Benjamin Netanyahu
Based on Wikipedia: Benjamin Netanyahu
In the spring of 1968, a young Israeli soldier named Benjamin Netanyahu parachuted into Lebanon on a daring raid to capture a Palestinian leader. He was shot in the shoulder. The mission failed. Five decades later, that same man—now weathered by decades of political combat—would order similar invasions himself, this time with the full weight of state power behind him.
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is Israel's longest-serving prime minister, a title he has held across multiple discontinuous terms spanning from 1996 to the present. Born in Tel Aviv in 1949, raised partly in Jerusalem and partly in suburban Pennsylvania, he returned to Israel in 1967 as a sixteen-year-old eager to join the military. The IDF recruited him into Sayeret Matkal, one of the most elite special forces units in the Israeli military. He served for five years as a combat soldier, participating in cross-border raids during the 1967-70 War of Attrition—including the infamous Battle of Karameh in March 1968—where Israeli forces attempted to capture PLO leader Yasser Arafat but were repulsed with heavy casualties.
He became a team-leader in his unit. He was wounded multiple times. In May 1972, he took part in the rescue of hijacked Sabena Flight 571, during which he was shot in the shoulder. After his discharge from active service in 1972, he left to study in the United States.
The American Years
Netanyahu returned to the United States in late 1972 to study architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Under the name "Ben Nitai"—a pen name his father used for academic articles—he completed a bachelor's degree in architecture in February 1975 and earned a master's degree from MIT Sloan School of Management in 1976. He studied concurrently at Harvard University, completing his degree in two and a half years while taking courses across multiple institutions.
Professor Leon B. Groisser recalled his student with striking clarity: "He did superbly. He was very bright. Organized. Strong. Powerful. He knew what he wanted to do and how to get it done." The name change to Ben Nitai—derived from Mount Nitai and the Jewish sage Nittai of Arbela—was, Netanyahu later explained in interviews, intended to make it easier for Americans to pronounce his name. His political rivals have used this fact to question his national identity and loyalty, though he has consistently demonstrated commitment to Israel through military service and political leadership.
He worked as an economic consultant at Boston Consulting Group in Boston between 1976 and 1978. At the firm, he was a colleague of Mitt Romney, with whom he formed a lasting friendship. Romney described Netanyahu as "a strong personality with a distinct point of view"—an assessment that would prove prescient.
He returned to Israel in October 1973 to serve in the Yom Kippur War, then went back to the United States to complete his degrees. His studies were interrupted by devastating personal loss: his brother Yonatan was killed leading the Entebbe raid, and Benjamin inherited both his military legacy and his political future.
The Ambassador
In 1978, Netanyahu moved back to Israel and founded The Jonathan Institute—a think tank dedicated to public policy. Between 1984 and 1988, he served as Israel's ambassador to the United Nations. The role was natural for a diplomat who spoke fluent English, understood American institutions, and could navigate international politics with the polish of someone who had studied in America.
Netanyahu rose to prominence after his election as chair of Likud in 1993, becoming leader of the opposition. In the 1996 general election, he became the first Israeli prime minister elected directly by popular vote—a landmark moment in Israeli democratic history.
His first term was short-lived: he was defeated in the 1999 election and entered the private sector temporarily before returning to politics as minister of foreign affairs and finance. He initiated economic reforms before resigning over the Gaza disengagement plan.
The Comeback
Netanyahu returned to lead Likud in 2005, leading the opposition between 2006 and 2009. After the 2009 legislative election, he formed a coalition and became prime minister again—beginning a stretch of continuous power that would last, with interruptions, until the present day.
He made his closeness to Donald Trump central to his political appeal starting in 2016. During Trump's first presidency, the United States recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and helped broker the Abraham Accords between Israel and the Arab world—historic normalization agreements that reshaped Middle Eastern politics.
His governments have been criticized for expanding Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, deemed illegal under international law by multiple international bodies. In 2019, Netanyahu was indicted on charges of breach of trust, bribery, and fraud—a remarkable turn for a man who had spent decades as the face of Israeli authority. He relinquished all ministerial posts except prime minister.
The 2018-2022 Israeli political crisis resulted in a rotation agreement between Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, which collapsed in 2020, leading to the 2021 election. In June 2021, Netanyahu was removed from the premiership before returning after the 2022 election.
The Crisis of Democracy
Netanyahu's multiple premierships have been criticized for perceived democratic backsliding and an alleged shift towards authoritarianism. His coalition pursued judicial reform in early 2023, which was met with large-scale protests across Israel—demonstrations that drew hundreds of thousands into the streets.
The October 7 attacks by Hamas-led Palestinian groups in 2023 changed everything. Netanyahu faced nationwide protests over what many perceived as a security lapse and the failure to secure the return of Israeli hostages held captive by Hamas. The war that followed placed enormous pressure on his leadership.
In October 2024, he survived an assassination attempt—an extraordinary event that might have ended other political careers but instead seemed to harden his resolve. He ordered an invasion of Lebanon with the stated goal of destroying the military capabilities of Hezbollah, a key ally of Hamas.
After the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, Netanyahu directed an invasion of Syria—moving troops across yet another border. In February 2026, he launched a major attack on Iran alongside the United States with the stated goal of regime change—the culmination of years of political confrontation with Tehran.
The International Courts
Netanyahu's government has presided over the ongoing conflict in Gaza, culminating in the South Africa v. Israel case before the International Court of Justice in December 2023. The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant in November 2024 for Netanyahu for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity as part of the ICC investigation in Palestine.
The man who entered politics as a decorated commando, who studied at MIT alongside future American politicians, who has led Israel through wars and peace, remains—as he approaches his late seventies—the most consequential Israeli leader of his generation. Whether judged by his supporters as a defender of Israeli sovereignty or by his critics as an architect of authoritarian drift, Benjamin Netanyahu has fundamentally reshaped the nation he was born to serve.
He graduated from Cheltenham High School in Pennsylvania, was active in the debate club, chess club, and soccer. He and his brother Yonatan grew dissatisfied with what they saw as the superficial way of life in their American suburb—encountering the prevalent youth counterculture movement and the liberal sensibilities of the Reform synagogue, Temple Judea of Philadelphia, that the family attended.
Netanyahu was born in 1949 in Tel Aviv. His mother, Tzila Segal, was born in Petah Tikva in the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem—her family had migrated from Minneapolis in 1911, having relocated there from Lithuania in the 1870s—and studied law at Gray's Inn, London.
His father, Benzion Netanyahu (née Mileikowsky), was born in Warsaw and specialized in the Jewish Golden Age of Spain. His paternal grandfather, Nathan Mileikowsky, was a rabbi and Zionist writer. When his father immigrated to Mandatory Palestine, he adopted the Hebrew surname "Netanya," meaning "God has given." While his family is predominantly Ashkenazi, he has said that a DNA test revealed some Sephardic ancestry. He claims descent from the Vilna Gaon.
He was the second of three children. A copy of his evaluation from his 6th grade teacher Ruth Rubinstein indicated that Netanyahu was courteous, polite, and helpful—that he was "responsible and punctual"—and that he was friendly, disciplined, cheerful, brave, active, and obedient.
Between 1956 and 1958, and from 1963 to 1967, his family lived in the United States in Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania, while father Benzion Netanyahu taught at Dropsie College. That boy who returned to Israel in 1967 to join the Israel Defense Forces—that soldier who was wounded multiple times, that team-leader who participated in numerous missions—is now the man ordering invasions and facing international arrest warrants.
The arc from Sayeret Matkal commando to the helm of Israeli power is complete. The question that remains is what history will make of it.