Likud or Labor: Right Or Left: Facts You Should Know About Our Prime Ministers And I Bet You Don't

 Nadene Goldfoot                                        

1st Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion, דָּוִד בֶּן־גּוּרִיּוֹן (1886-1973) Born in Płońsk, then part of Congress Poland, to Polish Jewish parents, he immigrated to the Palestine region of the Ottoman Empire in 1906. Adopting the name of Ben-Gurion in 1909, he rose to become the preeminent leader of the Jewish community in British-ruled Mandatory Palestine from 1935 until the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, which he led until 1963 with a short break in 1954–55. Ben-Gurion's interest for Zionism developed early in his life, leading him to become a major Zionist leader, and the executive head of the World Zionist Organization in 1946.  He was the de facto leader of the Jewish community in Palestine, and largely led the movement for an independent Jewish state in Mandatory Palestine.   He served from the time of creation on May 14, 1948 to December 7, 1953.                                                                    

Present day (2025)Benjamin Netanyahu,  Prime Minister, in list, 9th and more;  (born 1949) 76 yrs old;    Born to secular Jewish parents, Netanyahu was raised in West Jerusalem and the United States. He returned to Israel in 1967 to join the Israel Defense Forces and served in the Sayeret Matkal special forces as a captain before being honorably discharged. In 1972, he returned to the United States, and after graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Netanyahu worked for the Boston Consulting Group before moving back to Israel in 1978 to found the Yonatan Netanyahu Anti-Terror Institute. Between 1984 and 1988 Netanyahu was Israel's ambassador to the United Nations. Netanyahu rose to prominence after election as chair of Likud in 1993, becoming leader of the opposition. In the 1996 general election, Netanyahu became the first Israeli prime minister elected directly by popular vote, and its youngest. Netanyahu was defeated in the 1999 election and retired from politics, entering the private sector.  He's now serving in his 3rd term.  Bibi started as Prime Minister on May 6, 2015, serving on and off.  He's been with Likud, on the Right.  

Right now, "Tens of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets to call for a new ceasefire in Gaza and to protest against what they say is an attack on the country’s democracy by the rightwing governing coalition of Benjamin Netanyahu.  They want their 59 hostages released and blame the government for not seeing to it.  They see no reason to fire Shin Bet's leader, Ronen Bar.  

I say that sometimes, the masses really don't know the reasoning behind their government.  The country is flooded with the oppositional viewpoints from other country's media and their own.  The population is extremely diverse, more so than even the USA, I bet.  Israel's population is diverse, with roughly 75% identifying as Jewish, many of whom are Israeli-born, and around 20% are Arab, including Muslims, Christians, and Druze. The Jewish population includes immigrants from Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. They range from coming from families there always back to 70 CE to new immigrantswithout education of their history.  

It seems to me that when the country was in trouble, Likud with people like Netanyahu were voted in.  Labor was too lenient.  They were ready to give away the country.  It pays to look at their service as a whole. 

                     Term of Office in Years

1. Benjamin Netanyahu: 17 years, 175 days as of 22 March 2025 (first term: 3 years and 18 days; second term: 12 years and 74 days; third term: 2 years, 83 days)

• Benjamin Netanyahu (b. Israel) 1996–1999, 2009–2021, 2022–present

1. David Ben-Gurion: 13 years and 127 days (first term: 5 years and 257 days; second term: 7 years and 235 days)

• David Ben-Gurion (b. Poland, then-Russian Empire) 1948–1953, 1955–1963

1. Yitzhak Shamir: 6 years and 242 days (first term: 339 days; second term: 5 years and 268 days)
2. Yitzhak Rabin: 6 years and 132 days (first term: 3 years and 18 days; second term: 3 years and 114 days)
3. Menachem Begin: 6 years and 113 days
4. Levi Eshkol: 5 years and 247 days
5. Ariel Sharon: 5 years and 39 days^{[a]---first Likud PM}
6. Golda Meir: 5 years and 19 days
7. Ehud Olmert: 2 years and 351 days^[b]
8. Shimon Peres: 2 years and 264 days (first term: 2 years and 37 days; second term: 227 days)
9. Moshe Sharett: 1 year and 281 days
10. Ehud Barak: 1 year and 245 days
11. Naftali Bennett: 1 year and 17 days
12. Yair Lapid: 181 days
13. Yigal Allon: 19 days (acting)

Resource:

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

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ben-Gurion

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