Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is the new Prime Minister-Designate of Israel. He is Chairman of the conservative Likud Party and was previously the 9th Prime Minister of Israel from June 1996 to July 1999. Netanyahu is the first (and to date only) Prime Minister of Israel to be born after the State of Israel’s foundation. He was Finance Minister of Israel until 9 August 2005, having resigned in protest at the Gaza Disengagement Plan advocated by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Netanyahu retook the Likud leadership on 20 December 2005. As of December 2006, he became the official leader of the Opposition in the Knesset and Chairman of the Likud Party. In August 2007 he retained the Likud leadership by beating Moshe Feiglin in party elections. On 20 February 2009, Netanyahu was designated by Israeli President Shimon Peres to form the country’s next government, following the results of Israel’s February 10 parliamentary elections. If Netanyahu accomplishes that task then he will once again serve as Israel’s Prime Minister, succeeding Ehud Olmert.

Early Life

Netanyahu was born in Tel Aviv, to Cela (Tsilah) (née Segal) and Benzion Netanyahu (original name Mileikowsky). His mother was born in 1912 in Petah Tikva, part of the future British Mandate of Palestine that would eventually become Israel. Though all his grandparents were born in Lithuania, his mother’s parents emigrated to Minneapolis in the United States. Netanyahu’s father is a professor of Jewish history, currently listed as a professor emeritus at Cornell University (although the elder Netanyahu has remained active into his 90s in research and writing), a former editor of the Hebrew Encyclopedia, and a former senior aide to Zeev Jabotinsky. When he was 14 years old, Benjamin’s family moved to the United States and settled in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, where he graduated from Cheltenham High School.

Netanyahu’s older brother, Yonatan, was killed in Uganda during Operation Entebbe in 1976. His younger brother, Iddo, is a radiologist and writer. All three brothers served in the Sayeret Matkal reconnaissance unit of the Israeli Defense Force – Benjamin from 1967 to 1972 as a captain. He earned a B.S. degree in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1975, an M.S. degree from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 1977, and studied political science at Harvard and MIT. After graduate school, Netanyahu worked at the Boston Consulting Group in Boston, Massachusetts and eventually returned to Israel.

Following a brief career as a furniture company’s chief marketing officer, Netanyahu was appointed by Moshe Arens as his Deputy Chief of Mission at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. in 1982. Subsequently, he became Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, serving from 1984 to 1988. He was elected to the Knesset in 1988 and served in the governments led by Yitzhak Shamir from 1988 to 1992. Shamir retired from politics shortly after Likud’s defeat in the 1992 elections. In 1993, for the first time, the party held a primary election to select its leader, and Netanyahu was victorious, defeating Benny Begin, son of the late Prime Minister Menachem Begin, and veteran politician David Levy (Ariel Sharon initially sought Likud party leadership as well, but quickly withdrew when it was evident that he was attracting minimal support).

Netanyahu has authored several books including two on fighting terrorism. He has a daughter, Noa, from his first marriage to Micki Weizman. His second marriage was to Fleur Cates, who converted to Judaism though her father was a Jew. He is now married to his third wife, Sarah, with whom he has two sons: Yair and Avner.

Other Information

• Born – 21 October 1949 (1949-10-21), Tel Aviv, Israel
• Political party – Likud
• Alma mater – Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management
• Religion : Judaism
• Chairman of Likud Party
• Former Prime Minister of Israel, 1996-1999
• Also served as Finance Minister of Israel, resigned after disagreeing with Ariel Sharon about the plan to pull out from the Gaza Strip and evict Israelis living there
• Called for snap election after Ehud Olmert steps down as Prime Minister

Links

• Benjamin Netanyahu – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Official website (Hebrew),
• Biography of Benjamin Netanyahu at Zionism and Israel Information Center Biography Section