Benjamin Netanyahu: Soldier Turned Prime Minister

A profile of the recently re-elected Israeli leader

Benjamin Netanyahu, known in Israel by the nickname “Bibi,” is an interesting figurehead: militant, and arguably further right leaning than most Republicans. For better or worse, Netanyahu recently won his fourth election in Israel, putting him in a position to become Israel’s longest serving Prime Minister.

All Netanyahu must do to make history is retain leadership of Israel for the entire four-year term for which he has been elected. This has proved an elusive task for many in the past – Netanyahu not excluded.

Born in Tel Aviv, Bibi was born one year after the inception of the Jewish state on October 21, 1949. In 1963, Netanyahu and his family moved to America for his father — a historian and Zionist activist — to an academic post. At 18, however, Netanyahu returned to Israel to begin his five-year military career, during which he served as a captain in the elite commando unit Sayeret Matkal. Natanyahu’s combat experience includes a 1968 raid on Beirut’s airport, as well as time on the ground in the 1973 Attrition and Yom Kippur wars.

Bibi’s brother, Jonathon, also fought for the Israeli military, but in a tragic end, Jonathan was killed leading a 1976 raid to save 100 Israeli hostages on a hijacked airliner in Uganda. Jonathon is still widely regarded as a national hero.

After his military service, Netanyahu returned to the United States for school, receiving his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

In 1982, Moshe Arens, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, named Netanayhu his Deputy Chief of Mission to Washington. Netanayhu’s political career was officially launched, and by 1984, he was appointed as the permanent representative of Israel to Washington.

In 1988, Netanyahu returned to Israel and became involved in domestic politics; he won a seat in parliament and became the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. Netanyahu positioned himself politically in the Likud Party; after a loss for the party in the 1992 election, Bibi won the party leadership.

In the 1996 election, Netanyahu had his first victory, becoming Israel’s first directly elected Prime Minister. Upon entering office, Netanyahu became the first Prime Minister to actually have been born in Israel.

Netanyahu’s prime minister-ship would be short-lived, however. Early elections were called in 1999 over controversial dealings with the Palestinians and militaristic tensions with Lebanon, as well as accusations of “corruption and insider trading” that was “never brought to court,” as reported by The Guardian.
In 2009, Netanyahu won his second prime minister-ship at the helm of the Likud party, and he has retained his leadership for the past six years.
Netanyahu’s somewhat controversial 2015 re-election has stirred debate internationally. In the years since his 2009 win, Netanayhu has become increasingly militant. He has been extremely harsh to the Palestinians, which has led to multiple conflicts between Israel and the Gaza strip. In 2014, conflict between the regions lasted a few months and left over 2000 Palestinians – many of whom were women and children – dead.

Netanyahu also takes a strong position on Iran’s nuclear program and a hard stance on Palestinian relations, vowing never to dissolve the Israeli state in favour of a two-state solution, which he purports to be irrelevant due to the increasing rise of militant Islamic groups throughout the Middle East.

In a country situated in close proximity to historical enemies, Netanyahu embodies the Zionist desire for a single, unified, militarized Jewish state.

Critics of Netanyahu have accused him for supporting an apartheid state, but the Prime Minister continues to present himself as protective the Israeli state — even if that means oppressing the Arab people in his country or contradicting Obama in a speech to the American Congress in March of 2015.