Yonatan "Yoni" Netanyahu (1946 –1976)

Yonatan "Yoni" Netanyahu was a member of the Israel Defense Forces elite Sayeret Matkal unit. His younger brother Benjamin Netanyahu was Prime Minister of Israel from 1996-1999, and currently serves as Leader of the Opposition in the Knesset.
Yoni was awarded the Medal of Distinguished Service for his conduct in the Yom Kippur War. He was killed in action during Operation Entebbe at Entebbe airport by Ugandan soldiers when the Israeli military rescued hostages after an aircraft hijacking. He was the leader of the assault, and the only Israeli military casualty of the raid.
Yonatan Netanyahu joined the Israeli Defence 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. On June 5, 1967, during the Six Day War, his battalion fought the battle of Um Katef in Sinai, then reinforced the Golan Heights. During the battle, Yonatan received a wound to his elbow while helping an injured fellow soldier.
After the Six Day War, Netanyahu went to the United States in order to study at Harvard University, but returned a year later because of the War of Attrition. Instead, he studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, returning to active military service after half a year.
In the early 1970's he joined Sayeret Matkal (Israeli Special Forces) and in the summer of 1972 was appointed as the unit's deputy commander. During that year, he commanded a raid (Operation Crate 3) in which senior Syrian officers were captured and exchanged in return for captive Israeli pilots. The following year he participated in Operation Spring of Youth in which the alleged terrorists and leadership of Black September were selectively killed by Sayeret Matkal, Shayetet-13 and the Mossad.
During the Yom Kippur War in October 1973, Netanyahu commanded a Sayeret Matkal force in the Golan Heights that killed more than 40 Syrian Commando officers in a battle which thwarted the Syrian commandos' raid in the Golan's heartland. During the same war, he also rescued Lieutenant Colonel Yossi Ben Hanan from Tel Shams, while Ben-Hanan was lying wounded behind Syrian lines.
Following the war, Netanyahu was awarded Medal of Distinguished Service, Israel's third highest military decoration, for his wartime conduct. Netanyahu then volunteered to serve as armor commander due to the heavy casualties inflicted on the Israeli Armored Corps during the war, with a disproportionate number of these in the officer ranks. Netanyahu excelled in Tank Officers course and was given command of the Barak Armored Brigade, which was shattered during the war. Netanyahu turned his brigade into the leading military unit in the Golan Heights.
In June 1975 Netanyahu left the Armored Corps and returned to Sayeret Matkal as unit commander. He was killed in action on July 4, 1976 while commanding Operation Entebbe, his first big operation since returning to the unit. Netanyahu was the only Israeli soldier killed during the raid (along with 3 hostages, all involved Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine members and dozens of Ugandan soldiers). The operation itself was considered by Israel as a success and was posthumously renamed Mivtsa Yonatan (Operation Yonatan) in honor of Netanyahu.
Netanyahu was buried in Jerusalem's Military Cemetery at Mount Herzl on July 6 following a military funeral attended by enormous crowds and top-ranking officials. Shimon Peres, then Defense Minister, said during the eulogy that “…a bullet had torn the young heart of one of Israel’s finest sons, one of its most couragous warriors, one of its most promising commanders – the magnificent Yonatan Netanyahu.”