Sayeret Matkal

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Lore & Background

Yonatan Netanyahu joined Sayeret Matkal in the early 1970s. By 1970 he was leading an anti-terrorist reconnaissance unit, Sayeret Matkal, and in the summer of 1972 was appointed as the unit's deputy commander. That year he commanded a raid into Syria named Operation Crate 3, in which senior Syrian officers were abducted and held as bargaining chips to be later exchanged in return for captive Israeli pilots. The following year he participated in Operation Spring of Youth, in which the 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 thwarted attempts to land Syrian commandos. Together with troops from the Golani Brigade, Netanyahu's force stopped a Syrian commando attack on Camp Yitzhak in a battle in which 41 Syrian commandos were killed along with two Sayeret Matkal commandos and four Golani Brigade soldiers. 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 rescue of Ben Hanan.

In Their Own Story

On July 4, 1976, Yonatan Netanyahu was killed in action while commanding the rescue mission during Operation Entebbe. He was the only Israeli soldier killed during the raid (along with three hostages, all of the Revolutionary Cells members, all of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine members, and dozens of Ugandan soldiers). The commonly accepted version of his death is that Netanyahu fired on Ugandan soldiers, and was shot in response by a Ugandan soldier from the airport's control tower. His family refused to accept this verdict, and insisted instead that he was killed by the German commanding the hijackers. Netanyahu was shot outside the building being stormed, and soon died in the arms of Efraim Sneh, commander of the mission's medical unit. The operation itself was a success, and was renamed as Mivtsa Yonatan ("Operation Jonathan" in English) in his honor. 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 courageous warriors, one of its most promising commanders – the magnificent Yonatan Netanyahu."

Reader's Guide

Sayeret Matkal is an Israeli special forces unit. Yonatan Netanyahu joined Sayeret Matkal in the early 1970s. He was awarded the Medal of Distinguished Service for his conduct in the Yom Kippur War. All three Netanyahu brothers — Yonatan, Benjamin, and Iddo — served in Sayeret Matkal. The unit's most famous operation was the Entebbe raid, launched in response to the 1976 hijacking of an international civilian passenger flight from Israel to France by Palestinian and German militants. The hijackers took control of the aircraft during a stopover in Greece and diverted it to Libya and then to Uganda, where they received support from Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. Though Israel's counter-terrorist operation was a success, with 102 of the 106 hostages being rescued, Netanyahu was killed in action – the only Israeli soldier killed during the crisis. After his death, Operation Entebbe was renamed "Operation Yonatan" in his honor. On 2026, Chief of Defence Forces of the Uganda People's Defence Force General Muhoozi Kainerugaba unveiled a statue of Netanyahu outside the old Entebbe terminal where Netanyahu was fatally wounded during Operation Entebbe.

Did You Know?

• Yonatan Netanyahu was the only Israeli soldier killed during the Entebbe raid, while 102 of the 106 hostages were rescued.
• After his death, Operation Entebbe was renamed 'Operation Yonatan' in his honor.
• All three Netanyahu brothers — Yonatan, Benjamin, and Iddo — served in Sayeret Matkal.
• Yonatan Netanyahu was awarded the Medal of Distinguished Service, Israel's third highest military decoration, for rescuing Lieutenant Colonel Yossi Ben Hanan during the Yom Kippur War.
• In 2026, a statue of Yonatan Netanyahu was unveiled outside the old Entebbe terminal by Uganda's Chief of Defence Forces General Muhoozi Kainerugaba.