How Many Prime Ministers Has Israel Had?

Israel has had 14 prime ministers since the state was founded in 1948 — from David Ben-Gurion to the incumbent, Benjamin Netanyahu, the ninth person to hold the office and by far the longest-serving. But because no single party has ever won a Knesset majority, those 14 people have formed many times that number of governments. The prime minister runs Israel; the ceremonial head of state is a separate office, the President.

14prime ministers since 1948 (Netanyahu the longest-serving)

Correct as of June 2026.

People, or governments?

The list of prime ministers is short. The list of governments is not. Switch the lens.

14Distinct people

Fourteen people have served as prime minister since 1948. Netanyahu, the incumbent, was the ninth to take the office — the others came before and after his separate spells.

Why the count of governments dwarfs the count of prime ministers

Israel uses nationwide proportional representation with a low threshold, which reliably scatters the Knesset's 120 seats across many parties. Only two political families — Labor and Likud — have ever led a government, but neither has ever won the 61 seats needed to rule alone. So every prime minister governs by stitching together a coalition.

Coalitions are fragile, and they break. That is why 14 people have produced dozens of numbered governments — Netanyahu's current cabinet is counted as Israel's 37th. When you read that Israel has had "so many governments," both things are true at once: very few prime ministers, and a long line of cabinets that rose and fell beneath them.

The repeat returns — and the Netanyahu record

Five of the 14 served on two or three separate occasions, which is why the same names recur. Ben-Gurion, Shamir, Peres and Rabin all came back after a gap. But the extreme case is Benjamin Netanyahu: prime minister in 1996–1999, again from 2009 to 2021, and again from December 2022 — roughly 18 years in total, more than anyone else.

Netanyahu also holds a separate first: in 1996 he became the only Israeli prime minister elected directly by voters, under a short-lived experiment that let the public choose the PM separately from the Knesset. The experiment was scrapped by 2001, and Israel returned to its usual rule — the prime minister is whoever can build a majority in parliament.

The full list, in order

All 14 from David Ben-Gurion to Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel counts by the person, so the five who served on two or three separate occasions — Ben-Gurion, Rabin, Shamir, Peres and Netanyahu — each appear once here, with their separate spells noted.

Every prime minister, in order

All 14 since 1948. Tap a name for the detail; filter by party to see the long Labor era give way to Likud.

Showing 14 holders

The office people confuse: PM versus President

A common mix-up: Israel has both a prime minister and a president, and they are not the same job. The prime minister is the head of government — the one who actually runs the country, sets policy and commands the coalition. The President of Israel is the head of state, but the role is almost entirely ceremonial: hosting dignitaries, signing laws, and, crucially, nominating the Knesset member most likely to be able to form a government after an election.

So when this page counts 14, it is counting prime ministers — the people with the power. Shimon Peres is the figure who blurs the line: he was prime minister twice and later served as president (2007–2014), holding both of Israel's top offices at different points in a remarkable career.

How much power is in the job?

The Israeli prime minister holds the country's real executive power — but only for as long as a coalition of small parties agrees to keep them there.

How much power does the prime minister actually have?

The title is the easy part. The real measure is how hard the holder is to remove.

Head of state too?

No. The President of Israel is the ceremonial head of state. The prime minister is head of government and holds the real executive power.

How they get the job

Not directly elected (except in the 1996–2001 experiment). The president nominates a Knesset member — normally the largest coalition's leader — who must win a confidence vote.

Length of term

No fixed term. A government lasts only as long as its coalition holds; early elections are frequent, and Israel has had repeat elections within a single year.

Can be sacked mid-term?

Yes — a coalition collapse, a no-confidence vote, or the Knesset voting to dissolve itself all end a premiership before any scheduled date.

Control of parliament

Always partial. With no single-party majority ever, a prime minister governs by holding a coalition together — the central, constant task of the job.

An Israeli prime minister can be extraordinarily powerful while the coalition holds — and gone within weeks when it doesn't. The office rewards exactly the coalition-building skill that has kept Netanyahu at or near the top for three decades.

In office now: Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud)

Returned to office in December 2022 for a third stint, leading Israel's 37th government. He is the country's longest-serving prime minister, with roughly 18 years in the job in total.

Office-holder correct as of June 2026.

See how this compares

An Israeli prime minister, like an Italian one, lives and dies by coalition arithmetic — a different world from a US president's fixed four years. Compare the office to the others on the map.

→ Open the world leaders map

Think you know them? Prove it

A quick quiz. The counting questions catch most people.

Question 1 of 7Score: 0

Who was Israel's first and only woman prime minister?

Sources

Wikipedia — List of prime ministers of Israel and Prime Minister of Israel (14 people; Netanyahu the ninth and longest-serving; the 37th government)
Britannica — Benjamin Netanyahu; list of prime ministers of Israel
Jewish Virtual Library / CIE — the 14 Israeli prime ministers since 1948
Knesset records — Israel's numbered governments and coalition history
Natural Earth public-domain country data (via world-atlas), used on the Leaders of the World map

Fourteen people, dozens of governments, one of them rebuilt three separate times by the same man — in Israel, naming the prime ministers is easy; it's the coalitions beneath them that never sit still.