The article analyses a phenomenon of political leadership through the prism of exceptionally long carriers of the two Israeli prime ministers - David Ben-Gurion and Benjamin Netanyahu. Ben-Gurion belonged to a generation of the founding fathers while Netanyahu is an Israli leader raised in the State of Israel. Their respective ways to the top were different. Ben-Gurion's career was a classical case - he started as a party activist, worked for trade unions, developed close ties with non-state military actors. Netanyahu came as a prince, who inherited his elite status from his father, a well known member of the Revisionist movement. Despite all differences the two prime ministers shared common features: personal charisma and assertiveness, responsiveness to the public expectations, an ability to deal with threats perceived by the majority as existentional.