including the March 1968 Battle of Karameh.

He became a team-leader in the unit. He was wounded in combat on multiple occasions. He was involved in many other missions, including the 1968 Israeli raid on Lebanon and the rescue of the hijacked Sabena Flight 571 in May 1972, in which he was shot in the shoulder. He was discharged from active service in 1972 but remained in the Sayeret Matkal reserves.

Higher education

Following his discharge, he left to study in the United States but returned in October 1973 to serve in the Yom Kippur War. Higher education: Netanyahu returned to the United States in late 1972 to study architecture at MIT. After returning to Israel to fight in the Yom Kippur War, he returned to the United States and, under the name Ben Nitay, completed a bachelor's degree in architecture in February 1975 and earned a master's degree from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 1976.

Concurrently, he was studying towards a doctorate in political science. His studies were broken off by the death of his brother Yonatan who was leading the Entebbe raid. At MIT, Netanyahu studied a double-load while taking courses at Harvard University, completing his bachelor's degree in architecture in two and a half years, despite taking a break to fight in the Yom Kippur War. At that time he changed his name to Benjamin "Ben" Nitai.

Did You Know?

• The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu in November 2024 for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.