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PAGE 6 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE July 4, 1986 Professional & Personal Home Health C are RNS. LPN’S, NAS Homemakers Live-in Companions Elderly Person Aides Critical Care I. V. Therapy NURSING CENTER 373-2858- Decatur Tender Loving Care Modern Printing. ©Ib-time 30riccB. - Tickets Invitations & Announcements Quality Quick Copy (Xerox 1090*) PRINTERS OF DUNWOODY Across from Dunwoody Village & the Goodyear Tire Center. Don and Skip Weiland 393-8588 Mr. Zippy NOWON ATLANTATV the SHALOM SHOW . . Shalom Show Host We Bring the Best of Israel to You! Richard Peritz WATL-TV-CH. 36 Sunday 7 a.m. • Monday 12:30 a.m. ENTERTAINMENT • TRAVEL • DISCUSSIONS • RELIGION For local advertising information call (404) 455-1493 TRADITION You Can Count On It! H O T ,E L , For personalized assistance call: DORIS J. PERMAN - Catering Director 688-8600 Fine kosher Catering * Bar Mitzvah' Conventions Bat Mitzvah Special Events Wedding / Receptions Theme Parties Dr. Marvin C. Goldstein, President SPfltNG STREET AT INTERNATIONAL ATLANTA. GEORGIA 30303 k We Welcome All Organizations, Meetings and Luncheons. REDUCED PARKING AVAILABLE. 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. Over 300 Nationally Advertised Lines of Furniture. / V\ ) _ x O ' * Carpeting and Accessories at up to Consumers Digest tor Service integrity and Savings ~M / in Solid I l/care Podwuiei furniture, JJnc. 63?9 Roswell Rd at Marshall s Plaza Shopping Center > 40% OFF RETAIL PRICES Featuring The Largest Selection Available “ Brass & Iron Beds HOURS 10-6 WEEKDAYS FRIDAY 10 9 SATURDAY 10-6 252-3434