Benjamin Netanyahu has already secured his record in Israeli political history: He is the longest-serving prime minister, notching up roughly 19 years across three periods in office.
In 2019, he surpassed David Ben Gurion, Israel’s founding prime minister, who was in office 13 years and 127 days.
Netanyahu, now 77, was 46 when he first became prime minister in 1996. He held the post for three years before losing power and spending a decade out of office.
In 2009 he made his first comeback, returning to the premiership for 12 consecutive years. In 2021, Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid succeeded in assembling an alternative governing coalition, but it collapsed after barely a year. Bennett served for one year and 17 days, and Lapid succeeded him for just 181 days, making them the two shortest-serving prime ministers in Israel’s history.
After a brief period in the opposition, Netanyahu made his second comeback, returning to power in December 2022 for his sixth term. His outgoing government also set a record, becoming the first Israeli government to conclude its full term in almost 40 years.
Netanyahu carries another historic distinction. He is the first sitting Israeli prime minister to stand trial for corruption while in office, a legal saga that has shaped his political alliances over the past decade and increased his reliance on far-right and ultra-Orthodox partners, with whom he formed his last coalition.
As Netanyahu seeks a seventh term, the election is once again a referendum on his leadership, but this time he also bears another historic burden. Netanyahu was the sitting prime minister on October 7, 2023, the date of the deadliest security failure in Israel’s history. He is the only top Israeli official who served that day to remain in office.
This election will determine if Netanyahu extends his record-setting tenure, or if another chapter in Israel’s political history begins.