Former Israeli PM Netanyahu has memoir coming in November

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This article was published 16/08/2022 (1183 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NEW YORK (AP) — Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a memoir coming out this fall. “Bibi: My Story” will be published Nov. 22, three weeks after parliamentary elections are to be held in Israel.

“Born a year after the founding of the Jewish state, I have dedicated my life to combat the forces that seek its destruction and make peace with those that do not,” Netanyahu, 72, said in a statement released Tuesday by Threshold Editions, a division of Simon & Schuster that publishes conservative books.

“My story is one of tragedy and triumph, setbacks and successes, lessons learned and loved ones cherished. It is woven with that of Israel, which has proven that faith and resolve can overcome insurmountable odds to forge a brilliant future.”

Other Threshold authors have included former Vice President Dick Cheney and former President Donald Trump, a close ally of Netanyahu’s while he was in the White House. Netanyahu has previously written “A Durable Peace” and “Fighting Terrorism,” among other books.

Before being ousted in elections in 2021, Netanyahu was Israel’s longest-serving leader — and its most polarizing, supported and condemned for his hard-line stance against the Palestinians. He now stands at the center of Israel’s protracted political crisis, where a cluster of parties has refused to sit with him in government because he is on trial for corruption: Israel has held five elections in less than four years.

Netanyahu’s 12-year tenure included heightened settlement building in the occupied West Bank and the presiding over three wars against the Hamas militant group ruling Gaza. He was also a leading opponent of the 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and several world powers, including the United States. Iran resumed some of its nuclear activities after Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2018.

Netanyahu is the son of a prominent Zionist and educator, Benzion Netanyahu, and brother of Jonathan Netanyahu, who was killed while leading the famed 1976 rescue of hostages on a hijacked plane in Entebbe, Uganda. A longtime leader of the nationalist Likud party, Benjamin Netanyahu also served as prime minister from 1996-1999.

According to Threshold, “Bibi” will range from Netanyahu’s early years to “his singular perspective on the geopolitics of the Middle East” and “his negotiations with Presidents Clinton, Obama, and Trump to secure the future of his country.”

Known as a political wizard able to outmaneuver his opponents, Netanyahu has vowed to regain his old job. But he currently faces charges in three separate cases, including allegations that while in office, he accepted gifts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from Hollywood film producer Arnon Milchan and Australian billionaire James Packer. He is also accused of trying to orchestrate positive coverage in a major Israeli paper in exchange for promoting legislation that would have hampered the news outlet’s chief rival, a free pro-Netanyahu daily.

Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing.