Benjamin Netanyahu
Former Israeli Prime Minister
Born: October 21, 1949; Tel Aviv, Israel
Education: BA (architecture), Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, 1974; MBA, 1976
Military Service: Israeli army (Sayeret Matcal anti-terrorism force), 1967-72; Army, 1973
Occupation: Diplomat
Family: Wife, Sara Netanyahu; 1 son, 1 daughter (from first marriage)
Religion: Jewish
Benjamin Netanyahu, (known as "Bibi" to his fellow Israelis), at 47 years of age, was the youngest Prime Minister in the history of Israel.
Netanyahu was born in 1949. just a few months after Israel became a nation, and had fought her war of survival with the Arab nations who resented her presence, and were determined to destroy this new nation before it ever got started. The family migrated to the U.S., moving to the Philadelphia area in 1962. He remained in contact with an older brother, Jonathan, who was serving in the IDF (Israel Defense Forces).
As threats of war loomed in 1967, Netanyahu returned to his homeland, and shortly the "Six Day War" of 1967, the war to "exterminate the State of Israel for all time", had been fought, and the Arab nations of Syria, Jordan and Egypt were quickly beaten. This put the beloved city of Jerusalem back in Israeli control for the first time in thousands of years, along with the West Bank, the Golan Heights, and the Sinai desert.
Benzion Netanyahu, Benjamin's father was a "Zionist Revisionist". Most Zionist believed in a Socialistic form of government, and anticipated peace with the Arabs, which of course, never came about. But Benzion condemned socialism, and advocated not putting too much trust in Arab/Israeli relationships.
On May 14th, 1948, Israel became a nation, and the Labor party...mainstream Zionism...under the leadership of David Ben-Gurion became it's ruling party, and was successful in creating a socialist state, in which over 90 percent of the land is owned by the government.
With an area of 8,000 square miles, about the size of Maryland, Six Million Jews live, work and play, surronded by 150 million Arabs.
Within a few weeks after the "Three Day War", Netanyahu joined the armed forces and was accepted into a commando unit, "Sayerer Matcal". His brothers also joined, and Netanyahu rose to the rank of captain.
In 1972, four terrorists from the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) hijacked a Belgian airliner carrying 100 passengers, which they landed at Ben-Gurion Airport in Israel. They threatened to blow the plane up if Israel did not release PLO prisoners that were being held.
Netanyahu led a "maintenance crew" into the plane, captured one of the terrorists, shouted in Arabic: "where are the explosives"? The plane was saved and all passengers released unharmed.
In 1973. On Yom Kippur, (the highest of Jewish Holy Days), Egypt and Syria attacked Israel again. For nineteen days, Israel suffered great loses in this attack, and seemed to be going down in defeat. But they regrouped and and counterattacked, and at the loss of 2,552 Israeli Soldiers, defeated their attackers. Israel managed to escape total annihilation only because of the "buffer land" she had gained in the 1967 war. (And by God's Grace...)! This convinced Netanyahu that, whatever concessions are given to the Palestinians, Israel must maintain control of the land so as to give her the time and space to prepare for defense in the case of another attack.
In 1982. Netanyahu was made the deputy chief of mission to the United States. In 1984, he became the U.N. ambassador. This was at a time when the Soviet Union and Arab nations had succeeded in passing a resolution equating Zionism with racism. Over the next four years, he made the Isareli cause his highest priorty. Eventually, he aided in the repeal of the Zionism resolution.
Netanyahu became chairman of the Likud party in 1993, and Israel's Prime Minister in 1996. Former Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin of the Labor party had followed a "land for peace" agenda, which many Israeli's were totally against. A religious "fanatic" killed Rabin for his stand, and many Israeli's blamed Netanyahu for creating an atmosphere of hate which, they claim, led to Rabin's assassination.
The Early Years: Participated in several high-profile commando missions including a raid on a hijacked jetliner outside Tel Aviv, 1972; Was pursuing a business career in the United States when his brother Jonathan was killed in the Israeli raid on a hijacked plane in Entebbe, Uganda, 1976; Returned to Israel and founded the Jonathan Institute, a group that studies the origins of terrorism and develops strategies to combat it.