'Love him or hate him' Netanyahu seeks third straight term

Adored by some, loathed by others, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking a third straight term in an election Tuesday seen as a referendum on his leadership.
Three years ago, Time magazine hailed the burly 65-year-old with his trademark comb-over as "King Bibi".
Today, a wide array of opponents are united by the slogan "Anyone but Bibi" as a potential 5.8 million Israeli voters prepare to head to the polls.
A skillful and highly polished orator who has made security the centrepiece of his campaign, Netanyahu has driven home his own slogan -- "It's me or them."
Two weeks ago he played to his strengths by taking his campaign against an emerging nuclear deal with Iran to the heart of the US political establishment, in a move that infuriated the White House.
His impassioned speech to Congress drew standing ovations  -- and snarls of anger -- in a reflection of the strong emotions Israel evokes in its closest and most powerful ally.
Netanyahu has had a difficult relationship with several world leaders, notably US President Barack Obama.
The two have clashed over the peace process with the Palestinians and how to handle Iran. Much of the West and Israel see Tehran as developing a nuclear weapons capability, a charge it denies.
- Youngest-ever prime minister -
Netanyahu's rise on the world stage began in 1990 after Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, when he appeared in frequent interviews on CNN television.
When he was first elected in 1996, Netanyahu was Israel's youngest-ever premier. If reelected, he will become the second longest-serving after the country's founding father, David Ben Gurion.
Ever ready with a sound bite in his American-accented English, he was defeated in 1999 by Labour chief Ehud Barak.
Under Barak successor Ariel Sharon, he served as foreign minister and finance minister.
In late 2005, he took over as leader of the rightwing Likud party after Sharon left to found the centrist Kadima, which has all but disappeared.
Netanyahu led Likud to a humiliating defeat in 2006, but the party bounced back three years later.
Born on October 21, 1949, Netanyahu grew up in the United States after his father Bentzion, a history professor, was considered so rightwing in the Labour-dominated Israel of the time that he was forced to leave.
Before attending the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology he served in an elite Israeli army commando unit, rising to the rank of captain, and was wounded in combat.
He was deeply affected by the death of his elder brother Jonathan, killed leading the legendary 1976 Israeli commando raid to free the passengers aboard an Air France plane hijacked by Palestinians to Entebbe, Uganda.
He plunged into studies of terrorism, writing three books on the subject.
His career took off when he was posted to Israel's embassy in Washington and was later made ambassador to the United Nations.
After that, he entered politics.
Following his election in 2009, Netanyahu accepted the concept of a Palestinian state, but has done little to move negotiations forward.
His government angered Palestinians by pushing through the highest number of settler homes in a decade, while this grandson of a rabbi also doggedly insists that the Palestinians recognise Israel as a Jewish state.
- 'Leader of international stature' -
After Likud came out on top in 2013, Netanyahu struggled to form a coalition, but that team failed to hold together, and Netanyahu took the gamble last December of calling elections two years early.
Liberal daily newspaper Haaretz could hardly be described as sympathetic to Bibi, but it recently said the world would miss him if he loses his job.
"Whatever damage one believes Netanyahu has done, it's undeniable that when Israel loses Bibi, it will surely at times miss having a recognisable leader of international stature that -- love him or hate him -- makes the world sit up and take notice when he speaks out on Iran or any other subject."
Netanyahu is also a figure of controversy beyond the daily cut and thrust of politics and was recently officially rebuked for excessive spending at his official and private residences.
Netanyahu and his wife Sarah have two sons and he has a daughter from a previous marriage.