Profile: Binyamin Netanyahu

Netanyahu has a talent for political survival

Binyamin Netanyahu was one of the most right-wing and controversial leaders in Israel's history.

He became the country's youngest prime minister in 1996, but three years later he lost office after defeat at the polls to Labour.

He subsequently lost the Likud leadership to Ariel Sharon.

Since then, he has made a political comeback, his latest triumph seeing him win back the leadership of Likud after the departure of Mr Sharon, the current Prime Minister, who has formed a new centrist political party.

Mr Netanyahu served as foreign minister and finance minister under Mr Sharon, accepting the latter job after the prime minister agreed to give him a free hand in key economic issues.

But he resigned from Mr Sharon's cabinet in August 2005, in protest at Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

Land for peace

Mr Netanyahu's three-year premiership was brief but dramatic.

His election, by the narrowest of margins, represented a major turning point in Israeli politics.

LIFE AND TIMES 1949: Born in Tel Aviv 1967-73: Serves as soldier and commando captain 1984: Becomes ambassador to UN 1988: Enters Knesset and cabinet 1996: Becomes prime minister 1999: Loses election 2002-3: Serves as foreign minister Feb 2003 to Aug 2005: Serves as finance minister December 2005: Wins back the leadership of the Likud party

Known as Bibi to his friends and enemies alike, he was the first Israeli leader to be born after the creation of the Jewish state.

Politically, he positioned himself to the right of previous leaders of the secular centre-right Likud Party.

To his supporters, he came across as young, handsome, energetic, articulate in English and a master of how to handle the Western media.

But as prime minister, Mr Netanyahu, who had said he would never compromise on the issue of land for peace, did just that under US pressure.

This alienated his supporters on the right. At the same time, he did not bend sufficiently to keep the support of those in Israel who favoured a land-for-peace deal with the Arabs.

His critics said a more seasoned politician could have avoided many of the difficulties in the first place.

Mr Netanyahu survived rather than prospered, and lost office in May 1999 after he called elections 17 months early.

Life in US

Mr Netanyahu's inexperience reflected his fast rise to power and his long sojourns away from the ruthless and rowdy world of Israeli politics.

When he was a teenager, his family moved to the US where he completed his education.

Back in Israel, he spent five distinguished years in the army, serving as a captain in an elite commando unit.

His brother, Jonathan, became a posthumous hero when he was killed leading a raid against a hijacked airliner in Entebbe, Uganda, in 1976.

Out of the military, Mr Netanyahu returned to the US, taking courses at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In 1981, he secured a post in the Israeli embassy in Washington, where his friend and future Israeli Foreign Minister, Moshe Arens, was ambassador.

Overnight, Mr Netanyahu's public life was launched.

He became a familiar face on US television and an effective advocate of the Israeli cause.

Mr Netanyahu was equally successful in this respect while serving as Israel's ambassador at the United Nations.

Only in 1988, when he returned to Israel, did he become involved in domestic politics, winning a seat in the Knesset and becoming deputy foreign minister.