Netanyahu and Likud’s Leaders
The Israeli Princes
Israeli History, Politics and Society Series

This research discusses the second-generation Likud leaders, known as the Princes, who have dominated Israeli politics for most of the last three decades: their relations with their parents and the extent to which they have followed in (or diverged from) their footsteps.

The main theme seeks to explore the unique, perhaps unprecedented, socio-political phenomenon of generational duplication in a western-type democracy. This volume examines the ways and means through which the disciples of Zionist leader Ze'ev Jabotinsky managed not only to maintain lasting control of their mentor's creation ? to transform after Israel's establishment from a small opposition party into the country's dominant and ruling party ? but also hand down this political pre-eminence to their descendants. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the son of Ben-Zion Netanyahu, "foreign minister" of Jabotinsky's movement. President Reuven Rivlin is the son of resistance warrior Rachel Rivlin. MP Benny Begin is the son of Menachem Begin. Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Tzipi Livni and many others were also part of those "Princes".

A breakthrough in the world?s inter-generational research, the book is for readers interested in political science, sociology, and the politics of Israel and the Middle East.

Introduction Part I – Pain and Pride Part II – The Diadochi Wars Part III – From Princes to Kings Part IV - Likud Breakaway Becomes the Party of Sharon, Olmert and Livni Part V - The Father, the Son, and the Iranian Nuclear Threat Postscript

Gil Samsonov is a managing partner in one of the top advertising firms in Israel, graduated from Tel-Aviv University, and got a PhD from King’s College London. Samsonov has led numerous national and local election and general campaigns in Israel, and he is a senior political and marketing commentator in the Israeli television, radio and press.