Father: Benzion Netanyahu, a historian
Mother: Cela (Segal) Netanyahu
Marriages: Sara Ben-Artzi (1991-present); Fleur Cates (1981-1988, divorced); Miriam Haran (divorced)
Children: with Sara Ben-Artzi: Avner and Yair; with Miriam Haran: Noa
Education: Attended Harvard University; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, B.S., 1974, and M.S., 1976
Military service: Israeli Defense Forces, 1967-1972, Captain
Other Facts
Leader of the right-wing Likud Party.
Is known throughout Israel by the nickname “Bibi.”
Spent his teenage years in the United States; went to high school in Philadelphia.
First Israeli prime minister to be born after the state was founded in 1948.
Netanyahu’s brother, Yonatan, was killed in action in 1976 while leading a mission to rescue Israeli passengers on a hijacked Air France plane.
Netanyahu organized two international conferences on ways to combat terrorism, one in 1979 and another in 1984.
Timeline
1967-1972 – Serves in the Israeli Defense Forces in the elite commando unit Sayeret Matkal.
1976-1978 – Works in the United States for Boston Consulting Group.
1982-1984 – Deputy Chief of Mission at the Israeli Embassy in Washington.
1988 – Returns to Israel and wins a seat in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.
1988-1991 – Deputy foreign minister under Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir.
1991-1992 – Deputy Minister in the prime minister’s office.
1993 – Is elected the Likud party chairman.
June 1996-July 1999 – Prime Minister of Israel.
October 23, 1998 – Arafat and Netanyahu sign the Wye Memorandum, an interim accord, exchanging land and power to secure Israel from political violence.
1999 – Following his defeat in the elections, Netanyahu resigns from the Knesset.
1999-2002 – Works in the private sector.
2002-2003 – Minister of Foreign Affairs.
2003-2005 – Minister of Finance.
August 2005 – Resigns in protest over the plan to withdraw Jewish settlers from Gaza and return their land to Palestinian control.
December 2005 – Is elected leader of the Likud party.
August 2007 – Is reelected.
February 19, 2009 – Wins backing from the Israeli parliament.
February 20, 2009 – Becomes the prime minister-designate and begins working on the formation of the new government.
March 31, 2009 – Is sworn in as prime minister.
May 4, 2011 – Denounces the reconciliation agreement signed by Fatah and Hamas in Egypt and calls on Abbas to “immediately cancel the reconciliation deal with Hamas and choose the path of peace with Israel.”
May 24, 2011 – Addresses a joint meeting of the US Congress. Netanyahu says that he is prepared to make “painful compromises” for a peace settlement with the Palestinians. However, he repeats that Israel will not accept a return to its pre-1967 boundaries.
June 13, 2012 – Israel releases a 153-page report criticizing Netanyahu’s handling of a raid against a Turkish aid flotilla to Gaza in 2010, where nine Turkish activists were killed.
October 9, 2012 – Calls for an early election after failing to agree on a budget with his coalition partners.
October 9, 2012 – Israel’s parliament votes to dissolve itself and schedules an election for January 22, 2013.
January 22, 2013 – According to media exit polling, Netanyahu’s Likud Beitenu party wins 31 Knesset seats in the election. The Yesh Atid party, a new centrist movement, comes in a surprising second place with at least 19 seats.
March 24, 2013 – Apologizes to Turkey for the 2010 raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla Mavi Marmara.
July 20, 2019 – Netanyahu becomes the longest-serving leader in Israel’s history, surpassing the country’s first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion’s 4,875 days in office.
March 2, 2020 – The Likud party wins 59 seats in the general election, but is three seats short to win a majority.
May 17, 2020 – Netanyahu is sworn-in as Israel’s prime minister after his coalition government wins a vote of confidence by 73 votes to 46. Gantz is sworn-in as alternative prime minister and will replace Netanyahu as prime minister in November 2021.
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