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class of 1967
inducted in 1999
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Benjamin Netanyahu
Prime Minister of Israel
Born in Tel Aviv in 1949, Benjamin
Netanyahu came to the United States at the age of 13. Netanyahu attended Cheltenham High School, and impressed teachers and fellow
students with his academic brilliance and his strong convictions. In June
1967, when tensions between Egypt and Israel erupted into what is now known as the
Six-Day War, Netanyahu and several of his classmates missed their graduation
ceremony to help in the war effort in Israel. Netanyahu served for five years as an
officer in an elite paratrooper unit of the Israel Defense Forces,
participating in many successful anti-terrorist missions and eventually
reaching the rank of captain.
Netanyahu returned to the United States to complete his education at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, earning a B.S. in architecture in 1974
and a M.S. in management studies in 1976. Following the death of his brother
Jonathan in the July 1976 mission to rescue hostages at Uganda's Entebbe Airport, Benjamin co-founded the Jonathan
Institute, a Jerusalem-based foundation researching terrorism. Netanyahu
organized the institute's International Conference on International Terrorism
in 1979, the event which first thrust Netanyahu into the world spotlight. As
part of his tireless work to combat terrorism, Netanyahu organized a second
International Conference in 1984 and has authored and edited such books as
Terrorism: How the West Can Win (1986), International Terrorism: Challenge
and Response (1991), and Fighting Terrorism (1995). Former U.S. Secretary of
State George Shultz credited Netanyahu with playing a central role in shaping
American policy towards terrorism during the 1980's.
Netanyahu was appointed the Deputy Chief of Mission of the Israeli Embassy in the United States in 1982. From 1984 to 1988, Netanyahu
served as Israel's ambassador to the United Nations. In
1988, Netanyahu returned to Israel, immediately beginning his rapid ascent
in Israeli politics. A member of the right-wing Likud
Party, he was elected to the 12th Knesset and was soon appointed Deputy
Foreign Minister. Netanyahu's face was a familiar sight on ABC's Nightline
and CNN's Larry King Live at the time of the Gulf War, during which he served
as Israel's principal representative in the
international arena.
In March 1993, Netanyahu was elected chairman of the Likud
Party. His criticism of Prime Minister Shimon Peres voiced the concerns of
many Israelis who felt that too much was being yielded to the PLO in order to
gain peace. In the nation's first direct election of its leader, Benjamin
Netanyahu was elected Prime Minister of Israel in 1996, winning by less than
one percent of the vote. His term of office was marked by division within the
Likud Party and within Israeli society in general.
After three years of Netanyahu's hard-line opposition to the Palestinians,
the majority of Israelis were eager for the peace process to move forward.
In May 1999, Netanyahu was soundly defeated in his bid for re-election by
Labor Party candidate Ehud Barak.
In a career unparalleled in Israeli history, Netanyahu climbed rapidly to the
top by combining a tenacious idealism with an American understanding of
media. At 46 years of age, Benjamin Netanyahu became the first Prime Minister
under 60 ever to have been elected in Israel. Following the 1999 election, Netanyahu
resigned from the Knesset and retired from politics. He now plans to lecture
extensively in the United States.
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