THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
18 Friday, December 12, 1980
Entebbe Hero's Letters Printed as Tribute
On July 4, 1976, a team of
Israeli commandos stormed
the old terminal building of
the Entebbe Airport. Their
leader was 30-year-old Lt.
Col. Yonatan Netanyahu,
known to his soldiers as
Yoni; their mission, to free
103 hostages held by inter-
national terrorists and Idi
Amin's Ugandan army.
An hour later," when the
hostages were safely on
their way home, the legend
of Entebbe was born. And
with it was born the legend
of Yoni, who fell in the
battle that accompanied the
rescue.
Yoni became an instant
hero, not only in Israel but
around the world. In an age
of anti-heroes, this im-
mediately raised the ques-
tions: Who was he? What
was his background? Why
did he follow the course that
he did?
No one could answer
these questions as well as
Yoni himself. And in "Self-
Portrait of a Hero: The Let-
ters of Yonathan
Netanyahu, 1963-1976,"
with notes and an afterward
by his brothers Benjamin
and Iddo; introduction by
Herman Wouk, he does
leave an answer — in the
letters to his family, close
friends, fellow soldiers and
the women he loved that are
presented in this book.
Yoni's brother Benjamin
talks about the history of
"Self-Portrait of a Hero."
When did you and your
brother decide to compile
Yoni's letters?
My mother was actually
the letter-keeper of the fam-
ily, and she kept them
throughout the years. One
letter, for example, de-
scribed the sensations of
Yoni's first parachute jump;
she had typed it to preserve
it. But it was only after
Yoni's death that we began
gathering the letters sys-
tematically — from Israel,
from the United States,
from friends, from his
former wife. After six weeks
we had about 330 letters.
The letters were first
serialized in an Israeli
paper. How did that come
about?
we hadn't given them the
letters, and we said, "You
never asked." This paper
has a publishing company,
and we signed a contract
with them for publication of
the hardcover book, which
came out in Hebrew a year
or so after Entebbe in 1977.
It's now in its eighth print-
ing.
Did Yoni view himself
as a hero?
There were certain fig-
ures from the past whom
Yoni identified with, not as
"I want to be great and
famous," but instead as "I
want to give to my people,
my country, my history all
that I can, as I have seen
others do." There were fig-
ures throughout history
Yoni had been in a secret
position, and people were
not supposed to know who
he was, what he was doing.
But Yoni touched a lot of
people during his life — and
you can't keep such a thing,
particularly in a place like
Israel, a secret. There was a
tremendous interest in find-
ing out more about the man.
While we were collecting
the letters, we were ap-
proached for excerpts by a
leading Israeli daily. We
gave them a selection from
different periods of Yoni's
life, a mosaic.
And then?
Soon after, we were ap-
proached by the paper's
competitor, a leading after-
noon daily. They asked why
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YONATAN NETANYAHU
who inspired him, and t'
is why I think Yoni inspi
others — because, like
them, he gave so much of
himself.
There are different
kinds of heroes — mili-
tary heroes, religious
heroes, cultural heroes.
In which chain of heroes
does Yoni belong?
I think the way Yoni
viewed himself was not,
surprisingly, as a military
person per se. He exuded the
authority that comes from
setting an example in any
field — when your followers
feel this tremendous love,
courage, purposefulness
and humility. Humility in
the sense that you are not
arrogant in your prowess.
Some military leaders were
great heroes, some were not.
I think Yoni belongs to the
tradition of heroism.
So he served as a hero
through the military.
Yoni was in the military
because he had to be, be-
cause this was the way he
could serve his country best,
but not because this was
something he wanted to do
for himself. He was paying a
tremendous price, in his
family life, in continuing
his education, in all these
things he wanted to do and
couldn't do.
What role did religion
play in Yoni's life?
Well, religion certainly
had a role, because Yoni
identified with certain val-
ues of the Jewish religion,
particularly the sanctity of
human life and freedom.
Did Yoni know he was
going to die?
No. Certainly he had to
think about death a very
great deal because he was
putting his life on the line
over and over again. But it's
very clear that he didn't
think of himself as doomed.
In his very last letter, just
five days before his death,
he said that we cannot es-
cape from this world . . .
What do you think Yr
would add to these lett
if he could?
I think if he were alive to-
day, or if he could send a
message to the civilized
world, he would say not to
succumb, to fight, to stand
up against the forces of op-
pression sweeping the face.
of this earth. And for my
family and me, the only con-
solation of Yoni's death is
that Yoni's life and his
example will serve to rekin-
dle the spirit of heroism and
idealism that we so desper-
ately need for a free civiliza-
tion to survive.