TITLE: Congratulating Benjamin Netanyahu on his reelection as prime minister of Israel.

SUMMARY: Congratulating Benjamin Netanyahu on his reelection as prime minister of Israel.

FULL TEXT:
WHEREAS, Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud Party won the recent parliamentary election in Israel on March 17, 2015, empowering Mr. Netanyahu to form a new government and embark upon a fourth term as prime minister of the "other Lone Star State"; and WHEREAS, Born in Tel Aviv in 1949, Mr. Netanyahu spent his early years in Jerusalem, and twice during the 1950s and 1960s, he lived with his family in a suburb of Philadelphia, where he graduated from Cheltenham High School; and WHEREAS, From 1967 to 1972, Mr. Netanyahu served in the Israeli Defense Forces as a member of the elite special forces unit Sayeret Matkal, taking part in a number of dangerous missions; in 1972, he was one of the commandos who successfully retook a hijacked plane at Tel Aviv-Lod International Airport, during which action he received a gunshot wound to his shoulder; and WHEREAS, Mr. Netanyahu returned to the United States in 1972 to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but he interrupted his studies for 40 days during the Yom Kippur War to take part in special forces raids along the Suez Canal and to lead a commando team deep into Syria; he then continued his education at MIT, earning a bachelor's degree in architecture and a master's degree in management; and WHEREAS, In 1978, Mr. Netanyahu became head of an antiterror institute in Israel named for his late brother, Yonatan, who died while leading a special forces unit in rescuing hijacked Israeli citizens in Entebbe, Uganda; he entered public service in 1982 as deputy chief of mission at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., and from 1984 to 1988, he served as the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations; and WHEREAS, Mr. Netanyahu joined the Likud Party in 1988 and later that year won election to the Knesset, Israel's parliament; he became the leader of Likud in 1993, and he first served as the nation's prime minister from 1996 to 1999; after spending two years in the private sector, he returned to public life, first as foreign minister and then as finance minister under Ariel Sharon; by 2005, he was once again the leader of Likud, and he became prime minister again in 2009; and WHEREAS, Mr. Netanyahu has been elected prime minister four times, matching the record of David Ben-Gurion, the founder of Israel, and he is the only prime minister to have won three elections in a row; he is also the second-longest-serving prime minister in Israel's history, after Ben-Gurion; and WHEREAS, Since he first took up arms in his nation's defense in 1967, Benjamin Netanyahu has been for nearly half a century a dynamic and passionate champion for the State of Israel, and his confident and decisive leadership, and the strong bonds he has forged with his friends and allies in the United States, have helped to ensure Israel's prosperity and security; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, That the 84th Legislature of the State of Texas hereby congratulate Benjamin Netanyahu on his reelection as prime minister of Israel and extend to him sincere best wishes for the future; and, be it further RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be prepared for Mr. Netanyahu as an expression of high regard by the Texas House of Representatives and Senate.