Yonatan Netanyahu

<p>Yonatan Netanyahu  was an Israeli military officer who commanded <a href="/facts/Sayeret_Matkal/7IJsH7s3">Sayeret Matkal</a> during the <a href="/facts/Entebbe_raid/Mpo0DpLt">Entebbe raid</a>. The raid was launched in response to the 1976 hijacking of an international civilian passenger flight from Israel to France by Palestinian and German militants, who took control of the aircraft during a stopover in <a href="/facts/Greece/lqHw8bTB">Greece</a> and diverted it to <a href="/facts/History_of_Libya_under_Muammar_Gaddafi/vKj7t2Rt">Libya</a> and then to <a href="/facts/Second_Republic_of_Uganda/PuIodN5p">Uganda</a>, where they received support from Ugandan dictator <a href="/facts/Idi_Amin/gjvrcmu6">Idi Amin</a>. Though Israel's counter-terrorist operation was a success, with 102 of the 106 hostages being rescued, Netanyahu was killed in action – the only Israeli soldier killed during the crisis.
</p><p>The eldest son of the Israeli professor <a href="/facts/Benzion_Netanyahu/79ahhWjW">Benzion Netanyahu</a> and brother of Israeli Prime Minister <a href="/facts/Benjamin_Netanyahu/581DW7MB">Benjamin Netanyahu</a>, Yonatan was born in New York City and spent much of his youth in the United States, where he attended high school. After serving in the Israeli military during the <a href="/facts/Six-Day_War/xM8d0Wy1">Six-Day War</a>, he briefly attended <a href="/facts/Harvard_University/Lhy9L1cx">Harvard University</a> before transferring to the <a href="/facts/Hebrew_University_of_Jerusalem/aEpNukpQ">Hebrew University of Jerusalem</a> in 1968; soon thereafter, he left his studies and returned to military service in Israel. He joined Sayeret Matkal in the early 1970s and was awarded the <a href="/facts/Medal_of_Distinguished_Service/SzY6TSaq">Medal of Distinguished Service</a> for his conduct in the <a href="/facts/Yom_Kippur_War/tTNe7UlK">Yom Kippur War</a>. After his death, Operation Entebbe was renamed "Operation Yonatan" in his honor.
</p>

Yonatan Netanyahu open-in-new

Yonatan Netanyahu