Netanyahu Biography

Binyamin Netanyahu was born on the 21st of October 1949. He commonly anglicizes his name to Benjamin Netanyahu for the foreign media but is most
popularly known by his supporters simply as 'Bibi'. He is of Russian Jewish heritage and moved to the United States as a teenager. He completed his studies
in political science at Harvard and MIT. He served for five years in the Israeli army attaining the rank of captain in 1972. He completed his studies in
political science at Harvard and MIT. It could be said that his political destiny was forged when his brother Yonatan became a national hero as he lost his life
during a military raid in Entebbe. Idi amin had taken a group of Israelis hostage and though the Israeli military intervention was successful Yonatan was killed.
Netanyahu has been married three times he has one daughter from his first marriage and currently lives with his wife Sara and their two sons.
Netanyahu's first stint as Prime Minister between 6/1996 and 7/1999 ushered in a new age of Israeli politics. He was the youngest person to have attained
this post and was much criticised for his American style sound bite electioneering. As TV viewers looked on to what seemed to be certain loss according to
the ever faithful exit polls 'Bibi' came up trumps against Peres (who it seemed was not going to give up his Tag as Israel's perennial Premiership loser
easily). He showed his political naivity by antagonising Clinton privately and leading to the now famous outburst by the then white house spokesman Joe
Lockhart who described him as "one of the most obnoxious individuals you're going to come into - just a liar and a cheat. He could open his mouth and you
could have no confidence that anything that came out of it was the truth." His premiership in 1999 ended largely in failure as he failed to revive the economy
and some land concessions to the Palestinians in Hebron that had been forced out Netanyahu was mired of him left him unpopular with his core right wing
base. Barak's job of beating him at the polls was made all the more easy because Netanyahu was mired in corruption and womanising scandals. For a while
Netanyahu was in the semi-retired from politics always playing second fiddle to Sharon as the darling of the right. With Sharon's political passing, Netanyahu
as head of Likud once again came to power using 'Obamaesque' campaigning methods. His election as Prime Minister for the second time in March 2009
has been widely seen as a backward step for all those who seek peace in the Middle East. He is seen largely as an agent of obfuscation as opposed to
Obama's dynamic aspirations for change in the area. He has distanced himself from the core land for peace premise and appointed an ultra right wing as
Foreign Minister in Avigdor Lieberman.