Benjamin Netanyahu

Biography

Benjamin Netanyahu grew up partly in the United States and served in an Israeli special forces unit. His brother Yonatan was killed leading the 1976 Entebbe raid. He was Israel's ambassador to the United Nations from 1984 to 1988.

He became leader of Likud and in 1996 the first Israeli prime minister chosen by direct election. He lost power in 1999, returned as finance minister in the 2000s, and became prime minister again in 2009, holding the post until 2021 and becoming the country's longest-serving leader.

He was indicted on corruption charges in 2019 and has denied them. He returned to office at the end of 2022 with a right-wing coalition whose plans to limit the courts caused mass protests. He led Israel in the war with Hamas that began with the attack of 7 October 2023.