Netanyahu, ‘King of Israel,’ Exits a Stage He Dominated

Israel’s longest-serving prime minister was a polarizing figure who sidelined efforts to resolve the Palestinian conflict but opened relations with four Arab countries.

JERUSALEM — He came to power like some conqueror from a distant land called Philadelphia. Educated in the United States, speaking flawless East Coast English, warning in pungent sound bites about the threats posed by Islamic terrorism and a nuclear Iran, the Benjamin Netanyahu who stormed into Israeli politics in the 1990s was like no other politician the country had seen. Before long, he would capture the prime minister’s office, lose it, then seize it again a decade later, becoming Israel’s longest-serving leader and inspiring such admiration that supporters likened him to the biblical King David. His political agility got him out of so many tight spots that even his detractors called him a magician.