Yonatan Netanyahu

Yonatan Netanyahu was born in New York City, the eldest son of Tzila (née Segal; 1912–2000) and Benzion Netanyahu (1910–2012), a professor emeritus of history at Cornell University.

His mother had been born in Petah Tikva, in what is now Israel, which was then in the Ottoman Empire's Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem, while his father was born in Warsaw and immigrated to Mandate Palestine in 1920.

He was named after his paternal grandfather, rabbi Nathan Mileikowsky, and Colonel John Henry Patterson, who formerly commanded the Jewish Legion and attended his circumcision.

His two brothers are Benjamin and Iddo.

Yonatan "Yoni" Netanyahu (יוֹנָתָן נְתַנְיָהוּ; March 13, 1946 – July 4, 1976) was an Israeli military officer who commanded Sayeret Matkal during the Entebbe raid.

Netanyahu's family returned to the newly independent state of Israel in 1949 when he was two and settled in Jerusalem.

In 1956 the family again moved to the United States before returning to Israel in 1958.

Netanyahu attended high school at Gymnasia Rehavia in Jerusalem.

In 1963, when he was in 11th grade, the family returned to the United States, where he attended Cheltenham High School in Wyncote, Pennsylvania.

He was a classmate of Baseball Hall of Fame member Reggie Jackson.

While in high school, he began contemplating his purpose in life, when he wrote in a 1963 letter, "The trouble with the youth here is that their lives are meager in content. I ought to be ready at every moment of my life to confront myself and say—'This is what I've done'."

After graduating in June 1964, he returned to Israel to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces.

He joined the Paratroopers Brigade and fought in the Six-Day War.

After graduating high school, Netanyahu joined the Israeli Defense Forces in 1964.

He volunteered to serve in the Paratroopers Brigade, and excelled in the Officer Training Course.

He was eventually given command of a paratroopers company.

Netanyahu married his long-time girlfriend Tirza "Tuti" Goodman on August 17, 1967.

Shortly after their wedding, they flew to the U.S., where Netanyahu enrolled at Harvard University.

He took classes in philosophy and mathematics, excelling in both, and was on the Dean's List at the end of his first year.

In 1967 he considered college, but the constant threat of war made him stay in Israel: "This is my country and my homeland. It is here that I belong," he wrote.

On June 5, 1967, during the Six-Day War, his battalion fought the battle of Um Katef in Sinai, then reinforced the Golan Heights battle.

During the Golan Heights battle, he was wounded while helping rescue a fellow soldier who lay wounded deep behind enemy lines.

He was decorated for valor after that war.

After being wounded, he returned to the U.S. to study at Harvard University.

After serving in the Israeli military during the Six-Day War, he briefly attended Harvard University before transferring to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1968; soon thereafter, he left his studies and returned to military service in Israel.

However, feeling restless at being away from Israel, especially with Israel skirmishing against Egypt during the War of Attrition, he transferred to Jerusalem's Hebrew University in 1968.

In early 1969, he left his studies and returned to the army.

His father described those decisions, saying "He was dreaming of resuming his studies and planned to do so time and again. Yet he always conditioned his return to Harvard on the relaxation of the military tensions."

He joined Sayeret Matkal in the early 1970s and was awarded the Medal of Distinguished Service for his conduct in the Yom Kippur War.

After his death, Operation Entebbe was renamed "Operation Yonatan" in his honor.

In 1972, he and Tuti were divorced.

Netanyahu was living with his girlfriend of two years, Bruria, at the time of his death.

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 Greece and diverted it to Libya and then to Uganda, where they received support from Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.

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.

The eldest son of the Israeli professor Benzion Netanyahu, Yonatan was born in New York City and spent much of his youth in the United States, where he attended high school.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Yonatan's younger brother, has served as Israel's prime minister three times (1996–1999, 2009–2021, and 2022–present).

Both Benjamin and their younger brother Iddo Netanyahu have also served in Sayeret Matkal.

Benjamin (nicknamed "Bibi") was elected Prime Minister of Israel in 1996, in 2009 and reelected in 2013, 2015, 2020 and 2022.

Iddo, the youngest of the three, is a radiologist and writer.

All three brothers served in Sayeret Matkal.