Benjamin Netanyahu
Prime minister since 2022, caretaker until a new government is sworn in
Benjamin Netanyahu gets a C+
Score: 77 out of 100, the average of 6 measures. Graded on what Netanyahu has said and done, because I count recorded votes only for the US Congress. Every line is below, with its source.
- B-TyrannyMostly with liberty, 11 sources
- B-Free nationsMostly with liberty, 8 sources
- ?Free speechNot clear either way, 2 sources
- B-Free marketsMostly with liberty, 3 sources
- FConscienceMostly against liberty, 2 sources
- FDefenseBoth ways, 2 sources
- ABordersWith liberty, 1 source
Netanyahu, on the record
29 things Netanyahu has said and done. Each one has its source, and each is marked with the same test I use for votes in Congress. A line that doesn't settle the question is marked as not clear and counts for nothing.
-
Qatari financial aid to Gaza, which Hamas ruled, began under his government in 2018 and continued after he returned to power in late 2022.
- By the test I use for votes
- Against liberty
Letting money flow into a territory run by a terror group, in return for quiet, is a deal that pays it; the same side is given to the later government that kept it going.
-
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported in June 2021 that, faced with losing power, he had said he would be willing to form a government together with Ra'am, the party of the southern Islamic Movement.
- By the test I use for votes
- Not clear either way
This is a news agency's account of what he was ready to do in 2021, with no words of his own on the page, and no government with Ra'am was formed. It does not settle the measure.
-
His spokesman said he had approved the operation in which pagers and hand-held radios used by Hezbollah members exploded across Lebanon in September 2024.
- By the test I use for votes
- With liberty
Approving an operation against the members of an armed movement backed by the Islamic Republic is acting against that movement.
-
While in New York for the United Nations he ordered the strike in Beirut's southern suburbs that killed Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
- By the test I use for votes
- With liberty
Ordering a strike that removed the head of an armed movement backed by the Islamic Republic is military action against that movement.
-
After Israeli troops killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in a firefight in Rafah, he said the war in Gaza was not over but had reached the beginning of its end.
“While this is not the end of the war in Gaza, it is the beginning of the end”
- By the test I use for votes
- With liberty
Vowing to keep fighting Hamas after its leader was killed is refusing to end pressure on a terror army while it still holds hostages.
-
After Israeli strikes on Iran answered the Islamic Republic's missile attack of 1 October, he said Israel had badly damaged Iran's defences and its ability to make missiles.
“We severely damaged Iran's defense capability and its ability to produce missiles aimed at us.”
- By the test I use for votes
- With liberty
Striking the regime's missile production after it attacked Israel is deterring a regime that attacks.
-
His security cabinet approved the US-brokered ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon by 10 votes to 1, and he said Israel would attack again if Hezbollah broke it.
- By the test I use for votes
- Against liberty
Stopping the fighting against a terror army that is still armed ends pressure on it, the same side given to every minister who voted for this ceasefire.
-
His full cabinet voted for the US-backed deal with Hamas that paused the war in Gaza and freed hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
- By the test I use for votes
- Not clear either way
Bringing captives home is a state's duty, and the same deal also pays a terror group, so a hostage deal does not settle the measure for anyone.
-
As prime minister he ordered and announced Israel's strikes on the Islamic Republic's nuclear sites and military leadership in June 2025.
“Moments ago, Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, a targeted military operation aimed at dismantling the Iranian threat to Israel's survival.”
- By the test I use for votes
- With liberty
Ordering military action against the regime's nuclear programme counts as with liberty.
-
He welcomed the American move to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation and said Israel, which had already outlawed part of the movement, was working to finish the job.
“This is an organization that endangers stability throughout the Middle East and beyond,”
- By the test I use for votes
- With liberty
Backing a ban on the Muslim Brotherhood is acting against it.
-
He announced that Israeli forces, in the war Israel and the United States opened together against Iran, had destroyed the compound of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in a surprise strike.
“In a powerful surprise attack this morning, we destroyed the compound of the tyrant Khamenei”
- By the test I use for votes
- With liberty
Striking the seat of the regime's ruler, together with the United States, is military action against the regime itself.
-
Asked why Israel does not send weapons to Ukraine, he said Israel must keep its freedom to act beside Russian forces in Syria, feared that arms given to Ukraine could reach Iran, and called Israel's course the balanced way.
“First of all, we have a close military border with Russia. Our pilots are flying right next to Russian pilots over the skies of Syria.”
- By the test I use for votes
- Against liberty
Withholding arms from Ukraine and describing a balanced line between Kyiv and Moscow is neutrality in that war.
-
The day after Hamas's attack of 7 October 2023, his security cabinet formally declared Israel at war and authorised significant military steps.
- By the test I use for votes
- With liberty
Taking a democracy to war to defend it after it was attacked counts as with liberty of standing with free nations.
-
He announced that the army had opened a second stage of the war against Hamas by sending ground forces into Gaza, with the aims of destroying Hamas's military and governing power and bringing the hostages home.
“This is the second stage of the war, whose objectives are clear: to destroy the military and governmental capabilities of Hamas and bring the hostages home”
- By the test I use for votes
- With liberty
Leading Israel's armed defence against the group that attacked it on 7 October is defending a democracy under attack.
-
The Kyiv Independent, citing Axios, reported that after refusing for weeks to discuss it he approved handing about 90 Patriot interceptors back to the United States, which sent them on to Ukraine; his office confirmed only the return to the United States.
- By the test I use for votes
- Not clear either way
The missiles reached Ukraine through Washington after a delay and without Israel saying it was arming Kyiv, so the act does not settle the measure.
-
In a Knesset speech, nearly four years into Russia's war on Ukraine, he presented his regular contact and long personal relationship with Vladimir Putin as an asset for Israel.
“this decades-long personal relationship helps protect vital Israeli interests, including efforts to prevent interference along our northern border.”
- By the test I use for votes
- Against liberty
Holding up a friendship with Putin during his war on Ukraine is staying neutral between Moscow and the countries standing against it.
-
On the first day of the joint American and Israeli operation against Iran he called on all of Iran's peoples to throw off their rulers and bring freedom to the country.
“to cast off the yoke of tyranny and bring freedom and peace-loving values to Iran”
- By the test I use for votes
- With liberty
Calling on a people to free itself from a dictatorship is standing with that people against its rulers.
-
During the 2026 war he addressed Iranians directly, telling them Israel stood with them and that their chance to take a path of freedom was near.
“I say to the Iranian people: The moment when you can embark on a new path of freedom - that moment is approaching. We stand by you, we are helping you.”
- By the test I use for votes
- With liberty
Speaking for Iranians against their rulers counts as with liberty.
-
In his speech to the United Nations General Assembly he praised the American president for standing with Israel against the Islamic Republic and said Israel had never had a greater partner.
“We've had no greater partner than President Trump”
- By the test I use for votes
- With liberty
Holding up the partnership with the United States is backing that alliance.
-
On the day the Knesset passed a law letting the government close foreign news networks it deems a security risk, he said he would use it to remove Al Jazeera from Israel.
“the time has come to eject this herald for Hamas from our country.”
- By the test I use for votes
- Not clear either way
Closing a broadcaster counts as against free speech. This law is a temporary wartime power aimed at foreign networks judged a threat to state security, which is a harder case, so I don't mark the line either way.
-
His cabinet voted unanimously to close Army Radio by 1 March 2026; he backed the proposal at the meeting, saying an army-run station exists only in places such as North Korea and that he believes in competition. The High Court later struck the decision down.
“Today we bring the defense minister's proposal to abolish Galei Tzahal - a military station that broadcasts under the army's authority.”
- By the test I use for votes
- Not clear either way
Army Radio is the army's own station, so a government deciding to close it is not the state silencing citizens' speech, and the line does not settle the measure.
-
As finance minister from 2003 to 2005 he sold state-owned companies to private owners, acted against monopolies and simplified the tax system.
- By the test I use for votes
- With liberty
Moving companies from state ownership to private owners and opening markets to competition is the free-market side of the measure.
-
The 2026 state budget his government sent to the Knesset brought a new tax on building land and a tax on electronic cigarettes, and kept VAT at 18 per cent instead of returning it to 17.
- By the test I use for votes
- Against liberty
New taxes and keeping a tax rise in place count against free markets. It is the budget of the government he heads, and the same line is in his finance minister's record.
-
He and his finance minister agreed to cut the excise tax on fuel, lowering the price of petrol by half a shekel a litre.
“At a time when the price of fuel is surging across the world, we make sure it does not surge in Israel”
- By the test I use for votes
- With liberty
Cutting a tax is on the lower-taxes side of the measure.
-
Before taking office he told the Knesset there would not be a state run by Jewish religious law, answering a report that his coalition deal with United Torah Judaism included religion-based laws.
- By the test I use for votes
- With liberty
Pledging that religious law will not govern the state counts as with liberty.
-
Under agreements he reached with his coalition's Haredi parties, the Knesset passed a Basic Law declaring Torah study a fundamental value of the state, by 63 votes to 52.
- By the test I use for votes
- Against liberty
Writing a religious value into constitutional law as part of a deal with religious parties puts religion's rules into law in return for political support.
-
To pass the 2026 budget his coalition promised the Haredi parties a law that would in effect keep yeshiva students exempt from army service, while the army chief warned of a manpower shortage.
- By the test I use for votes
- Against liberty
Promising to keep a large group out of the draft goes against the conscription the army depends on.
-
He asked for the budget law to be reopened so that more money could go to the defence establishment.
- By the test I use for votes
- With liberty
Seeking more money for the armed forces is funding and equipping them.
-
After Eritrean asylum seekers rioted in Tel Aviv he asked a ministerial team for a plan to remove all people who entered Israel illegally.
“I am asking the team I convened today to prepare a complete and updated plan for the removal of all other illegal infiltrators from the State of Israel”
- By the test I use for votes
- With liberty
Ordering a plan to deport people who entered illegally is enforcing immigration law.
Is C+ the right grade for Netanyahu?
Say it where other readers can answer you. Opinions, videos and corrections about this politician are all in one place.
C+Discussion
Benjamin Netanyahu
Opinions, videos, corrections and bug reports about this politician, all in one place. What readers post is their words, not mine. My answers carry the Host tag.
Leave out anything private about anyone. The rules, what your account keeps, and what readers have changed so far
Think this grade is unfair?
Make your case on a call. The community meets every day with the hosts and the panel.