Who is Benjamin Netanyahu? Everything You Need to Know

Quick Facts

Nick Name: Bibi

Age: 73 Years, 73 Year Old Males

Family:

Spouse/Ex-: Sara Netanyahu (m. 1991), Fleur Cates (m. 1981–1984), Miriam Weizmann (m. 1972–1978)

father: Benzion Netanyahu

mother: Zila Netanyahu

siblings: Iddo Netanyahu, Yonatan Netanyahu

children: Avner Netanyahu, Noa, Noa Netanyahu-Roth, Yair Netanyahu

Born Country: Israel

Quotes By Benjamin Netanyahu Left Handed

Height: 6'0" (183 cm), 6'0" Males

City: Tel Aviv, Israel

More Facts

education: MIT Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cheltenham High School, Harvard University

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Childhood & Early Life

He was born on 21 October 1949, in Tel Aviv, Israel, to Tzila Segal and Benzion Netanyahu. His father was a noted Jewish historian who worked as a professor.

He spent his childhood in Jerusalem where he attended ‘Henrietta Szold Elementary School.’ He was a bright student, very disciplined, active, polite, and helpful.

His family moved to Philadelphia, United States, in 1963 and he enrolled at ‘Cheltenham High School’ from where he graduated in 1967. He then left for Israel to enlist in the Israeli Army.

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Career

He trained as a combat soldier in the ‘Israeli Defense Forces’ and was on the team that rescued a hijacked jet plane at the Tel Aviv airport in 1972. During the rescue operation, he was shot in the shoulder.

He returned to the US in late 1972 and enrolled at the ‘Massachusetts Institute of Technology’ to study architecture. However, he went back to Israel in 1973 to fight in the ‘Yom Kippur War’ for a 40-day period.

He returned to the US to complete his studies and earned a S.B. degree in architecture in 1975 and received a S.M. degree from the ‘MIT Sloan School of Management’ in 1977. At the same time, he also studied political science at ‘Harvard University.’

After completing his education, he was appointed as a management consultant for the ‘Boston Consulting Group’ in Massachusetts where he worked from 1976 to 1978.

He returned to Israel in 1978. Over a period of time, he started connecting with several Israeli politicians.

In 1982, prominent politician Moshe Arens selected him as his Deputy Chief of Mission at the ‘Israeli Embassy’ in Washington, D.C., a position which he held till 1984.

He served as the Israeli ambassador to the ‘United Nations’ from 1984 to 1988.

He was elected a member of the Knesset by the ‘Likud Party’ in 1988, and served as deputy minister for foreign affairs. He was chosen as the party’s prime ministerial candidate in the 1996 Israeli legislative election.

He won the election, defeating incumbent ‘Labor’ candidate Shimon Peres and assumed office on 18 June 1996. During his term, he signed the ‘Hebron’ and ‘Wye Accords,’ expanded government privatization, liberalized currency regulations, and reduced deficits.

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He was defeated by Ehud Barak in the 1999 elections. Following his defeat, he retired from politics and served as a senior consultant with Israeli communications equipment developer ‘BATM’ for two years.

He returned to politics in 2002 and served as the minister of foreign affairs from November 2002 to February 2003. He then became the minister of finance, serving in this position till August 2005.

During his term as the finance minister, he implemented several economic reforms in order to restore Israel’s economy. He introduced reforms in the banking system and was also in favor of more liberalized markets.

Following the elections on February 2009, he was elected as the prime minister once again. He kept the portfolios of the minister of economic strategy, minister of health, and minister for senior citizens with him.

After the victory in the 2013 elections, he was elected as the prime minister for a third term. He was also elected as the prime minister for the fourth term after the 2015 election.

Since 2016, Netanyahu was under investigation by the Israeli police for a number of alleged corruption scandals.

In 2019, he was indicted on the on charges of breach of trust, bribery and fraud. As a result, he had to relinquish all of his ministry posts other than the prime minister position.

In April 2019 elections, no party in Israel got clear majority. In September 2019, second election was held and this time too no party was able to form the government.

In March 2020, the third election was held and on 17 May 2020, Benjamin Netanyahu was sworn-in for a fifth term as prime minister in a coalition with Benny Gantz. This government was shortlived and fell in December 2020.

In March 2021, elections were held once again but Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies aga‌in fell short of a majority.

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Family & Personal Life

Benjamin Netanyahu married Miriam Weizmann in 1972. His wife became pregnant in 1978 and during her pregnancy, Netanyahu began an affair with a British woman named Fleur Cates. Miriam gave birth to their daughter. When she came to know about the affair, she divorced him.

In 1981, he married Fleur Cates and she converted to Judaism. But this marriage did not last long as the couple divorced in 1984.

He got married again in 1991. His third wife, whom he met during one of his travels, was a flight attendant. The couple has two sons.

He was also reported to have been romantically involved with other women, including Ruth Bar, his public relations adviser, and Katherine Price-Mondadori.

Benjamin Netanyahu Biography