Yonatan Netanyahu - Legacy

Legacy

In 1979, The Jonathan Institute was established in order to sponsor international conferences on terrorism. One of its first speakers, U.S. Senator Henry M. Jackson, then Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, described the purpose of the conference and its relation to Jonathan Netanyahu:

"I believe that international terrorism is a modern form of warfare against liberal democracies. I believe that the ultimate but seldom stated goal of these terrorists is to destroy the very fabric of democracy. . . . We recall the quality of his personal character, his inner devotion to the public good, his voluntary performance of the most demanding duties that the defense of democracy entails. . . Jonathan's heritage is an unpurchasable treasure of the spirit that moth and rust cannot consume nor thieves break through and steal.

Author Herman Wouk noted that "Yoni" Netanyahu was already a legend in Israel even before his death at the age of 30. He wrote:

"He was a taciturn philosopher-soldier of terrific endurance, a hard-fibered, charismatic young leader, a magnificent fighting man. On the Golan Heights, in the Yom Kippur War, the unit he led was part of the force that held back a sea of Soviet tanks manned by Syrians, in a celebrated stand; and after Entebbe, "Yoni" became in Israel almost a symbol of the nation itself. Today his name is spoken there with somber reverence."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his "hard line against all terrorists" came as a result of the death of his brother.

In 2005, he was voted the 13th-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.