Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world.

Netanyahu was described as an “iconic, strong and determined leader who has excelled during a lifetime of service to the state of Israel.”

“Now, at a time of tremendous international instability and growing danger, Prime Minister Netanyahu, 62, has provided a compelling and reasoned exposition of one of the gravest threats facing the world today,” the profile read. “He deserves credit for drawing attention to the threat Iran poses to Israel, to America, to the region, to its own people and to the free world.”

Netanyahu’s profile was written by Eric Cantor, the majority leader in the House of Representatives.

In the same issue of Time, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was selected as the People’s Choice for 2011 Person of the Year.

But a parallel online poll rendered him the least-fitting figure for person of the year, showing strong public feelings for and against the hard-line Islamic leader.

Meanwhile, Erdogan continued his rhetoric against Israel, lashing out at the Jewish state in a recorded speech this week, lambasting Israel’s 2010 military action against the Mavi Marmara — a Turkish ship boarded while attempting to break the Gaza blockade — and declaring that “peace will not appear in the Middle East as long as state terrorism continues,” a direct reference to Israel. — ynetnews.com