Benjamin Netanyahu has twice been prime minister of Israel and is the leader of that nation's Likud Party. Born in Tel Aviv the year after Israel had gained independence, he studied for a few years in the United States before returning to Israel in 1967 for military service. His career in the U.S. and Israel shifted from business to politics, and he worked in the U.S. at the Israeli embassy and then as a representative at the United Nations. He was elected to the Knesset in 1988, and during the Gulf War of the early 1990s he strengthened his political position and emerged as a candidate for prime minister. He won the 1996 election, but then was defeated in the election of 1999 by Ehud Barak. Netanyahu served as Minister of Foreign Affairs (2002-03) and Minister of Finance (2003-05) under Ariel Sharon, but left Sharon's government over policy differences. Netanyahu gained leadership of the Likud Party in 2005, and in 2009 he was the party's successful candidate for prime minister against acting prime minister Tzipi Livni of the Kadima Party. Although the election on 10 February 2009 gave Kadima more seats in the Knesset, Likud's showing at the polls put Netanyahu in position to form a new government as prime minister.

Extra credit: Netanyahu has a B.S. degree in architecture (1975) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a master's degree (1977) from MIT's Sloan School of Management... His older brother, Yonatan Netanyahu, was killed while leading the Israeli raid on Entebbe Airport in Uganda in 1976.