Benjamin Netanyahu: Biography from Answers.com Mobile

Binyamin Netanyahu

(b. Tel-Aviv, 21 Oct. 1949) Israeli; Prime Minister 1996 – 99 Netanyahu attended an American high school from the age of 14. He returned to Israel in 1967 for military service, finishing as an officer in an élite anti-terrorist unit. He resumed his American education at MIT in 1972, graduating with degrees in architecture and business administration. A brief business career in the USA and Israel followed which ended when he became deputy to the ambassador in Washington in 1982. He was appointed UN ambassador from 1984 to 1988 and during this period Netanyahu acquired his considerable media skills.

In 1988 he was elected to the Knesset and straightway appointed deputy Foreign Minister. He relinquished the post in 1991 to serve in Prime Minister Shamir's office as Israel's spokesman during the Gulf War. Later that year he was a member of the Israeli delegation to the Middle East peace talks which began at Madrid. Netanyahu succeeded Shamir as party leader in 1993 after Likud's electoral defeat the previous year. From the Oslo Accords (1993) onwards, he vehemently opposed the peace process with the Palestinians and played skillfully on the Israeli public's fears about personal security. These were accentuated after suicide bombings by Islamist terrorists in early 1996 and helped to secure his narrow victory in the direct election for Prime Minister later that year. Despite his party winning fewer seats than Labour in the simultaneous general election, Netanyahu successfully formed a Likud-led coalition government. After a year in power it had stalled the faltering peace process, violated the sanctity of Islam's Noble Sanctuary in Jerusalem (resulting in widespread violence and many deaths), alienated numerous allies, and nearly dragged Israel into war with Syria. Netanyahu narrowly escaped indictment for fraud and breach of trust in the Bar-On political scandal of 1997.