Twenty-seventh government of Israel

{{Short description|1996–99 government led by Benjamin Netanyahu}}

{{Infobox government cabinet

|cabinet_name = First Netanyahu Cabinet

|cabinet_number = 27th

|jurisdiction = Israel

|flag = Flag of Israel.svg

|flag_border = true

|date_formed = {{Start date|1996|06|18|df=y}}

|date_dissolved = {{End date|1999|07|06|df=y}}

|government_head = Benjamin Netanyahu

|state_head =Ezer Weizman

|image = Benjamin Netanyahu 1996 (cropped).jpg

|legislature_status = Government coalition

|political_parties = Likud
Gesher
Tzomet
National Religious Party
Yisrael BaAliyah
Third Way
Shas
United Torah Judaism

|previous = 26th cabinet of Israel

|successor = 28th cabinet of Israel

|legislature_term = 14th Knesset

|election = 1996

|opposition_leader = Shimon Peres (until 1997)
Ehud Barak (until 1999)

|opposition_party = Labor

}}

The twenty-seventh government of Israel was formed by Benjamin Netanyahu of Likud on 18 June 1996. Although his Likud-Gesher-Tzomet alliance won fewer seats than Labor, Netanyahu formed the government after winning the country's first ever direct election for Prime Minister, narrowly defeating incumbent Shimon Peres. This government was the first formed by an Israeli national born in the state after independence in 1948 (the seventeenth government of 1974–1977 was the first to be formed by a native-born Israeli, although Rabin was born in the territory prior to independence).

Together with Likud-Gesher-Tzomet, Netanyahu also included Shas, the National Religious Party, Yisrael BaAliyah, United Torah Judaism and the Third Way in the government, with the coalition holding 66 of the 120 seats in the Knesset.[https://www.knesset.gov.il/history/eng/eng_hist14_s.htm Factional and Government Make-Up of the Fourteenth Knesset] Knesset website The government was also supported, but not joined, by the two-seat Moledet faction. Gesher left the coalition on 6 January 1998, but the government remained in place until 6 July 1999, when Ehud Barak formed the twenty-eighth government after defeating Netanyahu in the 1999 election for Prime Minister.