Where source notes are not included for direct quotations, the material is from my own reporting, including personal interviews on and off the record.
Prologue: Netanyahu’s Israel
1. Tal Shalev, “Netanyahu at the Border with Egypt: ‘The Impossible Has Been Achieved,’” Walla, January 2, 2013.
2. Barak Ravid, “Netanyahu: ‘Israel Has No Asylum Seeker Problem, Only Illegal Job Immigrants,’” Haaretz, September 30, 2014.
Chapter 1: An Orator of the Highest Grace
1. Benjamin Netanyahu, A Durable Peace: Israel and Its Place Among the Nations (New York: Warner Books, 2009), loc. 696, Kindle; first English edition published as A Place Among the Nations: Israel and the World (New York: Bantam, 1993).
2. Nathan Mileikowsky, Orations: A Nation and a Land (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Miskal, 1994), 18.
3. Ibid., 28.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid., 179.
6. Netanyahu, YouTube page, “The Personal-National Story of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu” (in Hebrew), February 14, 2015, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kgoQfMcA_ek.
Chapter 2: Propaganda, Propaganda, and Propaganda
1. Ze’ev Jabotinsky, “Smol Ha’Yarden” (poem, in Hebrew), Doar Ha’Yom, April 11, 1930.
2. Ze’ev Jabotinsky, “Vegan Aizerner Vand (Mir Un DiArbe)—Iron Wall (Us and the Arabs),” handwritten article (Yiddish), 1923, archived at Jabotinsky Institute website, www.infocenters.co.il/jabo/jabo_multimedia/Files/linked/
1%20–7_13.PDF.
3. Anita Shapira, Ben-Gurion: Father of Modern Israel (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 2015), 49, 68.
4. Arye Naor, David Raziel (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Yedioth Books, 1990), 54.
5. Ari Shavit, “In the Shadow of History,” Haaretz, May 1, 2012.
6. Benzion Netanyahu, “Towards Ourselves,” Ha’Yarden, August 5, 1934.
7. Benzion Netanyahu, “Plan for Defeat,” Ha’Yarden, June 6, 1934.
8. B. Soker (pseudonym), “‘Our’ University,” Beitar, November 1943.
9. Adi Armon, “Ben-Zion Netanyahu, the Formative Years,” Haaretz, November 13, 2016.
10. Ibid.
11. Naor, David Raziel, 160.
Chapter 3: On the Sidelines of History
1. Anita Shapira, Ben-Gurion: Father of Modern Israel (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 2015), 106.
2. Ofer Grosbard, Menachem Begin: A Portrait of a Leader (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Resling, 2006), 82.
Chapter 4: The End of the Great Zionist Dream
1. Ari Shavit, “Ben-Zion Netanyahu in a 1998 Interview: ‘There’s No Such Thing as a Palestinian People,’” Haaretz, April 30, 2012.
2. “Partition Will Not Solve the Palestine Problem!,” New York Times, September 12, 1947.
3. David Ben-Gurion, Vision and Way, vol. 5 (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Ministry of Defense, 1971), 166.
4. Shavit, “Ben-Zion Netanyahu in a 1998 Interview.”
Chapter 5: Life Within Sharp Borders
1. Yonathan Shapiro, Chosen to Command (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1989), 82.
2. Jonathan Netanyahu, Yoni’s Letters, edited by Iddo and Benjamin Netanyahu (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Maariv, 1978), 21.
3. Gadi Blum, “The Power Plan,” Yedioth Ahronoth, October, 13, 2006.
4. Amos Oz, A Tale of Love and Darkness (in Hebrew) (Jerusalem: Keter, 2002), 154.
5. Ibid., 68.
6. Educational Television, Friday Supplement, “Dan Margalit interviews Benzion Netanyahu,” April 14, 2005, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JmNTO nG3IyM.
Chapter 6: A Terrible Dislocation
1. Channel 20 (Israel), Generations, December 17, 2015, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zxuL-RF4U2Y.
2. Judith Katzir, Tzilla (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: New Library, 2013), 79.
3. Michael Bar-Zohar, Ben Gurion (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Yedioth Books, 2013), 452. The first two kingdoms are the biblical one and then the Maccabean one; the current state of Israel is sometimes referred to as the third kingdom.
4. Benjamin Netanyahu, A Durable Peace: Israel and Its Place Among the Nations (New York: Warner Books, 2009), loc. 2474, Kindle; first English edition published as A Place Among the Nations: Israel and the World (New York: Bantam, 1993).
5. Channel 20 (Israel), Generations, December 17, 2015, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zxuL-RF4U2Y.
Chapter 7: American Ben, Israeli Bibi
1. Jonathan Netanyahu, Yoni’s Letters, edited by Iddo and Benjamin Netanyahu (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Maariv, 1978), 29.
2. Ibid., 20.
3. Ibid., 21.
4. Ibid., 52.
5. Benjamin Netanyahu, A Durable Peace: Israel and Its Place Among the Nations (New York: Warner Books, 2009), loc. 2488, Kindle; first English edition published as A Place Among the Nations: Israel and the World (New York: Bantam, 1993).
6. Ibid.
Chapter 8: You Have to Kill Arabs
1. Benjamin Netanyahu, A Durable Peace: Israel and Its Place Among the Nations (New York: Warner Books, 2009), loc. 2496, Kindle; first English edition published as A Place Among the Nations: Israel and the World (New York: Bantam, 1993).
2. Ibid., loc. 2507.
3. Ibid., loc. 2516.
4. Protocol of meeting of cabinet defense committee, June 15, 1967 (Israel State Archive).
5. Netanyahu, Durable Peace, loc. 5841.
6. Ibid., loc. 3274.
7. Jonathan Netanyahu, Yoni’s Letters, edited by Iddo and Benjamin Netanyahu (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Maariv, 1978), 161.
8. Max Hastings, Yoni (in Hebrew) (Jerusalem: Idanim, 1979), 87.
9. J. Netanyahu, Yoni’s Letters, 166.
10. Ibid., 178.
11. Ibid.
12. Iddo Netanyahu, Yoni’s Last Battle (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Maariv, 1991), 58.
13. Channel 10 (Israel), The Source, interview with Amiram Levin, June 14, 2017, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ_JawoyBz4.
14. J. Netanyahu, Yoni’s Letters, 193.
15. Ibid., 163.
16. Ibid., 207.
17. Moshe Zonder, Sayeret Matkal: The Elite Unit of Israel (in Hebrew) (Jerusalem: Keter, 2000), 67.
18. Ibid., 72.
19. See photo at the Government Press Office’s National Photo Collection, http://gpophotoeng.gov.il/fotoweb/Grid.fwx?search=Sabena#Preview23.
Chapter 9: I’ve Reached My Target
1. Charles H. Ball, “Professor Recalls Netanyahu’s Intense Studies in Three Fields,” MIT News, June 5, 1996.
2. Ibid.
3. Channel 10 (Israel), “Netanyahu Eulogises His Father,” April 30, 2012, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ_JawoyBz4.
4. Jonathan Netanyahu, Yoni’s Letters, edited by Iddo and Benjamin Netanyahu (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Maariv, 1978), 222.
5. Ibid.
6. Josef Argaman, It Was Top Secret (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Israeli Defense Ministry, 1991), 369.
7. Even though there is no temple, some call the modern state of Israel the third temple.
8. “Yom Kippur War, 40 Years Back: Where Were the Leaders Then,” Walla, September 13, 2013.
9. J. Netanyahu, Yoni’s Letters, 239.
10. Barak Ravid, “Netanyahu to Bennett: Don’t Lecture Me About Backing the IDF, I Led More Soldiers into Battle Than You,” Haaretz, March 27, 2016.
11. Channel 2 (Israel), Yair Lapid (talk show), January 2, 2006.
12. Benjamin Netanyahu, A Durable Peace: Israel and Its Place Among the Nations (New York: Warner Books, 2009), loc. 4555, Kindle; first English edition published as A Place Among the Nations: Israel and the World (New York: Bantam, 1993).
13. Quoted in Moshe Zonder, Sayeret Matkal: The Elite Unit of Israel (in Hebrew) (Jerusalem: Keter, 2000), 77.
Chapter 10: Trying to Save the State
1. Benjamin Netanyahu, A Durable Peace: Israel and Its Place Among the Nations (New York: Warner Books, 2009), loc. 3683, Kindle; first English edition published as A Place Among the Nations: Israel and the World (New York: Bantam, 1993).
2. Melvin I. Urofsky, We Are One! American Jewry and Israel (Garden City, NY: Anchor Press, 1978), 12.
3. “Notable & Quotable: Martin Luther King Jr. on Israel: Martin Luther King Jr. Speaking to the Annual Convention of the Rabbinical Assembly on March 25, 1968,” Wall Street Journal, March 31, 2015.
4. Philip Weiss, “How 1967 Changed American Jews,” Mondoweiss, June 8, 2017.
5. Gil Samsonov, The Princes: The Sons and Daughters of the Begin Generation Who Became Leaders (in Hebrew) (Or Yehuda: Kinneret Zmora-Bitan, 2015), 205.
6. Jonathan Netanyahu, Yoni’s Letters, edited by Iddo and Benjamin Netanyahu (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Maariv, 1978), 265.
7. Ofer Grosbard, Menachem Begin: A Portrait of a Leader (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Resling, 2006), 150.
8. Ibid., 164.
9. Yonathan Shapiro, Chosen to Command (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1989), 174.
10. J. Netanyahu, Yoni’s Letters, 236.
11. Ibid., 239.
12. Grosbard, Menachem Begin, 164.
13. J. Netanyahu, Yoni’s Letters, 218.
14. Anita Shapira, Ben-Gurion: Father of Modern Israel (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 2015), 106.
Chapter 11: Stop the World!
1. Benjamin Netanyahu, A Durable Peace: Israel and Its Place Among the Nations (New York: Warner Books, 2009), loc. 3649, Kindle; first English edition published as A Place Among the Nations: Israel and the World (New York: Bantam, 1993).
2. Saul David, Operation Thunderbolt (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 2015), 37.
3. Iddo Netanyahu, Yoni’s Last Battle (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Maariv, 1991), 15.
4. Jonathan Netanyahu, Yoni’s Letters, edited by Iddo and Benjamin Netanyahu (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Maariv, 1978), 28.
5. Max Hastings, Going to the Wars (London: Macmillan, 2000), loc. 3402, Kindle.
6. Ibid., loc. 3576.
7. Ibid., loc. 3543.
8. Moshe Zonder, “The Select,” Maariv, August 8, 1994.
9. Shimon Peres, Go with the Men (in Hebrew) (Jerusalem: Idanim, 1978), 157.
10. Channel 10 (Israel), The Source, Interview with Amiram Levin, June 14, 2017.
11. Laura Blumenfeld, “Brothers in Arms,” Washington Post, March 9, 1997.
Chapter 12: Why Aren’t You in Uniform?
1. Michael Barbaro, “A Friendship Dating to 1976 Resonates in 2012,” New York Times, April 7, 2012.
2. Ibid.
3. Richard Stengel, “Bibi’s Choice: Will He Make War? Can He Make Peace?” Time, May 28, 2012.
4. Yehuda Avner, The Prime Ministers: An Intimate Narrative of Israeli Leadership (Jerusalem: Toby Press, 2010), 37.
5. WGBH (Boston), “Advocates: Should the United States Support ‘Self-Determination’ for Palestinians in a Middle East Peace Settlement?,” June 6, 1978.
6. Ofer Grosbard, Menachem Begin: A Portrait of a Leader (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Resling, 2006), 74.
7. Benjamin Netanyahu, A Durable Peace: Israel and Its Place Among the Nations (New York: Warner Books, 2009), loc. 2601, Kindle; first English edition published as A Place Among the Nations: Israel and the World (New York: Bantam, 1993).
8. Ari Shavit, “Ben-Zion Netanyahu in a 1998 Interview: ‘There’s No Such Thing as a Palestinian People,’” Haaretz, April 30, 2012.
9. Benjamin Netanyahu, ed., International Terrorism: Challenge and Response (Jerusalem: Jonathan Institute, 1981), 39.
Chapter 13: Prime Minister in Ten Years Time
1. David Landau, Arik: The Life of Ariel Sharon (New York: Knopf, 2013), 164.
2. Dennis Ross, Doomed to Succeed (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015), 180.
3. Richard Reeves, President Reagan (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2005), 94.
4. Yehuda Avner, The Prime Ministers: An Intimate Narrative of Israeli Leadership (Jerusalem: Toby Press, 2010), 585.
5. Reeves, President Reagan, 69.
6. Interview with Moshe Arens, David Landau Archive, Jerusalem.
7. Landau, Arik, 196.
8. Interview with Moshe Arens, David Landau Archive.
9. Shimon Shiffer, Snow Ball (in Hebrew) (Jerusalem: Idanim, 1984), 112.
10. Seth Anzisk, “Preventable Massacre,” New York Times, September 16, 2012.
11. Reeves, President Reagan, 129.
12. Anzisk, “Preventable Massacre.”
13. FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting), “Are You on the Nightline Guestlist?,” January 1, 1989.
14. Ross, Doomed to Succeed, 195.
15. Benjamin Netanyahu, A Durable Peace: Israel and Its Place Among the Nations (New York: Warner Books, 2009), loc. 6048, Kindle; first English edition published as A Place Among the Nations: Israel and the World (New York: Bantam, 1993).
16. Interview with Benjamin Netanyahu, David Landau Archive.
17. William Safire, “Six Long Months,” New York Times, March 3, 1983.
Chapter 14: If He Had a Sense of Humor, He’d Be a 10
1. “Shamir: The Sea Is the Same Sea, the Arabs the Same Arabs and Netanyahu the Same Netanyahu,” Walla, October 26, 2000.
2. David Margolick, “Star of Zion,” Vanity Fair, June 5, 1996.
3. Shalom Yerushalmi, The Crucial Moment (in Hebrew) (Or Yehuda: Kinneret Zmora-Bitan, 2017), 415.
4. Quoted in Oren Perisko, “Hate from Second Sight,” The Seventh Eye, March 15, 2016.
5. Eti Hasid, Hanan Kristal, and Ilan Kfir, “Elections 1996,” Hadashot, December 26, 1986.
6. Dalya Shchori, in Al Hamishmar, November 11, 1985.
7. Nurit Brezky, “For Me Television Is an Arena,” Maariv, August 21, 1987.
8. Benjamin Netanyahu, A Place Among the Nations (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Yedioth Books, 2001), 208.
Chapter 15: Prime Minister? Of Course Not
1. Gil Samsonov, The Princes: The Sons and Daughters of the Begin Generation Who Became Leaders (in Hebrew) (Or Yehuda: Kinneret Zmora-Bitan, 2015), 208.
2. Shalom Yerushalmi, The Crucial Moment (in Hebrew) (Or Yehuda: Kinneret Zmora-Bitan, 2017), 418.
3. Masha Hamilton, “Israeli Quits to Protest Shultz Talks,” Washington Post, April 1, 1988.
4. Ben Kaspit and Ilan Kfir, Netanyahu—The Road to Power (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Alpha, 1997).
5. Thomas L. Friedman, “Baker, in a Middle East Blueprint, Asks Israel to Reach Out to Arabs,” New York Times, May 23, 1989.
6. Aaron David Miller, The Much Too Promised Land (New York: Bantam, 2008), 40.
7. “Robert Gates: The Man Who Would Ban Netanyahu from the White House,” Haaretz, January 14, 2014.
8. “When You’re Serious, Call Us,” Newsweek, June 24, 1990.
9. Benjamin Netanyahu, A Durable Peace: Israel and Its Place Among the Nations (New York: Warner Books, 2009), loc. 2398, Kindle; first English edition published as A Place Among the Nations: Israel and the World (New York: Bantam, 1993).
10. Linda Scherzer, “Gas Mask, Time Warp,” Times of Israel, January 14, 2014.
Chapter 16: A Crime Unprecedented in the History of Democracy
1. Thomas L. Friedman, “Uneasy Debate for Jews in U.S. on Loans Issue,” New York Times, March 2, 1992.
2. Haim Misgav, Conversations with Yitzhak Shamir (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Sifriat Poalim, 1997), 172.
3. Avishai Margalit, Views in Review (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998), 321.
4. Israel Television, Mabat, January 14, 1993.
5. Yaakov Neeman, Fear Not My Servant Jacob (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Yedioth Books, 2017), 219.
Chapter 17: A Political Failure?
1. Yaffa Moskowitz, Disunity in Unity (Azur: Cherikover, 2004), 85.
2. Benjamin Netanyahu, A Durable Peace: Israel and Its Place Among the Nations (New York: Warner Books, 2009), loc. 2302, Kindle; first English edition published as A Place Among the Nations: Israel and the World (New York: Bantam, 1993).
3. Ibid., loc. 2171.
4. Ibid., loc. 4362.
5. Ibid., loc. 5857.
6. Ibid., loc. 6092.
7. Ibid., loc. 2186.
8. Benjamin Netanyahu, “Peace in Our Time?,” New York Times, September 5, 1993.
9. Zeev Sternhell, “The Faded Stars of the March of Folly,” Haaretz, September 24, 1993.
10. Nissim Mishal, Uncensored (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Yedioth Books, 2011), 98.
Chapter 18: Rabin Is “Not a Traitor”
1. Nahum Barnea, “Over the Balcony,” Yedioth Ahronoth, July 3, 1994.
2. Nissim Mishal, Uncensored (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Yedioth Books, 2011), 61.
3. Israel Television, Mabat, October 5, 1995.
4. Knesset Protocol, 13th Knesset, 376th session, October 5, 1995.
5. Ibid.
6. Channel 1 (Israel), News, October 5, 1995.
7. Arieh Eldad, How Things Are Seen from Here: What Happens to the Leaders of the Right When They Come to Power (in Hebrew) (Or Yehuda: Kinneret Zmora-Bitan, 2016), 424.
8. Mishal, Uncensored, 60.
9. Nahum Barnea, “Story of an Alibi,” The Seventh Eye, May 1, 2000.
10. Mishal, Uncensored, 73.
11. Eldad, How Things Are Seen from Here, 303.
12. Yitzhak Rabin, “The Last Speech,” November 4, 1994, Yitzhak Rabin Center.
Chapter 19: Good for the Jews
1. Ben Kaspit and Ilan Kfir, Netanyahu—The Road to Power (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Alpha, 1997), 264.
2. Daniel Ben Simon, A Different Land (Tel Aviv: Arye Nir, 1997), 42.
3. Ibid., 59.
4. Ibid., 57.
5. Kaspit and Kfir, Netanyahu, 265.
6. Ronit Vardi, Bibi: Who Are You, Mr Prime Minister? (in Hebrew) (Jerusalem: Keter, 1997), 302.
7. Laura Blumenfeld, “A Long Bad Dream,” Washington Post, November 21, 1995.
8. Ben Simon, Different Land, 209.
9. Dan Margalit, I Saw Them (in Hebrew) (Or Yehuda: Kinneret Zmora-Bitan, 1997), 228.
10. Channel 2 (Israel), “Twenty Years to Netanyahu’s First Victory,” May 23, 2016.
11. Ibid.
12. Dick Morris, Behind the Oval Office (New York: Random House, 1997), 167.
Chapter 20: The Bedrock of Our Existence
1. Aaron David Miller, The Much Too Promised Land (New York: Bantam, 2008), 269.
2. Benjamin Netanyahu, Speech to US Congress, July 10, 1996, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs archive.
3. Ibid.
4. Steven Erlanger, “In Netanyahu, Congress Sees Familiar Spin,” New York Times, July 11, 1996.
5. Channel 2 (Israel), “Twenty Years to Netanyahu’s First Victory,” May 23, 2016.
6. Haim Misgav, Conversations with Yitzhak Shamir (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Sifriat Poalim, 1997), 209.
7. Channel 1 (Israel), Conference Call, July 28, 1997.
8. “Israel’s Serial Bungler,” The Economist, October 9, 1997.
Chapter 21: Dragged to Wye
1. Ari Shavit, “Why We Hate Him,” Haaretz, December 27, 1997.
2. Alex Fishman, “Outrage in the IDF: CGS Silenced by Netanyahu,” Yedioth Ahronoth, January 15, 1998.
3. Raviv Drucker, Harakiri: Ehud Barak—The Failure (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Yedioth Books, 2002), 71.
4. Ibid., 77.
5. Channel 1 (Israel), News, July 23, 1997.
6. Amira Segev, “Sharon: I Told the PM, I Don’t Know Whether to Help Your Right Hand or Your Left Hand,” Haaretz, August 13, 1997.
7. Dennis Ross, The Missing Peace (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004), 354.
8. Ibid., 370.
9. Ibid., 435.
10. Ibid., 449.
Chapter 22: They. Are. Afraid.
1. Haim Misgav, Conversations with Yitzhak Shamir (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Sifriat Poalim 1997), 160.
2. Dennis Ross, The Missing Peace (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004), 485.
3. Nahum Barnea, “The Journey of a Coat,” Yedioth Ahronoth, January 8, 1999.
4. Nissim Mishal, Uncensored (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Yedioth Books, 2011), 190.
Chapter 23: A Concerned Citizen
1. “The Netanyahu Report: Full Version,” Ynet, September 27, 2000.
2. Ari Shavit, “Ben-Zion Netanyahu in a 1998 Interview: ‘There’s No Such Thing as a Palestinian People,’” Haaretz, April 30, 2012.
3. Lilach Weissman, “Netanyahu Held Tax Haven Bank Account,” Globes, January 15, 2014.
4. “Ranking of Richest Politicians in Israel,” Forbes Israel, June 15, 2015.
5. Channel 10 (Israel), The Source, “Bibi Uncensored,” October 9, 2008.
6. Dennis Ross, The Missing Peace (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004), 682.
7. David Landau, Arik: The Life of Ariel Sharon (New York: Knopf, 2013), 350–351.
8. Ibid.
9. Channel 1 (Israel), News, February 11, 1983.
10. “Netanyahu Is Inciting Against Sharon Like He Incited in Rabin’s Time,” Walla, March 24, 2002.
11. James Bennet, “A Day of Terror: The Israelis; Spilled Blood Is Seen as Bond That Draws 2 Nations Closer,” New York Times, September 12, 2001.
12. Benjamin Netanyahu, Fighting Terrorism: How Democracies Can Defeat the International Terrorist Network (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001), xix.
13. “Benjamin Netanyahu Testifies About Iraq to Congress,” CNN, September 12, 2002.
14. “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm,” Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies, 1996.
15. Arieh Eldad, How Things Are Seen from Here: What Happens to the Leaders of the Right When They Come to Power (in Hebrew) (Or Yehuda: Kinneret Zmora-Bitan, 2016), 452.
16. Ari Shavit, Partition: Disengagement and Beyond (in Hebrew) (Jerusalem: Keter, 2005), 148.
17. Gideon Alon, “Sharon: Netanyahu Fled for Personal Reasons,” Haaretz, August 10, 2005.
Chapter 24: My Own Media
1. Gil Samsonov, The Princes: The Sons and Daughters of the Begin Generation Who Became Leaders (in Hebrew) (Or Yehuda: Kinneret Zmora-Bitan, 2015), 396.
2. Shahar Ilan, “Ninety Percent of the Knesset Members Supported,” Haaretz, April 30, 2007.
3. “The Talansky Testimony,” Haaretz, May 28, 2008.
4. Samsonov, The Princes, 402.
Chapter 25: Threats Are What Work
1. Anshel Pfeffer, “Netanyahu Wasn’t Surprised by the Election Result,” Haaretz, February 13, 2009.
2. Merav David, “Talking Unity: Netanyahu and Livni Are Meeting in Jerusalem,” NRG, February 22, 2009.
3. Attila Shumpalvi, “Barak After Meeting Netanyahu: ‘We Are Going to Opposition,’” Ynet, February 23, 2009.
4. Pinchas Wolf, “Netanyahu’s Government Approved by 69 Votes,” Walla, March 31, 2009.
Chapter 26: A New Pragmatic Bibi?
1. Ali Abunima, “How Obama Learned to Love Israel,” Electronic Intifada, March 4, 2007.
2. Jeff Zeleny, “Obama Meets with Israeli and Palestinian Leaders,” New York Times, July 24, 2008.
3. Glenn Kessler, “Obama’s Signals on Middle East Scrutinized by All Sides,” Washington Post, January 23, 2009.
4. Anshel Pfeffer, “Hoenlein: Obama’s Spirit of Change Could Harm Israel,” Haaretz, February 13, 2008.
5. Max Boot, “More ‘Daylight’ Between Netanyahu’s Israel and the U.S.—Is That What Obama Wants?,” Los Angeles Times, March 19, 2015.
6. Roni Sofer, “Netanyahu: A Demilitarized Palestinian State by Our Side,” Ynet, June 14, 2009.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. Jonathan Allen, “Netanyahu Wows Congress,” Politico, May 24, 2011.
10. “The President’s Speech in Cairo: A New Beginning,” Obama White House Archives, June 4, 2009, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/issues/foreign-policy/presidents-speech-cairo-a-new-beginning.
11. “Obama Says Egyptian Transition ‘Must Begin Now,’” CNN, February 2, 2011.
12. Benjamin Netanyahu, A Place Among the Nations (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Yedioth Books, 2001), 209.
Chapter 27: Your Father Wrote History. You Are Making History.
1. “Netanyahu: I Congratulated Olmert on the Attack in Syria,” NRG-Maariv, September 19, 2007.
2. Benjamin Netanyahu, A Durable Peace: Israel and Its Place Among the Nations (New York: Warner Books, 2009), loc. 5173, Kindle; first English edition published as A Place Among the Nations: Israel and the World (New York: Bantam, 1993).
3. Ibid., loc. 5581.
4. Ibid., loc. 75.
5. Peter Hirschberg, “Netanyahu: It’s 1938 and Iran Is Germany,” Haaretz, November 14, 2006.
6. Helene Cooper, “Obama Condemns Iranian Crackdown,” New York Times, June 23, 2009.
7. Allyn Fisher-Ilan, “Israel Defense Chief: Iran Not an Existential Threat,” Reuters, September 17, 2009.
8. David E. Sanger, “Obama Ordered Sped Up Wave of Cyberattacks Against Iran,” New York Times, June 1, 2012.
9. Channel 2 (Israel), Uvda, “The Iranian File Is Opened,” November 4, 2012.
10. Nahum Barnea, “Why Didn’t We Bomb Iran,” Yedioth Ahronoth, April 27, 2017.
11. Channel 2 (Israel), Uvda, “Meir Dagan’s Last Interview,” May 6, 2016.
12. Ibid.
13. Eli Berdenstein, “Meir Dagan: Iran Won’t Have a Nuclear Weapon Until 2015,” NRG-Maariv, January 6, 2011.
14. Elisabeth Bumiller, “Iran Raid Seen as Complex Task for Israeli Military,” New York Times, February 19, 2012.
15. Channel 2 (Israel), “Benzion Netanyahu’s Last Interview,” April 30, 2012.
16. Channel 2 (Israel), “Benzion and Benjamin Netanyahu in a Joint Interview,” February 7, 2009.
17. “Proud to Be Your Son, Father,” Yisrael Hayom, May 1, 2012.
18. Ibid.
19. Richard Stengel, “Bibi’s Choice,” Time, May 28, 2012.
20. Ari Shavit, “The Decision-maker Warns: We Can’t Rely on the US to Attack Iran in Time,” Haaretz, August 10, 2012.
21. Attila Shumpalvi, “Netanyahu’s Aides Against Peres: He Was Wrong About the Iraqi Reactor as Well,” Ynet, August 16, 2012.
22. Ibid.
23. Ben Kaspit, “Strong in Tehran, Weak at Home,” Maariv, August 1, 2012.
24. “Key Portions of Israeli PM Netanyahu’s U.N. Speech on Iran,” Reuters, September 27, 2012, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-un-assembly-israel-text/key-portions-of-israeli-pm-netanyahus-u-n-speech-on-iran-id USBRE88Q1RR20120927.
25. Natasha Mozgovay, “Netanyahu Bomb Cartoon at UN Sparks Media Frenzy,” Haaretz, September 28, 2012.
26. Barnea, “Why Didn’t We Bomb Iran.”
Chapter 28: The Arab Voters Are Moving in Droves
1. Jeffrey Goldberg, “The Crisis in US-Israel Relations Is Officially Here,” The Atlantic, October 28, 2014.
2. James Ball, “Obama Issues Syria a ‘Red Line’ Warning on Chemical Weapons,” Washington Post, August 20, 2013.
3. “Two Scenes from the Grand Synagogue of Paris,” Tablet, January 11, 2015.
4. Barak Ravid, “Netanyahu: I Will Go to Congress Like I Went to Paris—to Speak for All Jews,” Haaretz, February 9, 2015.
5. Jennifer Epstein, “Bibi: Israel Can’t Wait Long on Iran,” Politico, March 5, 2012.
6. “Netanyahu: Hitler Didn’t Want to Exterminate the Jews,” Haaretz, October 21, 2015.
7. Jonathan Liss, “Netanyahu Fired Ministers Lapid and Livni: ‘I Won’t Suffer Opposition Within the Government,” Haaretz, December 2, 2014.
8. Batsheva Sobelman, “Israeli Officials Blast Deal with Iran as ‘Self-Delusional,’” Los Angeles Times, November 23, 2013.
9. Ravid, “Netanyahu: I Will Go to Congress.”
10. “PM Netanyahu’s Speech to a Joint Session of the US Congress,” Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, March 3, 2015.
11. Comedy Central, The Daily Show, March 3, 2015.
12. Moran Azulay, “Netanyahu After Housing Report: Our Biggest Challenge is Iran,” Ynet, February 26, 2015.
13. Channel 2 (Israel), “Dagan in Tel Aviv Rally: Fearful of Our Leadership,” March 7, 2015.
14. Channel 2 (Israel), “How Netanyahu Won the Election,” January 25, 2016.
15. Ariel Kahana, “Prime Minister: If I’m Elected There Won’t Be a Palestinian State,” Makor Rishon, March 16, 2015.
16. Anshel Pfeffer, “Netanyahu, Herzog Fight Election Day Battle of the Gap,” Haaretz, March 13, 2015.
17. Amit Segal, “Special: How Netanyahu Won the Elections,” Channel 2 (Israel), January 25, 2016.
Chapter 29: A Bad Mistake of Historic Proportions
1. Barak Ravid, “Netanyahu: Iran Nuclear Deal Makes World Much More Dangerous,” Haaretz, July 14, 2015.
2. Jeremy Stahl, “Benjamin Netanyahu Still Hates the Iran Deal But Is Starting to Concede It Could Work,” Slate, October 1, 2015.
3. Jessica Elgot, “Huffington Post Meets President Barack Obama,” Huffington Post, March 21, 2015.
4. Yossi Verter, “Netanyahu Remains a Small Politician, Just Like in 1994,” Haaretz, January 3, 2016.
5. Rotem Elizera, “The CGS’ Scissors Speech,” Ynet, February 18, 2016.
6. Barak Ravid, “Pardo: The Conflict with the Palestinians Is the Main Threat on Israel,” Haaretz, July 6, 2014.
7. Channel 2 (Israel), Uvda, “What’s Happening in the Prime Minister’s Office?,” November 7, 2016.
8. John Hudson, “Is the New York Times Israel’s Greatest Enemy?,” The Atlantic, January 19, 2012.
9. Anshel Pfeffer, “Top Israeli Journalist Reads Out Netanyahu Manifesto Against Her on Live TV,” Haaretz, November 8, 2016.
10. “Sarkozy Tells Obama Netanyahu Is a ‘Liar,’” Reuters, November 8, 2011.
11. Amir Tibon, “The Secret Back Channel That Doomed the Israel-Palestine Negotiations,” New Republic, November 26, 2014.
12. Barak Ravid, “Kerry Places Blame on Israel for Crisis in Peace Talks,” Haaretz, April 8, 2014.
13. Nahal Toosi, “Netanyahu Slams Obama for ‘Gang Up’ with U.N. Resolution,” Politico, December 23, 2016.
14. Anshel Pfeffer, “Shimon Peres’ Unfinished Business Hangs over His Funeral,” Haaretz, September 30, 2016.
Chapter 30: Nothing Will Happen, Because Nothing Happened
1. “Fmr. Sec. Hillary Clinton to Fareed Zakaria: Putin Indirectly Responsible for MH17,” CNN, July 27, 2014, http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2014/07/27/fmr-sec-hillary-clinton-to-fareed-zakaria-putin-indirectly-responsible-for-mh17.
2. Anshel Pfeffer, “The Collapsing Political Triangle Linking Adelson, Netanyahu and Trump,” Haaretz, November 8, 2016.
3. Larry Solov, “Breitbart News Network: Born in the USA, Conceived in Israel,” Breitbart, November 17, 2015.
4. Joshua Green, Devil’s Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Storming of the Presidency (New York: Penguin Press, 2017), 51.
5. Twitter, @amit_segal, December 12, 2016.
6. Monica Langley, “Trump in Exclusive Interview Tells WSJ He Is Willing to Keep Parts of Obama Health Law,” Wall Street Journal, November 11, 2016.
7. Barak Ravid, “Trump Declines to Endorse Two-State Solution, Calls on Netanyahu to Hold Back on Settlements,” Haaretz, February 16, 2017.
8. Chaim Levinson, “Is Netanyahu Responsible for Rise in Settlers Numbers?,” Haaretz, October 14, 2015.
9. Amir Tibon, “Israeli Ambassador: For First Time in Many Years, ‘No Daylight’ Between Israel, U.S.,” Haaretz, March 26, 2017.
10. Jack Moore, “Mrs. Netanyahu Tells Melania Trump: ‘The Media Hates Us. Like You,’” Newsweek, May 22, 2017.
11. “Statements by PM Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump,” Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, May 22, 2017.
12. Channel 2 (Israel), “Abbas: Doubt if Trump Can Move Talks,” August 20, 2017.
13. Ido Ben Porat, “Netanyahu in Samaria: In Eretz Yisrael Settlements Will Not Be Uprooted,” Arutz Sheva, August 28, 2017.
14. Anne Barnard, “Iran Confirms Israeli Airstrike in Southern Syria Killed One of Its Generals,” New York Times, January 19, 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/20/world/middleeast/iran-says-one-of-its-generals-was-killed-in-israeli-strike-in-syria.html.
15. Nick Robinson, Election Notebook: The Inside Story of the Battle over Britain’s Future (London: Bantam, 2015), 68.
16. Lally Weymouth, “Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, Who Talks to Netanyahu ‘a Lot,’ Says His Country Is in Danger of Collapse,” Washington Post, March 12, 2015.
17. See, for example, Yonah Jeremy Bob, “Analysis: Bibi Tours Gone in the Blink of an Eye,” Jerusalem Post, January 4, 2017.
18. Yaniv Kubovich, “Netanyahu Questioned by Police over Gifts,” Haaretz, January 3, 2017.
19. Gidi Weitz, “Details of Bribery Deal Netanyahu Negotiated with Media Mogul Revealed,” Haaretz, January 11, 2017.
20. Revital Hovel, “Forced to Divulge Phone Records, Netanyahu Says He Spoke to Adelson 40 Times a Year,” Haaretz, August 31, 2017.
21. Revital Hovel, “Former Netanyahu Aide Ari Harow Reaches Deal to Become State’s Witness,” Haaretz, August 4, 2017.
22. “Netanyahu Was Directly Involved in German Submarine Deal Ya’alon Reportedly Tells Police,” Haaretz, January 29, 2017.
23. Shelly Appelberg, “Israel Cracks Down on Largest Telecom Firm Bezeq; CEO, Two Netanyahu Allies Arrested,” Haaretz, July 13, 2017.
24. Revital Hovel, “Attorney General Announces Sara Netanyahu Will Be Indicted for Fraud,” Haaretz, September 8, 2017.
25. Channel 12 (Israel), Interview with Yaakov Weinroth, Uvda, November 9, 2017.
26. “Netanyahu’s Son Celebrated on Neo-Nazi Website After He Posted Anti-Semitic Meme,” Haaretz, September 12, 2017.
27. Itamar Eichner, “Netanyahu on the Media: They See Congestion, I See Interchanges,” Ynet, April 3, 2017.
Epilogue: Netanyahu’s Israel at Seventy
1. According to a study carried out for this book by data-analyst Nehemia Gershuni-Aylho, Netanyahu has had by far the lowest number of deaths annually from warfare and terrorist attacks, on average, during his premiership than any other elected Israeli prime minister.