Jonathan Netanyahu

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Jonathan Netanyahu or Yonatan "Yoni" Netanyahu (Hebrew: יונתן "יוני" נתניהו) , (March 13, 1946 – July 4, 1976) was a member of the Israel Defense Forces elite Sayeret Matkal unit. He is regarded as perhaps the foremost Israeli war hero. His brother Benjamin Netanyahu was Prime Minister of Israel from 1996-1999, and currently serves as Leader of the Opposition in the Knesset.

Yoni was awarded the Medal of Distinguished Service (Hebrew:עיטור המופת) for his conduct in the Yom Kippur War. He was killed in action during Operation Entebbe at Entebbe airport, by Ugandan soldiers, where the Israeli military rescued hostages after an aircraft hijacking. He was the leader of the assault, and the only Israeli military casualty of the raid.

1 Military career
2 Personal life
3 Family
4 Letters From Yoni
5 Further reading
6 External links

[edit] Military career

Yoni Netanyahu

In 1964 Yoni joined the Israeli Defence Forces.
Excelled in his Officer Training Course.
Commanded paratroopers company.
Six Day War – June 1967:
- June 5 — fought the battle of Um Katef in Sinai.
- He and his battalion reinforced the Golan Heights.
- Wounded in his hand during battle, while helping a wounded fellow soldier.
Went to study in Harvard University but returned a year later because of the Attrition War.
Went to study in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem but returned to active military service after half a year.
Joined Sayeret Matkal.
In the summer of 1972 he was appointed as the unit's deputy commander.
1972: commanded a raid in which senior Syrian officers were captured and exchanged in return for captive Israeli pilots.
1973: participated in Operation Spring of Youth (Hebrew: מבצע אביב נעורים) in which the terrorists and leadership of Black September (a PLO terrorist group which committed the 1972 Munich Massacre) were terminated by Sayeret Matkal, Shayetet-13 and the Mossad.
Yom Kippur War — October 1973:
- On the Golan Heights he commanded a Sayeret Matkal force that killed more than 40 Syrian Commando officers in a battle which thwarted a Syrian commando raid in the Golan's heartland.
- Rescued Lieutenant Colonel Yossi Ben Hanan from Tel-Shames, Ben-Hanan was lying wounded behind Syrian lines.
- Awarded Medal of Distinguished Service (Hebrew: עיטור המופת) (the Israeli equivalent to the American Medal of Honor).
Volunteered to serve as armor commander after the war due to heavy casualties in the Israeli Armored Corps.
Excelled in Tank Officers course.
Commanded Barak Armored Brigade and turned it into the leading unit in the Golan Heights.
June, 1975: left the Armored Corps and returned to Sayeret Matkal.
June 1975: Became the commander of Sayeret Matkal.
July 4, 1976: Killed during Operation Entebbe. The Operation is considered a huge success with almost all of the hostages rescued unhurt. The operation is officially called Mivtsa Yonatan in honor of Netanyahu, who led it.

Netanyahu's gravestone

July 6 1976: Yoni is buried in Jerusalem's Military Cemetery after a big military funeral. Eulogy was delivered by then Defense Minister Shimon Peres.

[edit] Personal life

Was a high school classmate of Baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson
Yoni Netanyahu married Tirza (Tutti) Krasnoselsky on August 17, 1967.
Shortly after their wedding, they flew to the U.S. where Yoni enrolled at Harvard University.
He took classes in Philosophy and Mathematics. He excelled in both and was on the Dean's List at the end of his first year.
However, feeling restless from being away from Israel, Yoni transferred to Jerusalem's Hebrew University in 1968.
In early 1969, he decided to leave his studies and return to the army to protect his country.
Military life took a strain on his marriage and in 1972 he and Tutti were divorced.
At the time of his death, Yoni was living with his girlfriend of two years, Bruria.

[edit] Family

He has two brothers. Binyamin (nicknamed "Bibi") would later become Prime Minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999. Iddo, youngest out of the three, is a radiologist and writer. Both served in Sayeret Matkal. Parents are Benzion and Cela Netanyahu. Benzion is a professor emeritus of history at Cornell University. He extensively researched the topic of the marranos.

[edit] Letters From Yoni

I would rather opt for living here in continual battle than for becoming part of the wandering Jewish people. Any compromise will simply hasten the end, (A letter to his brother Benjamin on his decision to stay in Israel)

As you no doubt know from reading the papers, the situation in Israel is, in a word — catastrophic! Not a day passes, literally, without a border incident, sabotage, mine explosion, murder, ambushes, shootings and setting fire to fields. During all the years of my service and of my living here the situation has never been so tense. In the army, everyone is impatient — when are we finally going to strike back?!! We have complete confidence in our strength. We are capable of anything. (October 1966)

The real cause is the sense of helplessness in the face of a war that has no end. For the war has not ended, and it seems to me that it will go on and on… This is the 'quiet' before the next storm. I've no doubt that war will come. Nor do I doubt that we will win. But for how long? Until when?.. We're young, and we were not born for wars alone. (A year after the Six Days War)

In another week I'll be 23. On me, on us, the young men of Israel, rests the duty of keeping our country safe. This is a heavy responsibility, which matures us early... I do not regret what I have done and what I'm about to do. I'm convinced that what I am doing is right. I believe in myself, in my country and in my future. (1969, on his decision to return to enlist in the IDF)

Death — that's the only thing that disturbs me. It doesn't frighten me; it arouses my curiosity. It is a puzzle that I, like many others, have tried to solve without success. I do not fear it because I attribute little value to a life without a purpose. And if I should have to sacrifice my life to attain its goal, I'll do so willingly. (At age 17)

Source taken from Israel Insider.

[edit] Further reading

Netanyahu, Jonathan / Netanyahu, Benjamin / Netanyahu, Iddo (1998): Self-Portrait of a Hero: From the Letters of Jonathan Netanyahu 1963-1976. Warner Books. ISBN 0-446-67461-3
Yoni: Hero of Entebbe (1979) Max Hastings (a biography of Yoni Netanyahu; although not as deep as the collection of his letters, it still gives an idea of his life events)