Editing Benjamin Netanyahu (section)

==Early career==
Netanyahu was headhunted to be an economic consultant<ref>Mazal Mualem (30 September 2014), [http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/09/benjamin-netanyahu-un-speech-right-wing-peace-camp.html "Netanyahu's rhetoric brings same old message"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150328185728/http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/09/benjamin-netanyahu-un-speech-right-wing-peace-camp.html |date=28 March 2015 }}, [[Al-Monitor]]'s Israel Pulse</ref> for the [[Boston Consulting Group]] in Boston, Massachusetts, working at the company between 1976 and 1978. At the Boston Consulting Group, he was a colleague of [[Mitt Romney]], with whom he formed a lasting friendship. Romney described Netanyahu at the time as "a strong personality with a distinct point of view", and said, "We can almost speak in shorthand{{nbsp}}... [w]e share common experiences and have a perspective and underpinning which is similar."<ref name="Barbaro">{{cite news |title=A Friendship Dating From 1976 Resonates in 2012 |last=Barbaro |first=Michael |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/08/us/politics/mitt-romney-and-benjamin-netanyahu-are-old-friends.html?_r=1&ref=politics&pagewanted=all |newspaper=The New York Times |date=7 April 2012 |access-date=7 April 2012 |archive-date=15 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615145007/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/08/us/politics/mitt-romney-and-benjamin-netanyahu-are-old-friends.html?_r=1&ref=politics&pagewanted=all |url-status=live }}</ref> Netanyahu said that their "easy communication" was a result of "B.C.G.'s intellectually rigorous boot camp".<ref name="Barbaro"/>

In 1978, Netanyahu appeared on Boston local television, under the name "Ben Nitai", where he argued: "The real core of the conflict is the unfortunate Arab refusal to accept the State of Israel{{nbsp}}... For 20 years the Arabs had both the West Bank and the [[Gaza Strip]], and if self-determination, as they now say, is the core of the conflict, they could have easily established a Palestinian state."<ref>{{YouTube|9uaXoMIh2tc|Video Benjamin Netanyahu 1978}} (English);[http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Who-is-Ben-Nitay-and-why-does-he-look-so-much-like-Binyamin-Netanyahu Who is Ben Nitay, and why does he look so much like Binyamin Netanyahu?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150301045738/http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Who-is-Ben-Nitay-and-why-does-he-look-so-much-like-Binyamin-Netanyahu |date=1 March 2015 }}, Jerusalem Post</ref>

[[File:Flickr - Government Press Office (GPO) - Benjamin Netanyahu and Sorin Hershko.jpg|thumb|upright|Netanyahu (right) with Sorin Hershko, a soldier wounded and permanently paralyzed in [[Operation Entebbe]], 2 July 1986]]
In 1978, Netanyahu returned to Israel. Between 1978 and 1980, he ran the Jonathan Netanyahu Anti-Terror Institute,<ref name="ynetnews.com"/> a non-governmental organization devoted to the study of terrorism; the Institute held a number of international conferences focused on the discussion of international terrorism. From 1980 to 1982, he was director of marketing for Rim Industries in Jerusalem.<ref>Shirley Anne Warshaw, ''The Clinton Years'' (Infobase Publishing, 2009), p. 240</ref> During this period Netanyahu made his first connections with several Israeli politicians, including Minister [[Moshe Arens]].

Arens appointed him as his Deputy Chief of Mission at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., while Arens was ambassador to the United States, a position he held from 1982 until 1984.<ref name="netanyahu">{{cite web |url=http://www.netanyahu.org/biography.html |publisher=Netanyahu.org |title=Benjamin Netanyahu |access-date=18 November 2012 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121116144653/http://netanyahu.org/biography.html |archive-date=16 November 2012}}</ref> During the [[1982 Lebanon War]], he was called up for reserve duty in Sayeret Matkal and requested to be released from service, preferring to remain in the US and serve as a spokesperson for Israel in the wake of harsh international criticism of the war. He presented Israel's case to the media during the war and established a highly efficient public relations system in the Israeli embassy.<ref>{{Cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=SOm_DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA57|title = The Netanyahu Years|isbn = 978-1-250-08706-5|last1 = Caspit|first1 = Ben|date = 11 July 2017|publisher = Macmillan|access-date = 14 October 2020|archive-date = 20 January 2024|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240120164158/https://books.google.com/books?id=SOm_DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA57#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status = live}}</ref> Between 1984 and 1988, Netanyahu served as the [[Israeli ambassador to the United Nations]].<ref name="netanyahu" /> Netanyahu was influenced by Rabbi [[Menachem M. Schneerson]], with whom he formed a relationship during the 1980s. He referred to Schneerson as "the most influential man of our time".<ref>David Singer, [https://books.google.com/books?id=QM1hloeMQqgC&pg=PA133 ''American Jewish Yearbook''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230512013532/https://books.google.com/books?id=QM1hloeMQqgC&pg=PA133 |date=12 May 2023 }}. AJC, 1998. pp. 133–34</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chabad.org/therebbe/article_cdo/aid/1394394/jewish/Truth-vs-Darkness-in-the-United-Nations.htm |title=Truth vs. Darkness in the United Nations |last=Netanyahu |first=Benjamin |date=24 September 2009 |publisher=Chabad.org |access-date=17 March 2013 |archive-date=24 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130424194630/http://www.chabad.org/therebbe/article_cdo/aid/1394394/jewish/Truth-vs-Darkness-in-the-United-Nations.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media |people=Netanyahu, Benjamin |year=2011 |title=The Light of Truth at the UN |medium=Speech |url=http://www.chabad.org/multimedia/media_cdo/aid/1632210/jewish/The-Light-of-Truth-at-the-UN.htm |publisher=Chabad.org |location=New York City |access-date=17 March 2013 |archive-date=11 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130411034231/http://www.chabad.org/multimedia/media_cdo/aid/1632210/jewish/The-Light-of-Truth-at-the-UN.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> At this time Netanyahu became friends with [[Fred Trump]], the father of future U.S. president [[Donald Trump]].<ref name="nymag.com">Sherman, Gabriel (1 June 2016). [http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/06/trump-is-considering-pre-convention-israel-visit.html "Trump Is Considering a Pre-Convention Visit to Israel"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180826113558/http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/06/trump-is-considering-pre-convention-israel-visit.html |date=26 August 2018 }}. ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]''.</ref>