Professor Benzion Netanyahu, father of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has died overnight. Professor Netanyahu was 102. The prime minister was able to visit his father last night for the last time.
Benzion Netanyahu was born in Warsaw on March 25, 1910. His original name was Benzion Mileikowsky. In 1920, he came to what was then Palestine with his family. In 1944, he married Tzila Segal, whom he met as a student.
Benzion Netanyahu had three sons: Lieutenant-Colonel Yonatan (Yoni) Netanyahu, commander of the Sayeret Matkal unit, who was killed in the Entebbe hostage rescue operation in 1976; Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; and Iddo Netanyahu, a physician and writer.
Professor Netanyahu was one of the most important historians of the Jewish people. His research centered on the Jews of Spain in the medieval period, and on the history of Zionism. Among his books are "Don Isaac Abravanel: Statesman and Philosopher"; "The Five Forefathers of Zionism"; and his magnum opus, "Origins of the Inquisition in Fifteenth Century Spain".
Professor Netanyahu was editor-in-chief of the "Encyclopaedia Hebraica" for over a decade. He also served as secretary to Ze'ev Jabotinsky, "the father of Revisionist Zionism", and was a Revisionist leader of the US Zionist Movement. He taught at various universities in the US, and ended his academic career as a professor emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and at Cornell University.
In 1952, the Netanyahu family moved to a house at 4 Haportzim Street, Jerusalem, where Professor Netanyahu passed away in the early hours of this morning.
The funeral will be held at 5 pm today at the Har Hamenuchot cemetery in Givat Shaul, Jerusalem.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 30, 2012
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2012