When the clock strikes midnight on Saturday, July 20, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will make history as the State of Israel’s longest-serving premier, surpassing the previous record holder, David Ben-Gurion.
Serving from June 18, 1996, to July 6, 1999, and again from March 31, 2009, until the present, on July 20 Netanyahu will have served 4,876 days as Israel’s leader.
Ben-Gurion, who led from May 14, 1948, until January 26, 1954, and again from November 3, 1955, until June 26, 1963, led for 13-and-a-half years—a total of 4,875 days.
Netanyahu ranks 16th among longest-reigning leaders in OECD nations since the end of World War II, according to the Israel Democracy Institute, and is currently the 3rd longest-leading national head among OECD nations, after Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Germany’s Angela Merkel.
He is the 35th longest-reigning leader in the world.
As of Saturday, Israel’s third longest-leading prime minister will be Yitzhak Shamir, followed by Yitzhak Rabin and Menachem Begin. Ehud Barak, who is currently trying to break back into Israeli politics with his new “Independence” Party, holds the record for Israel’s shortest term, at just 1 year, eight months, and 2 days.
