Duty Took Netanyahu To Israel

Jonathan Netanyahu came to Harvard in 1967 with far more on his mind than succeeding academically, adjusting socially, and getting used to cold Cambridge winters.

After just one year, his sense of duty and his life-long determination to defend his country at any cost compelled him to return to Israel.

The future Lieutenant Colonel Netanyahu--who completed his only full year at Harvard twenty-five years ago--was the only Israeli soldier to die in the 1976 raid on the Entebbe, Uganda airport, during which the Israeli army freed 100 Israeli hostages held by Palestinian sympathizers.

Long before Entebbe, Netanyahu's determination struck two of his Harvard mentors.

"He cared deeply about what he believed in," says his first-year resident advisor Robert E. Kaufmann '62. "Jonathan was clearly destined for a high military role."

Seamus Malin '62 says Netanyahu regarded his military service not as a bothersome obligation, but as a passionate duty. "Yoni [Jonathan's nickname] was one of those people that you just don't see replicated," he says.

Netanyahu enjoyed his year at Harvard, during which he lived with his wife, Tutti, in Peabody Terrace. In his opinion, in fact, his time here was too pleasurable.

"He found it hard to justify the life he was now living," Malin says. "He kept looking over his shoulder at the people he left behind."

While at Harvard, Netanyahu spent his leisure time with his wife and a few close friends, says longtime companion Elliot Z Entis '67-'68.

Entis, who met Netanyahu at camp in New Hampshire during the summer prior to Netanyahu's year at Harvard, says Netanyahu profoundly influenced his life. "He taught me that idealism is a viable concept for actual behavior," Entis says.

In a July 6, 1976 eulogy, Israel's then-Defense Minister Shimon Peres lauded Netanyahu's courage and compassion.

"In the university he studied philosophy. In the army he taught self-sacrifice. To his soldiers he gave his human warmth, and in battle he imbued them with coolness of judgments," Peres said.

Netanyahu worked hard at Harvard, qualifying for Group I despite the fact that English was not his first Language.

An October 16, 1967 letter from Netanyahu to his brotherBenjamin, printed in Self-Portrait of a Hero: The Letters of Jonathan Netanyahu, reveals the extent to which he immersed himself in life at Harvard.

"Here you don't have even a moment's peace. For if you do have such a moment, you may as well think about a physics problem that's not been solved yet, or finish a chapter in math or, for heaven's sake, finish reading Homer, or go over the geology lecture, or write an essay for Expository Writing," he wrote.

But a letter to brother Iddo written almost six months later shows that he thought he belonged elsewhere:

"The many acts of terror perpetrated in Israel are strengthening my conviction that the sooner I come back, the better," he wrote.

Ironically, Netanyahu was not killed in the heat of battle, according Malin. Rather, Netanyahu was shot after the danger point of the Entebbe raid had passed and it appeared that the troops would escape the airport without any fatalities.

Because Netanyahu survived the more life-threatening parts of the raid--as well as countless other dangerous battles--Malin likens his almost avoidable death to a senseless accident.

"[His death] made me feel a terrible sense of loss," Malin says.

The story of Netanyahu's life is one of adventure, determination and change.

He was 17 in 1963 when his family moved from Israel to the U.S., where his father, Benzion, planned to do research on Jewish history. After graduation from high school in Philadelphia. Netanyahu enlisted in the Israeli army. He remained in the army until he entered Harvard in 1967.

Netanyahu was seriously wounded shortly before the conclusion of the Six-Day War in 1967.

Soon after the Israeli victory in the war, a recovered Netanyahu entered Harvard, where he demonstrated a great interest in math and the natural sciences.

Returning to the army in 1969, Netanyahu defended the Jordan Valley, the Golan Heights and the Lebanese border. By 1972, he had been promoted to the rank of major.

Netanyahu took a leave of absence from the army in June 1973, during which he enrolled in Harvard Summer School. He returned in time to fight in the Yom Kippur War. In 1975, a little more than a year before his death at Entebbe, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel.

Netanyahu's legacy of national service lives on through his family. His brother, Benjamin, was granted a permanent appointment as the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations in September 1984. Benjamin served in the Israeli army from 1967 to 1972 and was executive director of the Jonathan Institute, a terrorism research foundation, from 1978 to 1980

Entis, who met Netanyahu at camp in New Hampshire during the summer prior to Netanyahu's year at Harvard, says Netanyahu profoundly influenced his life. "He taught me that idealism is a viable concept for actual behavior," Entis says.

In a July 6, 1976 eulogy, Israel's then-Defense Minister Shimon Peres lauded Netanyahu's courage and compassion.

"In the university he studied philosophy. In the army he taught self-sacrifice. To his soldiers he gave his human warmth, and in battle he imbued them with coolness of judgments," Peres said.

Netanyahu worked hard at Harvard, qualifying for Group I despite the fact that English was not his first Language.

An October 16, 1967 letter from Netanyahu to his brotherBenjamin, printed in Self-Portrait of a Hero: The Letters of Jonathan Netanyahu, reveals the extent to which he immersed himself in life at Harvard.

"Here you don't have even a moment's peace. For if you do have such a moment, you may as well think about a physics problem that's not been solved yet, or finish a chapter in math or, for heaven's sake, finish reading Homer, or go over the geology lecture, or write an essay for Expository Writing," he wrote.

But a letter to brother Iddo written almost six months later shows that he thought he belonged elsewhere:

"The many acts of terror perpetrated in Israel are strengthening my conviction that the sooner I come back, the better," he wrote.

Ironically, Netanyahu was not killed in the heat of battle, according Malin. Rather, Netanyahu was shot after the danger point of the Entebbe raid had passed and it appeared that the troops would escape the airport without any fatalities.

Because Netanyahu survived the more life-threatening parts of the raid--as well as countless other dangerous battles--Malin likens his almost avoidable death to a senseless accident.

"[His death] made me feel a terrible sense of loss," Malin says.

The story of Netanyahu's life is one of adventure, determination and change.

He was 17 in 1963 when his family moved from Israel to the U.S., where his father, Benzion, planned to do research on Jewish history. After graduation from high school in Philadelphia. Netanyahu enlisted in the Israeli army. He remained in the army until he entered Harvard in 1967.

Netanyahu was seriously wounded shortly before the conclusion of the Six-Day War in 1967.

Soon after the Israeli victory in the war, a recovered Netanyahu entered Harvard, where he demonstrated a great interest in math and the natural sciences.

Returning to the army in 1969, Netanyahu defended the Jordan Valley, the Golan Heights and the Lebanese border. By 1972, he had been promoted to the rank of major.

Netanyahu took a leave of absence from the army in June 1973, during which he enrolled in Harvard Summer School. He returned in time to fight in the Yom Kippur War. In 1975, a little more than a year before his death at Entebbe, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel.

Netanyahu's legacy of national service lives on through his family. His brother, Benjamin, was granted a permanent appointment as the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations in September 1984. Benjamin served in the Israeli army from 1967 to 1972 and was executive director of the Jonathan Institute, a terrorism research foundation, from 1978 to 1980