Benjamin Netanyahu was formally nominated as the Prime Minister of Israel for an unprecedented fifth consecutive term by President Reuven Rivlin.
This decision came after 65 members of the 120 members of the Knesset – the legislative branch of the Israel government – recommended Netanyahu as the Prime Minister.
With this, he becomes the longest serving Prime Minister of Israel, surpassing David Ben-Gurion – the primary national founder of the state of Israel and the first Prime Minister of Israel.
Netanyahu is now expected to form a coalition government in the four weeks, with a possible extension of another two weeks.
In the election held in April 2019, Netanyahu’s Likud party defeated Benny Gantz, the leader of the Blue and White party.
Who is Benjamin Netanyahu?
Born on 21 October 1949 in Tel Aviv, Benjamin Netanyahu is the current Prime Minister of Israel. He had also served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs and as the Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations.
Due to his father, Benzion Netanyahu’s work, the family moved to the United States in 1963. However, Netanyahu came back to Israel, spending five years in the Israel Defense Forces, serving as the captain of Sayeret Matkal – the elite specials unit.
Subsequently, he went back to the United States to complete his education, earning a degree from the prestigious Massachusets Institute of Technology. It was much later, in 1988, that Netanyahu became actively involved in Israeli politics.
He first became the Prime Minister in 1996. At that time, he was the youngest ever Prime Minister of Israel. He then lost office in 1999, returning to power a decade later in 2009. He has, since, held the position of the Premier of Israel.
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