Benjamin Netanyahu, Outstanding Prime Minister''s Past of Trials and Tribulations

 Nadene Goldfoot

Dedicated to my daughter, Deborah, who joins my concern about Netanyahu being ousted.  

  Benjamin Netanyahu b: October 21, 1949 in Tel Aviv 

Benjamin Netanyahu is an Israeli politician serving as the prime minister of Israel since 2009, for a total of the past 12 years.   He is the longest-serving Israeli prime minister in history and the first to be born in Israel after its Declaration of Independence.                                   

Which is Benjamin?  Yonaton was born first, then Benjamin and Iddo.   

 His parents were  Prof. Benzion Netanyahu (original name Mileikowsky) and Tzila (Cela; née Segal). His mother was born in 1912 in Petah Tikva, then in Ottoman Palestine, now Israel. Though all his grandparents were born in the Russian Empire (now Belarus, Lithuania and Poland), his mother's parents emigrated to Minneapolis in the United States. He is related to Rabbi Eliyahu of Vilna (the Vilna Gaon) on his paternal side.

Netanyahu's father, Benzion, was a professor of Jewish history at Cornell University, editor of the Encyclopaedia Hebraica, and a senior aide to Ze'ev Jabotinsky, who remained active in research and writing into his nineties. Regarding the Palestinian people, he stated: "That they won't be able to face [anymore] the war with us, which will include withholding food from Arab cities, preventing education, terminating electrical power and more. They won't be able to exist, and they will run away from here. But it all depends on the war, and whether we will win the battles with them." If his father could only see what Netanyahu has had to face!

                                                

After graduating from high school in Pennsylvania 1967, Netanyahu returned to Israel to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces. He trained as a combat soldier and served for five years in an elite special forces unit of the IDF, Sayeret Matkal. He took part in numerous cross-border assault raids during the 1967–70 War of Attrition, rising to become a team-leader in the unit. He was wounded in combat on multiple occasions. He was involved in many other missions, including the 1968 Israeli raid on Lebanon and the rescue of the hijacked Sabena Flight 571 in May 1972, in which he was shot in the shoulder. He was discharged from active service in 1972 but remained in the Sayeret Matkal reserves. Following his discharge, he left to study in the United States but returned in October 1973 to serve in the Yom Kippur War. He took part in special forces raids along the Suez Canal against Egyptian forces before leading a commando attack deep inside Syrian territory, the details of which remain classified today.

Netanyahu's paternal grandfather was Nathan Mileikowsky, a leading Zionist rabbi and JNF fundraiser. 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 Israel Defense Forces.  He has a 1st cousin, Nathan Netanyahu, born in 1951, a computer scientist.  

Having previously served in that role from 1996 to 1999 actually makes him Prime Minister of Israel for 15 years.  . Netanyahu is also the chairman of the Likud; Israel's National Liberal Movement, which is a right-wing political party.  This is a different meaning from the USA's Democratic party which is also very liberal, but is on the left. 

                                             

      That day at the UN when he told a scant audience of the red line that Iran was close to achieving nuclear development for weapons.  Netanyahu draws a red line on a graphic of a bomb as he addresses the 67th United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. Headquarters in New York, September 27, 2012. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
 

His 12-year service may be coming to an end this year at age 72.  "The attempt to put an end to Netanyahu's rule, publicly announced Sunday night by hard-right party leader, Naftali Bennett, has been welcomed by a surprising cross-section of left-wing and right-wing Israelis, as Netanyahu and his allies fight fiercely to keep him in power ahead of a looming Wednesday deadline for a new coalition to be reached."  "

Israeli opposition leader Naftali Bennett says he's ready to join parties on the Left to form a new unity coalition government that could unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. CNN's Hadas Gold reports.

Source: CNN.  Compared to Netanyahu, I just heard on TV that they consider Bennett a 3rd rate politician.  Netyanhu would be a formidable contender, all right, with plenty of experience.

                                                 

Indeed, the one thing Netanyahu has going for him is his ability to speak in English, actually better than most Americans.  Not only his vocabulary, but his ability to defend Israel when caught off-guard.  The man's intelligence and ability to communicate is amazing.  I'll never forget when he was on TV and speaking with Obama who wanted Israel to go back to the 67 lines, and Netanyahu spoke so eloquently.  It was amazing to behold.  

                                              

It was during Netanyahu's service that the Abraham Accords came to fruition.   This was on September 15,2020.  

We have many budding politicians who can't get a break, they feel, with Netanyahu in the main seat.  So a few have another method other than elections to get him out which it true all over the world  Pin something on them.

                                             

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center, in Jerusalem last week, has denied the accusations of bribery.Credit...Pool photo by Abir Sultan, December 2, 2018.  

Since January 2017, Netanyahu has been investigated and questioned by Israeli police in two cases, "Case 1000" and "Case 2000". The two cases are connected. In Case 1000, Netanyahu is suspected of having obtained inappropriate favors from businessmen, including James Packer and Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan. This case concerns the prime minister's relationship with two businessmen: Arnon Milchan, an Israeli Hollywood film producer, and James Packer, an Australian billionaire. In a document summarising the indictment, Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit alleged that Mr Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, received various goods from the businessmen, "mainly cigar boxes and cases of champagne".  They were allegedly given in a continuous manner, "such that they became a sort of 'supply channel'". The value of the goods was approximately 700,000 shekels ($198,000; £162,000).

Given the connections between them, Mr Netanyahu "should have refrained from dealing with Mr Milchan's affairs", the attorney general said. Despite this, he claimed, Mr Netanyahu "acted for the benefit of Mr Milchan as part of his official roles" between 2011 and 2016. Mr Netanyahu has insisted they were merely tokens of friendship and that he did not act inappropriately in exchange for them.  Mr Milchan and Mr Packer are not facing any charges, but like the prime minister they have denied any wrongdoing.

Case 2000 involves alleged attempts to strike a deal with the publisher of the Yedioth Ahronot newspaper group, Arnon Mozes, to promote legislation to weaken Yedioth's main competitor, Israel Hayom, in exchange for more favorable coverage of Netanyahu.

On 3 August 2017, Israeli police confirmed for the first time that Netanyahu was suspected of crimes involving fraud, breach of trust, and bribes in cases "1000" and "2000". The next day, it was reported that the Prime Minister's former chief of staff, Ari Harow, had signed a deal with prosecutors to testify against Netanyahu in these cases.

Israelis protest against Netanyahu outside his official residence in Jerusalem on 30 July 2020

On 13 February 2018, Israeli police recommended that Netanyahu be charged with corruption. According to a police statement, sufficient evidence exists to indict the prime minister on charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust in the two cases. Netanyahu responded that the allegations were baseless and that he would continue as prime minister. On 25 November 2018, it was reported that Economic Crimes Division Director Liat Ben-Ari recommended indictment for both cases.

On 28 February 2019, the Israeli attorney general announced his intent to file indictments against Netanyahu on bribe and fraud charges in three different cases. Netanyahu was formally indicted on 21 November 2019. If Netanyahu is convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison for bribery and a maximum of three years for fraud and breach of trust. He is the first sitting prime minister in Israel's history to be charged with a crime. On 23 November 2019, it was announced that Netanyahu, in compliance with legal precedent set by the Israeli Supreme Court in 1993, would relinquish his agriculture, health, social affairs and diaspora affairs portfolios. The matter of forcing a prime minister to resign due to an indictment has yet to be tested in court. He was officially charged on 28 January 2020.

Netanyahu's criminal trial is set to begin on 24 May 2020, having been initially scheduled for March of that year but delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Yet, on 17 May 2020, Netanyahu was sworn-in for a fifth term as prime minister in a coalition with Benny Gantz. This occurred after the 2019–20 Israeli political crisis.

Against a background of the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel and Netanyahu's criminal trial, extensive demonstrations broke out against him in front of the Prime Minister's residence. Following this, Netanyahu ordered to disperse the demonstrations using COVID-19 special regulations, limiting them to 20 people and at a distance of 1,000 meters from their homes. However, the exact opposite was achieved; the demonstrations were enlarged and dispersed to over 1,000 centers. By March 2021, Israel became the country with the highest vaccinated population per capita in the world against COVID-19.

"TEL AVIV — The leaders of two of Israel's main opposition parties said they would work together to form a coalition government on Sunday, in a move that could see Benjamin Netanyahu unseated as prime minister for the first time in 12 years."In the last two years, Israel has been in a circle of elections, internal fighting with no leadership," Bennett said Sunday in a televised announcement. "This will not happen again. We can stop this and take control. There is no option for a right-wing government lead by Netanyahu — it’s either a change government or new elections.""No one believes Netanyahu anymore," Bennett added. "In this critical moment, I’m saying I intend to form a national unity government with Lapid."

Naftali Bennett, head of the small religious and nationalist Yamina party, and opposition leader Yair Lapid, of the centrist Yesh Atid party, said they had joined forces.

Today, shown on TV IL, they have everything open, and a wonderful way to keep the virus from returning.  They are way ahead of the rest of the world in this, and tourists are flying in.  They can thank Netanyahu.  

if Netanyahu is ousted, he most likely will make a come-back later on.  He's still relatively young for a politician, and is one of the most capable men on the planet.  

Resource:

https://www.npr.org/2021/05/31/1001876644/unlikely-israeli-political-coalition-threatens-to-oust-netanyahu

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Netanyahu

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-un-assembly-israel-iran/netanyahu-draws-red-line-on-irans-nuclear-program-idUSBRE88Q0GI20120927

https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2021/05/30/israel-coalition-government-benjamin-netanyahu-gold-sot-vpx-nr.cnn

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-47409739

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/opposition-parties-unite-israel-bid-unseat-netanyahu-prime-minister-n1269085

https://childhoodbiography.com/benjamin-netanyahu-childhood-story-plus-untold-biography-facts/