30 Facts We Bet You Didn’t Know About Benjamin Netanyahu

21 December 2018, 11:40 am EST By Ruby Karnick

Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, an Israeli politician, is the 9th and current Prime Minister of Israel since the year 2009. Here are some interesting facts about Netanyahu, the second longest serving Prime Minister of Israel:

He is one of three children to Prof. Benzion Netanyahu and Tzila Segal. He did his early schooling at Henrietta Szold Elementary School, Jerusalem, before moving to United States, where he completed his schooling.
Netanyahu served as Captain in the Israel Army, as part of ‘SayeretMatkal,’ and participated in number of operations including 1973,Yom Kippur War.
He is alumni of Massachusetts Institute of Technology,Cambridge, where he completed his Bachelors’ Degree in architecture and Masters in Business. Simultaneously he also completed his doctorate in political science from Harvard University.
As a student doing his degree in United States, he changed his name to ‘Benjamin Ben Nitai,’ for which he was criticized years later by his political rivals for lack of Israel national identity and loyalty. He is also known by his pet name ‘Bibi.’
After completing his engagement as economic consultant at ‘Boston Consulting Group,’ Boston, in 1978, he started the ‘Jonathan Netanyahu Anti-Terror Institute, before taking a position as managing director at ‘Rim Furniture Industries’ in 1980.
His political ambition began in 1982, with him being appointed as the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., before serving as the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, until 1988.
When Netanyahu won the 1996election, he became the youngest and first Israeli Prime Minister to be born in Israel, after it was established as a state.
In October, 1998, Netanyahu, signed the ‘Wye River Memorandum’ withthe PLO chairman Yasser Arafat, to implement the peace process, which was supported by 74% of Israelis.
During his tenure, he combined the advancement of peace process along with fighting terrorism and economic liberalization. With the easing of strict foreign exchange control and privatization, foreign investment reached billions of dollars per year.
In March 2000, Netanyahu along with his wife, Sara, were indicted by the Israeli police of kickback scheme, illegally keeping gifts and obstructing justice. He was later cleared of all corruption charges for lack of evidence.

He was appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs and later Minister of Finance in 2002, on his return from temporary political retirement. The Israel economy which was shrinking by 1% each year was resurrected and grew by 4.2% in 2004.
On September 2002, Netanyahu appeared before the ‘United States Congress’ and testified regarding Iraq government nuclear threat. He called for invasion of Iraq to bring down Saddam Hussein.
On December 20, 2005, he swept to victory in the ‘Likud’ part chairmanship race. He defeated Silvan Shalom, Moshe Feiglin and Yisrael Katz with 47 percent of the vote.
Netanyahu assumed the office of ‘Prime Minister of Israel’ for the first time on March 31, 2009, to form 32nd government of Israel.
On June 14, 2009, he delivered a speech at ‘Bar-IIan University, which was telecast live, he endorsed the theory of two nations. A Palestinian state alongside Israel.
In September 2009, he disappeared without reporting of his whereabouts’ leading to much speculation in the media. It was reported he made a secret flight to Moscow, to share the names of Russian scientist who were supporting Iranian nuclear program and to stop the Russian from sale of S-300 anti-aircraft missile system.
By end of his second term in office, he brought about a revolution in the field of fiber optics. Hiscabinet approved a planenabling every home in Israel to hook up to super-fast internet.
On his third term at the Prime Ministers’ office in 2013, he continued his policy of economic liberalization. He banned corporate from holding more than two tiers of public listed companies and approved construction of private ports.
Netanyahu was elected for his fourth term as Prime Minister in May 2015 and vowed to run for unprecedented fifth term in the next general election too.
In October 2015, he sparked a backlash for suggesting, that a Palestinian, the grand mufti of Jerusalem, was the one who gave Hitler the idea of destroying European Jews during World War II.

In March 2016, his government faced a crisis following the proposal to create non-orthodox prayer space at the Western Wall. With a razor thin 61 seat majorities, the coalition partner ‘Haredim’ vow to quit over Western Wall pluralism.
On January 06, 2017, Netanyahu, criticizing the ‘United Nation Security Council’ Resolution on 2334, withdrew its annual dues to the ‘United Nation,’ amounting to USD $6 million.
When he visited Australia, on February 22, 2017, he became the first serving Israeli Prime Minister to make an official visit to that country.
Netanyahu is currently under investigation pending charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust in two cases, ‘1000’ and ‘2000.’ Although he was recommended for indictment by the ‘ECD’ director Liat Ben-Ari, it is yet to be ratified by State Attorney.
Netanyahu published three books on subject of fighting terrorism. He was greatly disturbed by his brother’s death during a hostage rescue mission and took active part in counter-terrorist operation during his military service.
He strongly believed in death penalty for terrorism and his government voted for the motion in favor of a bill in January 2018. Israeli military courts already have the power to issue the death sentence, although this has never been implemented.
He believes everyone equal before the law in support of ‘LGBT’ community and is proud that Israel is one of the most open countries in the world.
He strongly believed that tightening immigration laws in the west is the most effective method to combat terrorism. In 2012, his government passed the ‘Prevention of Infiltration Law,’ which called for detention of all people entering without permission.
Netanyahu has been married thrice. He has a daughter named, Noa with his first wife, Miriam Weizmann and two sons, Yair and Avner with his current wife, Sara Ben-Artzi. His relation with his second wife, Fleur Cates, was short lived which ended in divorce in 1984.
When Netanyahu completes his present term at Prime Minister Office, he would become the longest serving Israel prime minister. He has the record of being elected three times in a row.