Benjamin Netanyahu

Benjamin Netanyahu

Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (Hebrew: בִּנְיָמִין "בִּיבִּי" נְתַנְיָהוּ, Arabic: بنيامين نتنياهو‎, Binyyameen Netanyahu; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli leader and the current Prime Minister of Israel. He serves also as the Chairman of the Likud Party, as a Knesset member, as the Health Minister of Israel, as the Pensioner Affairs Minister of Israel and as the Economic Strategy Minister of Israel.

Netanyahu is the first Israeli prime minister born in Israel after the founding of the state. Netanyahu joined the Israeli Defense Forces during the 1967 Six-Day War, and became a team leader in the Sayeret Matkal special forces unit. He took part in many missions, including Operation Gift (1968) and Operation Isotope (1972), during which he was shot in the shoulder. He fought on the front lines in the Yom Kippur War in 1973, taking part in special forces raids along the Suez Canal, and then leading a commando assault deep into Syrian territory. He achieved the rank of captain before being discharged. Netanyahu served as the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations from 1984 to 1988, member of the Likud Party, and was Prime Minister from June 1996 to July 1999.

Netanyahu moved from the political arena to the private sector after being defeated in the 1999 election for Prime Minister by Ehud Barak. He returned to politics in 2002 as Foreign Minister (2002–03) and Finance Minister (2003 – August 2005) in Ariel Sharon's governments, but he departed the government over disagreements regarding the Gaza Disengagement Plan. He retook the Likud leadership on 20 December 2005, after Sharon left to form a new party. In the 2006 election, Likud did poorly, winning 12 seats. In December 2006, Netanyahu became the official Opposition Leader in the Knesset and Chairman of the Likud Party. In August 2007, he retained the Likud leadership by beating Moshe Feiglin in party elections. Following the February 2009 parliamentary election, in which Likud placed second and right-wing parties won a majority, Netanyahu formed a coalition government.

Netanyahu's brother, Yonatan Netanyahu, commander of Israeli Special Forces, was killed in 1976 while commanding a counter-terrorist hostage-rescue mission in Entebbe. Another brother, Iddo Netanyahu, is an Israeli playwright. His father, Benzion Netanyahu, worked as a prominent Israeli historian for decades.