Since rising to fame as Israel’s silver-tongued UN ambassador in 1984, Netanyahu has loomed, colossus-like, over the country’s politics.
As a young prime minister in 1996, he dealt with the post-Oslo Accords terror; and then, in a record-breaking second stint in office from 2009 until 2021, he buried the threat of an Oslo II.
At home, Bibi presided over a long, high-tech-fueled boom that turned Israel into an economic powerhouse. His right-wing-religious bloc turned him into an enigmatic combination – a secular politician who commanded cult-like following on the chareidi street.
Abroad, Bibi became a 21st-century statesman. He defied the American president in Congress to marshal support against the Iran Deal, oversaw audacious Mossad operations, and helped Israel punch above its weight by the sheer force of his personality.
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