Netanyahu s deadline to form new Israeli govt expires, rivals eyed Reuters Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Image: Reuters)
Benjamin Netanyahu s deadline for forming a new Israeli government expired early on Wednesday, with the country s longest-serving prime minister having failed to break more than two years of political deadlock.
There was also no guarantee that, after the conservative incumbent was unable to assemble a new coalition, parties outside his caretaker government could bridge their differences and unseat him.
Netanyahu, 71, has been in office since 2009 and also served for three years in the 1990s. He has been fighting to hold the helm through four inconclusive elections since 2019 and is on trial for criminal corruption charges he denies.
Benjamin Netanyahu Fast Facts
Personal
Birth place: Tel Aviv, Israel
Birth name
Children: with Sara Ben-Artzi: Avner and Yair; with Miriam Haran: Noa
Education: Attended Harvard University; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, B.S., 1974, and M.S., 1976
Military service: Israeli Defense Forces, 1967-1972, Captain
Religion
Is known throughout Israel by the nickname “Bibi.”
Spent his teenage years in the United States; went to high school in Philadelphia.
First Israeli prime minister to be born after the state was founded in 1948.
Netanyahu’s brother, Yonatan, was killed in action in 1976 while leading a mission to rescue Israeli passengers on a hijacked Air France plane.
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