Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu ( , also Binyamin Netanyahu, born 21 October 1949) is the Prime Minister of Israel.

He previously held the same position from June 1996 to July 1999 and is currently the Chairman of the Likud Party. Netanyahu is the first (and, to date, only) Israeli prime minister born after the State of Israel's foundation. Netanyahu was Foreign Minister (2002–2003) and Finance Minister (2003–August 2005) in Ariel Sharon's governments, but he departed over disagreements regarding the Gaza Disengagement Plan. He retook the Likud leadership on 20 December 2005. In the 2006 election, Likud did poorly, winning twelve seats. In December 2006, Netanyahu became the official Opposition Leader in the Knesset and Chairman of the Likud Party. In August 2007, he retained the Likud leadership by beating Moshe Feiglin in party elections. Following the 10 February 2009 parliamentary election, in which Likud placed second and right-wing parties won a majority, Netanyahu formed a coalition government. He is the brother of Israeli Special Forces commander Yonatan Netanyahu, who died during a hostage rescue mission, and Iddo Netanyahu, an Israeli author and playwright.

Family, education, and personal background

Related to the Rabbi Eliyahu of Vilna on his paternal side, Netanyahu was born in Tel Aviv, to Cela (Tsilah; née Segal) and Benzion Netanyahu (original name Mileikowsky). His mother was born in 1912 in Petah Tikva, part of the future British Mandate of Palestine that eventually became Israel. Though all his grandparents were born in Lithuania, his mother's parents emigrated to Minneapolis in the United States. Netanyahu's father is a former professor of Jewish history at Cornell University, a former editor of the Hebrew Encyclopedia, and a former senior aide to Zeev Jabotinsky, who has remained active in research and writing into his 90s. His paternal grandfather was Rabbi Natan Mileikowsky, a leading Religious Zionist rabbi and JNF fundraiser.

Born in 1949 in Tel Aviv, Netanyahu was the first Israeli Prime Minister to be born in the State of Israel. (Yitzhak Rabin was born in Jerusalem, but prior to the 1948 founding of the state.) When Netanyahu was 14 years old, his family moved to the United States and settled in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, where he graduated from Cheltenham High School. In his childhood, an older relative also named Binyamin was then called 'Bibi', and Netanyahu's family also dubbed him 'Bibi.' To this day, he speaks English with a pronounced American accent.

Netanyahu's older brother, Yonatan, was killed in Uganda during Operation Entebbe in 1976. His younger brother, Iddo, is a radiologist and writer. All three brothers served in the Sayeret Matkal reconnaissance unit of the Israeli Defense Force – Benjamin from 1967 to 1972 as a captain. He earned a B.S. degree in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1975, an M.S. degree from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 1977, and studied political science at Harvard and MIT. After graduate school, Netanyahu worked at the Boston Consulting Group in Boston, Massachusetts, and eventually returned to Israel.

Following a brief career as a furniture company's chief marketing officer, Netanyahu was appointed by Moshe Arens as his Deputy Chief of Mission at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC in 1982. Subsequently, he became Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations, serving from 1984 to 1988. He was elected to the Knesset in 1988, and served in the governments led by Yitzhak Shamir from 1988 to 1992. Shamir retired from politics shortly after Likud's defeat in the 1992 elections. In 1993, for the first time, the party held a primary election to select its leader, and Netanyahu was victorious, defeating Benny Begin, son of the late Prime Minister Menachem Begin, and veteran politician David Levy (Ariel Sharon initially sought Likud party leadership as well, but quickly withdrew when it was evident that he was attracting minimal support).

Netanyahu has authored several books, including two on fighting terrorism. He has a daughter, Noa, from his first marriage to Micki Weizman. His second marriage was to Fleur Cates, who converted to Judaism because only her father was Jewish. He is now married to his third wife, Sara, with whom he has two sons: Yair and Avner.

In the first half of 2008, doctors removed a small colon polyp that proved to be benign.

Netanyahu became a grandfather on 1 October 2009, when his daughter Noa Netanyahu-Roth (married to Daniel Roth) gave birth to a boy, Shmuel.

Netanyahu is a fan of the soccer team Beitar Jerusalem.

Prime minister (1996–99)

In 1996 Israelis elected their Prime Minister directly for the first time. Netanyahu hired American Republican political operative Arthur Finkelstein to run his campaign, and although the American style of sound bites and sharp attacks elicited harsh criticism from inside Israel, it proved effective. (The method was later copied by Ehud Barak during the 1999 election campaign in which he beat Netanyahu.) Netanyahu won the election, surprising many by beating the pre-election favorite Shimon Peres. The main catalyst in the downfall of the latter was a wave of suicide bombings shortly before the elections; on 3 and 4 March 1996, Palestinians carried out two suicide bombings, killing 32 Israelis, with Peres seemingly unable to stop the attacks. Unlike Peres, Netanyahu did not trust Yasser Arafat and conditioned any progress at the peace process on the Palestinian Authority fulfilling its obligations – mainly fighting terrorism, and ran with the campaign slogan "Netanyahu - making a safe peace". However, although Netanyahu won the election for Prime Minister, Labor won the Knesset elections, beating the Likud–Gesher–Tzomet alliance, meaning Netanyahu had to rely on a coalition with the Ultra-orthodox parties, Shas and UTJ (whose social welfare policies flew in the face of his capitalistic outlook) in order to govern.

Upon his election, Netanyahu was the youngest person in the history of the position. He had a rocky relationship with American President Bill Clinton, who made some very unflattering remarks about him in the presence of Aaron David Miller. The White House spokesman at the time was Joe Lockhart, who described Netanyahu in an interview 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."



As Prime Minister, Netanyahu negotiated with Yasser Arafat in the form of the 1998 Wye River Accords. No progress was made regarding negotiations with the Palestinians, and although they failed to implement agreed-upon steps of the Oslo Accords, Netanyahu turned over most of Hebron to Palestinian jurisdiction. In 1996, Netanyahu and Jerusalem's mayor Ehud Olmert decided to open an exit for the Western Wall Tunnel. This sparked three days of rioting by Palestinians, resulting in both Israelis and Palestinians being killed.

As Prime Minister Netanyahu emphasized a policy of "three no(s)": no withdrawal from the Golan Heights, no discussion of the case of Jerusalem, no negotiations under any preconditions.

Netanyahu was opposed by the political left wing in Israel and also lost support from the right because of his concessions to the Palestinians in Hebron and elsewhere, and due to his negotiations with Arafat generally. After a long chain of scandals (including gossip regarding his marriage) and an investigation opened against him on charges of corruption (later acquitted), Netanyahu lost favor with the Israeli public.

After being defeated by Ehud Barak in the 1999 election for Prime Minister, Netanyahu temporarily retired from politics.

Political activity after 2000

In 2001, Netanyahu missed the opportunity to return to power since he refused to run unless there were general elections, a move that facilitated Sharon's entry into the race for Prime Minister.

In 2002, after the Labor Party left the coalition and vacated the position of foreign minister, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon appointed Netanyahu as Foreign Minister. On September 9, 2002, a scheduled speech by Netanyahu at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec was canceled after hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters overwhelmed security and smashed through a security wall. Netanyahu escaped unharmed and later accused the activists of supporting terrorism and "mad zealotry."

Netanyahu challenged Sharon for the leadership of the Likud party, but failed to oust Sharon.

Finance Minister, 2003–05

After the 2003 elections, in what many observers regarded as a surprise move, Sharon offered the Foreign Ministry to Silvan Shalom and offered Netanyahu the Finance Ministry. Some pundits speculated that Sharon made the move because he deemed Netanyahu a political threat given his demonstrated effectiveness as Foreign Minister and that by placing him in the Finance Ministry during a time of economic uncertainty, he could diminish Netanyahu's popularity. Netanyahu accepted the new appointment after Sharon agreed to provide him with an unprecedented level of independence in running the ministry.

As Finance Minister, Netanyahu undertook an economic plan in order to restore Israel's economy from its low point during the al-Aqsa Intifada. The plan involved a move toward more liberalized markets, although it was not without its critics. Netanyahu succeeded in passing several long-in-the-queue reforms, including an important reform in the banking system. However, opponents in the Labor party (and a few even with his own Likud) viewed Netanyahu's policies as "Thatcherite" attacks on the venerated Israeli social safety net.

Netanyahu threatened to resign in 2004 unless the Gaza pullout plan was put to a referendum, but later lifted the ultimatum and voted for the program in the Knesset. He submitted his resignation letter on 7 August 2005, shortly before the Israeli cabinet voted 17 to 5 to approve the initial phase of withdrawal from Gaza. Shortly thereafter he said he had rejected an invitation to serve as Italy's finance minister, allegedly extended to him by Italian billionaire businessman Carlo De Benedetti, who later said it was a joke.

Party leader, Likud

Following the withdrawal of Ariel Sharon from the Likud, Netanyahu was one of several candidates who vied for the Likud leadership. His most recent attempt prior to this was in September 2005 when he tried to hold early primaries for the position of the head of the Likud party, while the party held the office of Prime Minister – thus effectively pushing Ariel Sharon out of office. The party rejected this initiative. Netanyahu retook the leadership on 20 December 2005, with 47% of the primary vote. In the March 2006 Knesset elections, Likud took the third place behind Kadima and Labor and Netanyahu served as Leader of the Opposition.

On 14 August 2007, Netanyahu was reelected as chairman of the Likud and its candidate to the post of Prime Minister with 73% of the vote against far-right candidate Moshe Feiglin and World Likud Chairman Danny Danon. He opposed the 2008 Israel-Gaza cease-fire, like others in the Knesset opposition. Specifically, Netanyahu said, "This is not a relaxation, it's an Israeli agreement to the rearming of Hamas... What are we getting for this?"

Following Livni's election to head Kadima and Olmert's resignation from the prime minister post, Netanyahu declined to join the coalition Livni was trying to form and preferred new elections, which were held in February 2009.

Likud candidate, 2009 elections

Netanyahu was the Likud's candidate for Prime Minister in the Israeli elections that took place on 10 February 2009, as Tzipi Livni, the previous Designated Acting Prime Minister under the Olmert government, had been unable to form a viable governing coalition. During the race, Netanyahu's campaign website was noted for its strong resemblance to that used the previous year by United States President Barack Obama to reach his supporters during his campaign, including colors, fonts, icons, the use of embedded video, and social networking options such as Twitter. Opinion polls showed Likud in the lead, but with as many as a third of Israeli voters undecided. In the election itself, Likud won the second highest number of seats, Livni's party having outnumbered the Likud by one seat. A possible explanation for Likud's relatively poor showing is that some Likud supporters defected to Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu party. Netanyahu, however, claimed victory on the basis that right wing parties won the majority of the vote, and on 20 February 2009, Netanyahu was designated by Israeli President Shimon Peres to succeed Ehud Olmert as Prime Minister, and began his negotiations to form a coalition government.

Despite right wing parties winning a majority of 65 seats in the Knesset, Netanyahu preferred a broader centrist coalition and turned to his Kadima rivals, chaired by Tzipi Livni, to join his government. This time it was Livni's turn to decline to join, with a difference of opinion on how to pursue the peace process being the stumbling block. Netanyahu did manage to entice a smaller rival, the Labour party, chaired by Ehud Barak, to join his government, giving him a certain amount of centrist tone.

Netayahu presented his cabinet for a Knesset "Vote of Confidence" on 31 March 2009. The 32nd Government was approved that day by a majority of 69 lawmakers and the members were sworn in.

Prime Minister (2009– )

Upon the arrival of President Obama administration's special envoy, George Mitchell, Netanyahu said that any furtherance of negotiations with the Palestinians will be conditioned on the Palestinians recognizing Israel as a Jewish state, as this issue had not been sufficiently clarified. The Palestinian position is to have a two state solution with no Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria, while insisting that Israel accept large numbers of Palestinian refugees.

Three months after starting his term, Netanyahu remarked that his cabinet already had achieved several notable successes, such as the establishment of a working national unity government, and a broad consensus for a "Two-state solution". The Kadima-led opposition submitted a no-confidence measure to the Knesset shortly after Netanyahu concluded his first 100 days in office. A July 2009 survey by Ha'aretz found that most Israelis support the Netanyahu government, giving him a personal approval rating of about 49 percent, a spike from 28 percent prior to his Bar-Ilan speech, which was in response to President Obama's Cairo speech. At Bar-Ilan, Netanyahu had finally and explicitly endorsed a "Demilitarized Palestinian State", after two months of refusing to commit to anything other than a self-ruling autonomy when coming into office.

As part of his "economic peace", to boost the Palestinian economy, while insisting not a substitute to political negotiations, Netanyahu has lifted checkpoints in the West Bank, in order to allow freedom of movement and a flow of imports as a "highway to peace", a step that resulted in an economic boost in the West Bank.

On 23 July 2009, speaking at an Egyptian embassy event in Israel, Netanyahu welcomed the Arab Peace initiative (also known as the "Saudi Peace Initiative"), a long time all-Arab demand from the Israelis, stating that "The Arab initiative provides a tailwind to the Peace Process", and also lauded a call by Bahrain's Crown Prince, Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa to normalize relations with Israel. However, on 31 July, at a press conference with U.S Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Saudi Foreign Minister, Saud El Faisal, rejected the U.S push for making Arab gestures toward normalizing ties with Israel as 'confidence-building' measures, stating that "'step-by-step' diplomatic approach, have not and will not lead to peace", and that "temporary security arrangement as well, so-called 'confidence-building' measures will not lead to peace either." He added that a comprehensive approach is needed in order to tackle the core issues of the conflict, that include "The future of the Palestinian State, control over Jerusalem, the return of the refugees to their country, and water and security arrangements". He also argued that Israel was diverting attention "From the occupation that had began on 1967, and the establishment of a Palestinian State, towards secondary issues, such as flying methods (referring to one of the gestures) and academic arguments, and said that "It is time all the inhabitants of the Middle East will live a normal life".

On 9 August 2009, speaking at the opening of his weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu promised not to repeat the "mistake" of the Gaza unilateral pullout, saying, "We will not repeat this mistake. We will not create new evacuees", and adding that "the unilateral evacuation brought neither peace nor security. On the contrary", and that "We want an agreement with two factors, the first of which is the recognition of Israel as the national state of the Jewish people and [the second is] a security settlement. In the case of Gaza, both of these factors were lacking". He also said, "Should we achieve a turn toward peace with the more moderate partners, we will insist on the recognition of the State of Israel and the demilitarization of the future Palestinian state".

On 10 August 2009, two prominent political figures, Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, a Likud party member, and the chairman of Shas ultra orthodox party, Eli Yishai, both from Netanyahu's government, raised their voices in a joint tour in Ma'ale Adumim, stating that "The battle over Jerusalem begins in 'Ma'ale Adumim'", and calling on the prime minister to continue building in the blocks of settlements as was stated in the "Bush letter", as well as continue to create a contiguous territory between 'Ma'ale Adumim' and Jerusalem, "even if we don't convince the Americans".

On 10 August 2009, in response to reports that Hezbullah was planning to exert efforts to attack Israeli officials abroad, Netanyahu warned that "If Hezbullah will enter the (Lebanese) government as an official factor, let it be clear that the Lebanese government will be held responsible for any attack carried out from its territory. Once they [Hezbullah] are part of the government, the sovereign government of Lebanon is the one responsible. I hope we will not be forced to make such responses". However, he maintained his assessment that "There are no 'winds of war' brewing in the North" the next day.

On 23 August 2009, Netanyahu announced in his weekly cabinet meeting that negotiations with the Palestinians will begin in September and will be officially launched on his visit to New York, after he had accepted an invitation from President Barak Obama for a "Triple Summit" there. He added that there is progress with special envoy George Mitchell, though there is no full agreement on everything, and there will be more rounds of meetings [until September]. On the same day, a spokesman for PA President Mahmoud Abbas said there would be no negotiations as long as there was any building going on in the settlements.

On 26 August 2009, Netanyahu and special envoy George Mitchell met, in what was perceived as a critical meeting towards an understanding on a settlement freeze between Israel and the U.S, in which they reaffirmed in a joint statement the need for a meaningful negotiation between the Israelis and Palestinians that will lead to a comprehensive peace agreement, and Abbas declared the same day that he will be willing to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu at the U.N General Assembly, where Netanyahu had accepted president Obama's invitation for a "triple summit", although he said it will not necessary lead to negotiations. Netanyahu was reported to be in a pivotal moment over these understandings, that were reported to include a compromise over permission on continuing the already approved construction in the West Bank, in exchange for freezing all settlements thereafter, as well as continuing building in East Jerusalem, and at the same time stopping the demolition of houses of Arab inhabitants there. It was also reported that the U.S Administration was planning a "modest" summit with a principle declaration and stiff timetable, rather than a "Grand Plan".

On 4 September 2009, it was reported that Netanyahu was to agree to settlers' political demands to approve more settlement constructions before a temporary settlement freeze agreement took place. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs expressed "regret" over the move; however, one U.S official said the move will not "derail [the] train".

On 7 September 2009, Netanyahu left his office without reporting where he was headed, his schedule was mysteriously cleared, and his whereabouts were unknown for a several hours. The prime minster's military secretary, Maj. Gen. Meir Kalifi, later reported Netanyahu had visited a security facility in Israel. At the same time, a Palestinian newspaper reported that Netanyahu had left for a visit in an Arab state that does not have diplomatic ties with Israel. On 9 September 2009, Yediot Aharonot reported that the Israeli leader had made a secret flight to Moscow to try to persuade Russian officials not to sell S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems to Iran. The report caused a local media storm, with angry journalists accusing Netanyahu’s office of lying. Headlines branded Netanyahu a "liar" and dubbed the affair a "fiasco." It was later reported that the PM's military secretary will be dismissed due to the affair. The Sunday Times reported that the trip was made to share the names of Russian scientists that Israel believes are abetting the Iranian nuclear weapons program.

On 16 September 2009, special envoy George Mitchell arrived in Israel for one of his last rounds before a triple summit at the U.N. between President Obama, Netanyahu and PA president Mahmud Abbas, in order to secure such a summit. Despite shuttling between the Israelis and the Palestinians, he failed to secure such a summit. However, it was reported that he had expected his trip to be extended, that he would meet Prime Minister Netanyahu again two days later, and that there might be a three-way summit without relaunching the peace process, after which negotiations on understandings between Israel and the U.S would continue. On September 18, Netanyahu and Mitchell met again, but failed to reach an agreement that will secure the summit. Later that day, Haaretz reported that Israeli officials blamed the Palestinian Authority for thwarting the peace talks.

On 20 September 2009, the White House announced that it will host a three-way meeting between President Obama, Prime Minister Netanyahu and PA President Mahmud Abbas, within the framework of the United Nations General Assembly, "in an effort to lay the groundwork for renewed negotiations on Mideast peace." The meeting took place on 22 September, in New York. Afterwards, Netanyahu said that he agreed with Abbas during the meeting that peace talks should be relaunched as soon as possible.

On 24 September 2009, in an address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Netanyahu said Iran poses a threat to the peace of the world and that it is incumbent on the world body to prevent the Islamic Republic from obtaining nuclear weapons. Waving the blueprints for Auschwitz and invoking the memory of his own family members murdered by the Nazis, Netanyahu delivered his most passionate and public riposte yet to Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's questioning of the Holocaust, asking: "Have you no shame?"

On 25 November 2009, Netanyahu announced a 10 month settlement freeze plan, seen as due to pressure from the Obama administration, which urged the sides to seize the opportunity to resume talks. U.S special envoy George Mitchell said, "while the United States shares Arab concerns about the limitations of Israel's gesture, it is more than any Israeli government has ever done". In his announcement Netanyahu called the move "a painful step that will encourage the peace process" and urged the Palestinians to respond. However, the Palestinians rejected the call.

Political views

Peace process

Prior to second term as Prime Minister

Netanyahu had previously called U.S.-backed peace talks a waste of time, while at the same time refusing to commit to the same two-state solution as had other Israeli leaders, until a speech in June 2009. He repeatedly made public statements which advocated an "economic peace" approach, meaning an approach based on economic cooperation and joint effort rather than continuous contention over political and diplomatic issues. This is in line with many significant ideas from the Peace Valley plan. He raised these ideas during discussions with former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Netanyahu continued to advocate these ideas as the Israeli elections got nearer.Netanyahu has said:

Right now, the peace talks are based only one thing, only on peace talks.

It makes no sense at this point to talk about the most contractible issue.

It's Jerusalem or bust, or right of return or bust.

That has led to failure and is likely to lead to failure again....We must weave an economic peace alongside a political process.

That means that we have to strengthen the moderate parts of the Palestinian economy by handing rapid growth in those area, rapid economic growth that gives a stake for peace for the ordinary Palestinians."

In January 2009, prior to the February 2009 Israeli elections Netanyahu informed Middle East envoy Tony Blair that he would continue the policy of the Israeli governments of Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert by expanding settlements in the West Bank, in contravention of the Road Map, but not building new ones.

June 2009 peace address, "Bar-Ilan Speech"

On 14 June 2009, Netanyahu delivered a seminal address at Bar-Ilan University (also known as "Bar-Ilan Speech"), at Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, that was broadcast live in Israel and across parts of the Arab world, on the topic of the Middle East peace process. He endorsed for the first time the notion of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Netanyahu had immediately called a special government meeting after Obama finished his ‎4 June speech at Cairo. Yedioth Ahronoth has stated that Obama's words had "resonated through Jerusalem's corridors".



As part of his proposal, Netanyahu demanded the full demilitarization of the proposed state, with no army, rockets, missiles, or control of its airspace, and said that Jerusalem would be undivided Israeli territory. He stated that the Palestinians should recognize Israel as the Jewish national state with an undivided Jerusalem. He rejected a right of return for Palestinian refugees, saying, "any demand for resettling Palestinian refugees within Israel undermines Israel's continued existence as the state of the Jewish people." He also stated that a complete stop to settlement building in the West Bank, as required by the 2003 Road Map peace proposal, would not occur but the expansions will be limited based on the "natural growth" of the population, including immigration, with no new territories taken in although, despite this, Netanyahu still claimed that he accepted the Road Map. He did not discuss whether or not the settlements should be part of Israel after peace negotiations, simply saying that the "question will be discussed".

In a response to U.S. President Barack Obama's statements in his ‎Cairo speech, Netanyahu remarked, "there are those who say that if the Holocaust had not occurred, the State of Israel would never have been established. But I say that if the State of Israel would have been established earlier, the Holocaust would not have occurred." He also said, "this is the homeland of the Jewish people, this is where our identity was forged." He stated that he would be willing to meet with any "Arab leader" for negotiations without preconditions, specifically mentioning Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon. In general, the address represented a complete turnaround for his previously hawkish positions against the peace process.

Some right-wing members of Netanyahu's governing coalition criticized his remarks for the creation of a Palestinian State; believing that all of the land should remain under Israeli sovereignty. Likud MK Danny Danon said that Netanyahu went "against the Likud platform", while MK Uri Orbach of Habayit Hayehudi said that it had "dangerous implications".. Opposition party Kadima leader Tzipi Livni remarked after the address that she thinks Netanyahu does not really believe in the two state solution at all; she thought that he only said what he did as a feigned response to international pressure.Peace Now blasted the speech, highlighting the fact that, in the group's opinion, it did not address the Palestinians as equal partners in the peace process. The Secretary General of Peace Now, Yariv Oppenheimer, said, "It's a rerun of Netanyahu from his first term".

On August 9, speaking at the opening of government meeting Netanyahu repeated his claims from the Palestinians: "We want an agreement with two factors, the first of which is the recognition of Israel as the national state of the Jewish people and (the second of which is) a security settlement".

International reaction

Netanyahu's "Bar-Ilan Speech" provoked mixed reaction from the International community:

• - The Palestinian Authority rejected the conditions to a Palestinian State given by Netanyahu. Senior official Saeb Erekat said, "Netanyahu's speech closed the door to permanent status negotiations". Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said it reflected a "racist and extremist ideology" and called on Arab nations to "form stronger opposition". Palestinian Islamic Jihad labeled it "misleading" and, like Hamas, demanded stronger opposition to Israel from Arab nations. According to The Jerusalem Post, some leaders advocated a third intifada in response to the speech.

• - The Arab League dismissed the address, declaring in a statement that "Arabs would not make concessions regarding issues of Jerusalem and refugees" and that "we know his history and style of evasion".

• - The Czech Republic, which held the presidency of the European Union praised Netanyahu's address. "In my view, this is a step in the right direction. The acceptance of a Palestinian state was present there," said Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout, whose country held the EU's six-month presidency at the time of the speech.

• - The Press secretary of President Barack Obama, Robert Gibbs, said that the speech was an "important step forward". President Obama stated that "this solution can and must ensure both Israel's security and the Palestinians' legitimate aspirations for a viable state".

• - Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt stated that "the fact that he uttered the word state is a small step forward". He added that "whether what he mentioned can be defined as a state is a subject of some debate".

• - France praised the speech but called on Israel to cease building settlements in the West Bank. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner stated that "I can only welcome the prospect of a Palestinian state outlined by the Israeli Prime Minister".

• - The Foreign Ministry of Russia called the speech "a sign of readiness for dialogue" but said that "it does not open up the road to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian problem. The conditions on the Palestinians would be unacceptable".

• - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak replied that he refuses to accept Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state. He remarked, "You won't find anyone to answer that call in Egypt, or in any other place". His Foreign Ministry issued a more moderate response that the speech was "not complete" and that they hope for another, "different Israeli proposal which is built on the commitment to the two-state solution".

• - Syrian state media condemned the speech. A mouthpiece for the government wrote that "Netanyahu has confirmed that he rejects the Arab peace initiative for peace along with all the initiatives and resolutions of the Security Council to relative peace".

• - Lebanese President Michel Suleiman called for unity among Arab leaders, saying that "Arab leaders should be more united and preserve the spirit of resistance to face the Israeli stands regarding the peace process and the Palestinian refugee issue." He called on the international community to exert more pressure on the Israeli government to accept the Arab Peace Initiative, as he said Israel still has a will of military confrontation which can be proved in its offensives on Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.

• - Jordanian Minister of State for Media affairs and Communications, and Government spokesperson Nabil Sharif issued a statement saying "The ideas presented by Netanyahu do not live up to what was agreed on by the international community as a starting point for achieving a just and comprehensive peace in the region".

• - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad referred to the speech as "bad news".

Remarks about Iran

On 20 February 2009, after being asked to be the prime minister of Israel, Netanyahu described Iran as the greatest threat that Israel has ever faced: "Iran is seeking to obtain a nuclear weapon and constitutes the gravest threat to our existence since the war of independence."

Speaking before the UN General Assembly in New York on 24 September 2009, Netanyahu slammed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech at the forum, saying those who believe Tehran is a threat only to Israel are wrong. "The Iranian regime", he said, "is motivated by fanaticism… They want to see us go back to medieval times. The struggle against Iran pits civilization against barbarism. This Iranian regime is fueled by extreme fundamentalism."

Comparing to Nazi Germany

Strongly against Iran's pursuit of uranium enrichment, Netanyahu said "It’s 1938, and Iran is Germany, and Iran is racing to arm itself with atomic bombs”. In an 8 March 2007 interview with CNN, he asserted that there is only one difference between Nazi Germany and the Islamic Republic of Iran, namely that the first entered a worldwide conflict and then sought atomic weapons, while the latter is first seeking atomic weapons and, once it has them, will then start a world war.

Netanyahu repeated these remarks at a news conference in April 2008. Explaining that "where that [Nazi] regime embarked on a global conflict before it developed nuclear weapons," he said, "This regime [Iran] is developing nuclear weapons before it embarks on a global conflict."

Books and articles

Books:

• The Jerusalem Alternative (Balfour Books, 2003) ISBN 978-0892215928
• A Durable Peace: Israel and Its Place Among the Nations (Warner Books, 2000) ISBN 0-446-52306-2
• Fighting Terrorism: How Democracies Can Defeat Domestic And International Terrorism (Diane Pub Co, 1995) ISBN 0-7881-5514-8
• A Place Among the Nations (Bantam, 1993) ISBN 0-553-08974-9
• Terrorism: How the West Can Win (Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1986) ISBN 0-374-27342-1
• International Terrorism: Challenge and Response‎ (The Jonathon Institute, 1980) ISBN 0-87855-894-2

Articles:

• "On Terrorism"

References

1. Hawas, Akram T. The new alliance: Turkey and Israel. The fourth Nordic conference on Middle Eastern Studies: The Middle East in globalizing world. Oslo, 13–16 August 1998.
2. US Welcomes Israeli Settlement Move, Urges Palestinians to Enter Negotiations, Voice of America, 25 November 2009

External links

• Official website (Hebrew), English, Russian
• Biography of Benjamin Netanyahu at Zionism and Israel Information Center Biography Section
• Website of supporters of Benjamin Netanyahu: Hebrew
• Benjamin Netanyahu on the definition of terror (BBC)(5 min.)
• Benjamin Netanyahu Profile on Israeli Lexicon (Ynetnews)
• Netanyahu: Pullout will worsen Israel's security The Jerusalem Post, 5 August 2005
• Cheltenham High School Hall of Fame Biography
• Netanyahu’s Fortification Plan
• The 32nd Government, official Knesset website
• Sara Netanyahu, Sara Netanyahu biography and photos
• 2009 Speech to the United Nations General Assembly