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PAGE 6 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE July 4, 1986
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Entebbe hero remembered
as man of courage, idealism
Jonathan (Yonni) Netanyahu, commander of the 1976 Entebbe
rescue mission, who died in action.
by Simon Griver
World Zionist Press Service
Not many things, one would
have thought, could have taken the
limelight from America’s 200th
anniversary celebrations on July 4,
1976. But Israel did it with the
dramatic rescue of the 105 Jewish
hostages of the Air France plane,
hijacked en route to Paris from Tel
Aviv, on that same day. Flying
2,500 miles with airborne com
mandos, Operation Thunderbolt’s
successful 90-minute battle against
international terrorism electrified
the world.
The dramatic rescue, in an Israeli
paratrooper raid on Old Terminal,
Entebbe International Airport,
Uganda was an inspiration to world
Jewry and the citizens of the demo
cratic West. Not only did it show
the prowess and capability of the
IDF, but it also demonstrated that
one need not bow to terror, despite
the odds.
Of all the Israeli soldiers who
have ever given their lives in defense
of the Jewish people, Lt. Col. Jon
athan Netanyahu (Yonni), comman
der of Operation Thunderbolt, is
probably the best known. His death
overshadowed the joy of the hos
tages rescue and in his honor the
Israeli government changed the
name of the mission to Operation
Jonathan (Yonatan).
Elliot Entis, a former friend of
Yonni from their student days at
Harvard, told the Harvard Crim
son, “Yonni had an ideal and when
he died it made you think about
your own life. It’s also a question
of relative values. Yonni was wil
ling quite literally to put his life on
the line. That’s quite unusual. And
there are even fewer people who
derive that devotion internally.”
Yonni was born in New York in
1946 where his father was working
as an emissary. He came to Israel
with his parents two years later and
settled in Jerusalem. At 18 hejoined
the army and upon being discharged
after his three years service won a
scholarship to Harvard. That was
in 1967 and the Six-Day War thus
delayed his journey to Massachu
setts.
The war changed many things.
Yonni was wounded while saving a
friend’s life and his left arm was so
badly injured that he was declared
an invalid and told he could never
serve in the army again. He went to
Harvard the following year to study
philosophy but left the summer
afterwards, despite achieving high
grades. As he explained to his Har
vard advisor Seamus Malin, “1 just
shouldn’t be here. This is a luxury.
1 should be at home. 1 should be
defending my country."
So Yonni returned home and
persuaded the army to accept him.
From that point on his army career
took off. He received a decoration
for heroism in the 1973 Yom Kip-
pur War and was given command
of a crack unit for special missions
which performed many daring
deeds, including Entebbe. They also
undertook many delicate assign
ments, which until today cannot be
revealed because of their sensitive
nature.
But if Entebbe dealt a blow to
international terrorism, how effec
tive was it? After all, terrorism is as
prevalent today as ever. Was Yon-
ni’s death in vain?
“Terrorism is more of an issue
today because at last the Western
governments, and particularly
America, are taking action to fight
it,” explains Prof. Ben Zion Neta
nyahu, emeritus professor in his
tory at Cornell University and
Yonni’s father. Furthermore, he
notes that since Entebbe no air
craft flying to and from Israel has
ever been hijacked.
Yonni’s brother, Benjamin Net
anyahu, who is today Israel’s Am
bassador to the United Nations, is
now in the front line of the diplo
matic battle against terrorism. He,
too, feels that Entebbe was a water
shed in the war against terrorism.
“Courage breeds courage,” he says.
“There has been no similar op
eration against Israel since Entebbe.
Perhaps more importantly the res
cue acted as a blue print and inspi
ration for other successful missions,
lt dispelled a sense of paralysis and
a feeling that nothing could be
done to stem the tide of terrorism
which existed until then. Soon af
terwards the West Germans con
ducted a similarly successful raid
on Mogadishu in Somalia and the
Dutch stormed a train being held
by South Moluccan terrorists. More
recently there was the American
interception of the Achille Lauro
hijackers.”
If Yonni’s example inspired all
these other events, he would be
embarrassed by the credit. More
than anything else he had a sense ol
history. He remembered the exo
dus from Egypt, and the Maccab-
bees and the Warsaw Ghetto ligh
ters. He also remembered the eras
when Jews had no defenders and
was determined to consign such
helplessness to the history books.
In a letter to a girlfriend he
recalled a Passover Seder with his
troops. “By the past, 1 refer not
only to my personal past, but to the
manner in w hich 1 see myself as an
integral part, a link in the chain of
Israel’s struggle for survival and
independence.
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