Benzion Netanyahu
Encyclopedia
Benzion Netanyahu is an Israeli historian and a professor emeritus at Cornell University
. He is a specialist in the golden age of Jewish History in Spain
, and is known for his opus, the Origins of the Inquisition in Fifteenth Century Spain. He was secretary to Ze'ev Jabotinsky, "the father of Revisionist Zionism
", and was a Revisionist leader of the Zionist Movement in the United States
. His three sons are
, Poland
, (then part of the Russian Empire
) to the writer and Zionist activist Nathan Mileikowsky. In 1920 the family emigrated to Palestine
. After living in Jaffa
, Tel Aviv
, and Safed
, the family settled in Jerusalem. Benzion studied in the Midrash
for teachers run by David Yellin, and later went on to study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
. He specialized in History
and was especially inspired by professor Joseph Klausner
. His younger brother, mathematician Elisha Netanyahu
, also studied at the Hebrew University, and later became the Dean of Sciences at the Technion.
circles, and a close friend to Abba Ahimeir
. He was coeditor of Betar (Hebrew monthly), 1933–1934, then editor of the Revisionist Zionist daily newspaper "Ha-Yarden" in Jerusalem 1934–1935. The British Mandate authorities ordered that paper to close. He was editor at the Zionist Political Library, Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv, 1935–1940. He traveled to New York
and became the secretary to Ze'ev Jabotinsky, the father of the Revisionist Zionism movement. Shortly thereafter, when Jabotinsky died, Netanyahu remained in New York and continued his Revisionist activities. He was executive director New Zionist Organization of America in New York 1940–1948, the political rival of the mainstream Zionist Organization of America
.
In 1944, he married his wife Tzilah, whom he met during his studies in Palestine. The couple had three sons – Yonatan (1946–1976), Benjamin
, (b. 1949), and Iddo
(b. 1952).
During World War II
, he was one of the Revisionist movement's leaders in the U.S. At the same time he pursued his PhD
at Dropsie College in Philadelphia, writing his dissertation on Isaac Abrabanel
.
Netanyahu believed in Greater Israel
. When the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was published (November 29, 1947), he joined others who signed the petition against the plan that was published in the New York Times. During that time, he was active in engaging with Congress members in Washington, D.C.
. He returned to Israel in 1949 and was the editor-in-chief of Encyclopedia Hebraicas in Jerusalem, 1948–1962.
He returned to Dropsie College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
, first as professor of Hebrew language and literature, and chairman of the department, (1957–1966), then professor of medieval Jewish history and Hebrew literature, (1966–1968). He moved first to University of Denver
as professor of Hebraic studies, (1968–1971), then Cornell University
as professor of Judaic studies and chairman of department of Semitic languages and literatures, 1971–1975. He is now professor emeritus at both Cornell and Hebrew University.
, even by Menachem Begin
. However, he continued his academic activities. For various reasons, he did not manage to integrate into the academic faculty of the Hebrew University, but his mentor Joseph Klausner recommended him to be one of the editors of the Encyclopaedia Hebraica
, and upon Klausner's death Netanyahu became chief editor.
During the late 1950s and the 1960s, Netanyahu and his family lived alternately in Israel and the U.S (among other times in the U.S., 1963–67), until 1969, when Netanyahu returned to New York in order to edit a Jewish encyclopedia and eventually take a teaching job at Cornell University
.
, Netanyahu is known for his opus, the Origins of the Inquisition in Fifteenth Century Spain. It is considered by some, a towering work on the subject. However, other well versed scholars dismiss its validity.
It involved Netanyahu in a scholarly dispute with Yitzhak Baer
. Baer, following earlier views, considered the Anusim
(forced converts to Christianity
) to be a case of "Kiddush Hashem
" (sanctification of the name [of God]: i.e., dying or risking oneself to preserve the name of God). According to Baer, therefore, the converts chose to live a double life, with some level of risk, while retaining their original faith. Netanyahu, in contrast, challenged the belief that the accusations of the Inquisition were true, and considers the majority of converts to be "Mitbolelim" (assimilationists
), and willing converts to Christianity, claiming that the small number of forced converts who did not truly adhere to their new religion were used in a propagandistic fashion by the Inquisition
to allege a broader resistance movement. According to Netanyahu, Christian society had never accepted the new converts, reasons of economic and racial envy. Netanyahu's approach, in downplaying the religious motivation for the Inquisition, is considered by some to reflect his bias toward secular Zionism.
while leading Israeli Special Forces in 1976, the family returned to Israel.
Netanyahu's second son, Benjamin Netanyahu (widely referred to by his nickname "Bibi"), chose a political career and became Prime Minister of Israel
in 1996 and again in 2009.
His youngest son, Iddo, is a doctor
and a writer.
Netanyahu became a widower in 2000, when his wife Tzila died.
Netanyahu harshly criticized his son in the 1990s when, as prime minister, he agreed to concede Hebron
to the Palestinian Authority, as required by the Oslo Accords
. Many believe that Benzion Netanyahu, who is known for his strong beliefs in Greater Israel, has an enormous influence over his son Benjamin. Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed this assessment when he left Ariel Sharon
's Government during the events leading up to the execution of the unilateral disengagement plan from Gaza
. At that time he explained his actions as motivated by his fear of "The trial of History" in light of his father's profession as a historian.
In September 2004, he signed the petition against the upcoming disengagement
from Gaza
; he called it a "Crime against Humanity".
The April 3, 2009 edition of Maariv
, Israel's second largest daily newspaper, reported (in Hebrew) an interview with Benzion Netanyahu, in which he is quoted as saying the following with respect to what should be Israel's policy toward the Arab population under its control: “That they won’t be able to face [anymore] the war with us, which will include withholding food from Arab cities, preventing education, terminating electrical power and more. They won’t be able to exist, and they will run away from here. But it all depends on the war, and whether we will win the battles with them.”
Regarding the Arab citizens of Israel, Benzion Netanyahu stated:
“We don’t have a real partnership with them. The Arab citizens’ goal is to destroy us. They don’t deny that they want to destroy us. Except for a small minority who is willing to live with us under certain agreements because of the economical benefits they receive, the vast majority of the Israeli Arabs would chose to exterminate us if they had the option to do so. Because of our power they can’t say this, so they keep quiet and concentrate in their daily life.
I think we should speak to the Israeli Arabs in the language they understand and admire – the language of force.” (English translation from the web site: http://www.promisedlandblog.com/?p=803)
American journalist Jeffrey Goldberg
reported in the September, 2010 edition of Atlantic Magazine: “'Always in the back of Bibi’s mind is Ben-Zion,' one of the prime minister’s friends told me. ‘He worries that his father will think he is weak.’ One of Netanyahu’s Knesset allies told me, indelicately, though perhaps not inaccurately, that the chance for movement toward the creation of an independent Palestinian state will come only after Ben-Zion’s death. ‘Bibi could not withdraw from more of Judea and Samaria’—the biblical names for the West Bank—‘and still look into his father’s eyes.’”
He went on, 'The Jewish people are making their position clear and putting faith in their military power. The nation of Israel is showing the world today how a state should behave when it stands before an existential threat: by looking danger in the eye and calmly considering what should be done and what can be done. And to be ready to enter the fray at the moment there is a reasonable chance of success.’"
Netanyahu is now serving as an associate professor at the Academy for Jewish Research, a member of the Academy for Fine Arts, and a professor emeritus at Cornell University
. He currently resides in Jerusalem.
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
. He is a specialist in the golden age of Jewish History in Spain
History of the Jews in Spain
Spanish Jews once constituted one of the largest and most prosperous Jewish communities under Muslim and Christian rule in Spain, before the majority, together with resident Muslims, were forced to convert to Catholicism, be expelled or be killed when Spain became united under the Catholic Monarchs...
, and is known for his opus, the Origins of the Inquisition in Fifteenth Century Spain. He was secretary to Ze'ev Jabotinsky, "the father of Revisionist Zionism
Revisionist Zionism
Revisionist Zionism is a nationalist faction within the Zionist movement. It is the founding ideology of the non-religious right in Israel, and was the chief ideological competitor to the dominant socialist Labor Zionism...
", and was a Revisionist leader of the Zionist Movement in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. His three sons are
- Yonatan Netanyahu, former commander of Sayeret MatkalSayeret MatkalSayeret Matkal is a special forces unit of the Israel Defence Forces , which is subordinated to the intelligence directorate Aman. First and foremost a field intelligence-gathering unit, conducting deep reconnaissance behind enemy lines to obtain strategic intelligence, Sayeret Matkal is also...
, who was killed in action leading the Entebbe hostage rescueOperation EntebbeOperation Entebbe was a counter-terrorist hostage-rescue mission carried out by the Special Forces of the Israel Defense Forces at Entebbe Airport in Uganda on 4 July 1976. A week earlier, on 27 June, an Air France plane with 248 passengers was hijacked by Palestinian and German terrorists and...
. - Benjamin NetanyahuBenjamin NetanyahuBenjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is the current Prime Minister of Israel. He serves also as the Chairman of the Likud Party, as a Knesset member, as the Health Minister of Israel, as the Pensioner Affairs Minister of Israel and as the Economic Strategy Minister of Israel.Netanyahu is the first and, to...
, Israeli Prime Minister (1996–99, 2009–present). - Iddo NetanyahuIddo NetanyahuIddo Netanyahu is an Israeli physician, author and playwright. He is the younger brother of Benjamin Netanyahu who is the current Prime Minister of Israel and Yonatan Netanyahu, who was killed leading the Operation Entebbe hostage rescue mission in 1976 and is considered a war hero.Netanyahu spent...
, a radiologist and writerWriterA writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
.
Early life
Benzion Netanyahu was born in WarsawWarsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, (then part of the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
) to the writer and Zionist activist Nathan Mileikowsky. In 1920 the family emigrated to Palestine
Mandate Palestine
Mandate Palestine existed while the British Mandate for Palestine, which formally began in September 1923 and terminated in May 1948, was in effect...
. After living in Jaffa
Jaffa
Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...
, Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
, and Safed
Safed
Safed , is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and of Israel. Due to its high elevation, Safed experiences warm summers and cold, often snowy, winters...
, the family settled in Jerusalem. Benzion studied in the Midrash
Midrash
The Hebrew term Midrash is a homiletic method of biblical exegesis. The term also refers to the whole compilation of homiletic teachings on the Bible....
for teachers run by David Yellin, and later went on to study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...
. He specialized in History
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
and was especially inspired by professor Joseph Klausner
Joseph Klausner
Joseph Gedaliah Klausner , , was a Jewish historian and professor of Hebrew Literature. He was the chief redactor of The Hebrew Encyclopedia...
. His younger brother, mathematician Elisha Netanyahu
Elisha Netanyahu
Elisha Netanyahu was an Israeli mathematician specializing in complex analysis. Over the course of his work at the Technion he was the Dean of the Faculty of Sciences and established the separate Department of Mathematics...
, also studied at the Hebrew University, and later became the Dean of Sciences at the Technion.
Origin of the Netanyahu name
Netanyahu's father, Nathan Mileikowsky, used to sign some of his articles with the name Netanyahu. It was a common practice for Zionist activists at the time to adopt a Hebrew name http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/01/benjamin-netanyahu-a-man_n_181918.html, and his son Benzion eventually adopted this family name. Following the same practice, Benzion Netanyahu occasionally wrote under the name "Nitay".Zionist activities
During his studies, Benzion Netanyahu became active in Revisionist ZionistsRevisionist Zionism
Revisionist Zionism is a nationalist faction within the Zionist movement. It is the founding ideology of the non-religious right in Israel, and was the chief ideological competitor to the dominant socialist Labor Zionism...
circles, and a close friend to Abba Ahimeir
Abba Ahimeir
Abba Ahimeir was a Jewish journalist, historian and political activist. One of the ideologues of Revisionist Zionism, he was the founder of the Revisionist Maximalist faction of the Zionist Revisionist Movement and of the clandestine Brit HaBirionim....
. He was coeditor of Betar (Hebrew monthly), 1933–1934, then editor of the Revisionist Zionist daily newspaper "Ha-Yarden" in Jerusalem 1934–1935. The British Mandate authorities ordered that paper to close. He was editor at the Zionist Political Library, Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv, 1935–1940. He traveled to New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and became the secretary to Ze'ev Jabotinsky, the father of the Revisionist Zionism movement. Shortly thereafter, when Jabotinsky died, Netanyahu remained in New York and continued his Revisionist activities. He was executive director New Zionist Organization of America in New York 1940–1948, the political rival of the mainstream Zionist Organization of America
Zionist Organization of America
The Zionist Organization of America , founded in 1897, was one of the first official Zionist organizations in the United States, and, especially early in the 20th century, the primary representative of Jewish Americans to the World Zionist Organization, espousing primarily Political Zionism.Today,...
.
In 1944, he married his wife Tzilah, whom he met during his studies in Palestine. The couple had three sons – Yonatan (1946–1976), Benjamin
Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is the current Prime Minister of Israel. He serves also as the Chairman of the Likud Party, as a Knesset member, as the Health Minister of Israel, as the Pensioner Affairs Minister of Israel and as the Economic Strategy Minister of Israel.Netanyahu is the first and, to...
, (b. 1949), and Iddo
Iddo Netanyahu
Iddo Netanyahu is an Israeli physician, author and playwright. He is the younger brother of Benjamin Netanyahu who is the current Prime Minister of Israel and Yonatan Netanyahu, who was killed leading the Operation Entebbe hostage rescue mission in 1976 and is considered a war hero.Netanyahu spent...
(b. 1952).
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he was one of the Revisionist movement's leaders in the U.S. At the same time he pursued his PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
at Dropsie College in Philadelphia, writing his dissertation on Isaac Abrabanel
Isaac Abrabanel
Isaac ben Judah Abrabanel, , commonly referred to just as Abarbanel, was a Portuguese Jewish statesman, philosopher, Bible commentator, and financier.-Biography:...
.
Netanyahu believed in Greater Israel
Greater Israel
Greater Israel is a controversial expression with several different Biblical and political meanings over time.Currently, the most common definition of the land encompassed by the term is the territory of the State of Israel together with the Palestinian territories...
. When the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was published (November 29, 1947), he joined others who signed the petition against the plan that was published in the New York Times. During that time, he was active in engaging with Congress members in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. He returned to Israel in 1949 and was the editor-in-chief of Encyclopedia Hebraicas in Jerusalem, 1948–1962.
He returned to Dropsie College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, first as professor of Hebrew language and literature, and chairman of the department, (1957–1966), then professor of medieval Jewish history and Hebrew literature, (1966–1968). He moved first to University of Denver
University of Denver
The University of Denver is currently ranked 82nd among all public and private "National Universities" by U.S. News & World Report in the 2012 rankings....
as professor of Hebraic studies, (1968–1971), then Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
as professor of Judaic studies and chairman of department of Semitic languages and literatures, 1971–1975. He is now professor emeritus at both Cornell and Hebrew University.
Return to Israel
Upon arrival in Israel, he tried to start a political career, but failed. At the time, his opinions were considered radical right wingFar right
Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...
, even by Menachem Begin
Menachem Begin
' was a politician, founder of Likud and the sixth Prime Minister of the State of Israel. Before independence, he was the leader of the Zionist militant group Irgun, the Revisionist breakaway from the larger Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah. He proclaimed a revolt, on 1 February 1944,...
. However, he continued his academic activities. For various reasons, he did not manage to integrate into the academic faculty of the Hebrew University, but his mentor Joseph Klausner recommended him to be one of the editors of the Encyclopaedia Hebraica
Encyclopaedia Hebraica
The Encyclopaedia Hebraica is a comprehensive encyclopedia in the Hebrew language that was published in the latter half of the 20th century.-History:...
, and upon Klausner's death Netanyahu became chief editor.
During the late 1950s and the 1960s, Netanyahu and his family lived alternately in Israel and the U.S (among other times in the U.S., 1963–67), until 1969, when Netanyahu returned to New York in order to edit a Jewish encyclopedia and eventually take a teaching job at Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
.
Work
Specializing in the golden age of Jewish History in SpainHistory of the Jews in Spain
Spanish Jews once constituted one of the largest and most prosperous Jewish communities under Muslim and Christian rule in Spain, before the majority, together with resident Muslims, were forced to convert to Catholicism, be expelled or be killed when Spain became united under the Catholic Monarchs...
, Netanyahu is known for his opus, the Origins of the Inquisition in Fifteenth Century Spain. It is considered by some, a towering work on the subject. However, other well versed scholars dismiss its validity.
It involved Netanyahu in a scholarly dispute with Yitzhak Baer
Yitzhak Baer
Yitzhak Baer was German-Israeli historian and an expert in medieval Spanish Jewish history.-Early life:Baer was born in Halberstadt, Germany, in 1888...
. Baer, following earlier views, considered the Anusim
Anusim
Anusim is a legal category of Jews in halakha who were forced or coerced to abandon Judaism against their will, typically while forcibly converted to another religion...
(forced converts to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
) to be a case of "Kiddush Hashem
Kiddush Hashem
The sanctification of the Name The sanctification of the Name The sanctification of the Name (in Hebrew kiddush Hashem is a precept of Judaism. It includes sanctification of the name by being holy.-Hebrew Bible:...
" (sanctification of the name [of God]: i.e., dying or risking oneself to preserve the name of God). According to Baer, therefore, the converts chose to live a double life, with some level of risk, while retaining their original faith. Netanyahu, in contrast, challenged the belief that the accusations of the Inquisition were true, and considers the majority of converts to be "Mitbolelim" (assimilationists
Cultural assimilation
Cultural assimilation is a socio-political response to demographic multi-ethnicity that supports or promotes the assimilation of ethnic minorities into the dominant culture. The term assimilation is often used with regard to immigrants and various ethnic groups who have settled in a new land. New...
), and willing converts to Christianity, claiming that the small number of forced converts who did not truly adhere to their new religion were used in a propagandistic fashion by the Inquisition
Inquisition
The Inquisition, Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis , was the "fight against heretics" by several institutions within the justice-system of the Roman Catholic Church. It started in the 12th century, with the introduction of torture in the persecution of heresy...
to allege a broader resistance movement. According to Netanyahu, Christian society had never accepted the new converts, reasons of economic and racial envy. Netanyahu's approach, in downplaying the religious motivation for the Inquisition, is considered by some to reflect his bias toward secular Zionism.
Later life
After his eldest son, Yonatan, was killed in Operation EntebbeOperation Entebbe
Operation Entebbe was a counter-terrorist hostage-rescue mission carried out by the Special Forces of the Israel Defense Forces at Entebbe Airport in Uganda on 4 July 1976. A week earlier, on 27 June, an Air France plane with 248 passengers was hijacked by Palestinian and German terrorists and...
while leading Israeli Special Forces in 1976, the family returned to Israel.
Netanyahu's second son, Benjamin Netanyahu (widely referred to by his nickname "Bibi"), chose a political career and became Prime Minister of Israel
Prime Minister of Israel
The Prime Minister of Israel is the head of the Israeli government and the most powerful political figure in Israel . The prime minister is the country's chief executive. The official residence of the prime minister, Beit Rosh Hamemshala is in Jerusalem...
in 1996 and again in 2009.
His youngest son, Iddo, is a doctor
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
and a writer.
Netanyahu became a widower in 2000, when his wife Tzila died.
Netanyahu harshly criticized his son in the 1990s when, as prime minister, he agreed to concede Hebron
Hebron
Hebron , is located in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judean Mountains, it lies 930 meters above sea level. It is the largest city in the West Bank and home to around 165,000 Palestinians, and over 500 Jewish settlers concentrated in and around the old quarter...
to the Palestinian Authority, as required by the Oslo Accords
Oslo Accords
The Oslo Accords, officially called the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements or Declaration of Principles , was an attempt to resolve the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict...
. Many believe that Benzion Netanyahu, who is known for his strong beliefs in Greater Israel, has an enormous influence over his son Benjamin. Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed this assessment when he left Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon is an Israeli statesman and retired general, who served as Israel’s 11th Prime Minister. He has been in a permanent vegetative state since suffering a stroke on 4 January 2006....
's Government during the events leading up to the execution of the unilateral disengagement plan from Gaza
Israel's unilateral disengagement plan
Israel's unilateral disengagement plan , also known as the "Disengagement plan", "Gaza expulsion plan", and "Hitnatkut", was a proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, adopted by the government on June 6, 2004 and enacted in August 2005, to evict all Israelis from the Gaza Strip and from...
. At that time he explained his actions as motivated by his fear of "The trial of History" in light of his father's profession as a historian.
In September 2004, he signed the petition against the upcoming disengagement
Israel's unilateral disengagement plan
Israel's unilateral disengagement plan , also known as the "Disengagement plan", "Gaza expulsion plan", and "Hitnatkut", was a proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, adopted by the government on June 6, 2004 and enacted in August 2005, to evict all Israelis from the Gaza Strip and from...
from Gaza
Gaza
Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...
; he called it a "Crime against Humanity".
The April 3, 2009 edition of Maariv
Maariv
Maariv is a Hebrew language daily newspaper published in Israel. It is second in sales after Yedioth Ahronoth and third in readership after Yedioth Ahronoth and Israel HaYom. In a TGI survey comparing the last half of 2009 with the same period in 2008, Maariv saw its market share fall slightly...
, Israel's second largest daily newspaper, reported (in Hebrew) an interview with Benzion Netanyahu, in which he is quoted as saying the following with respect to what should be Israel's policy toward the Arab population under its control: “That they won’t be able to face [anymore] the war with us, which will include withholding food from Arab cities, preventing education, terminating electrical power and more. They won’t be able to exist, and they will run away from here. But it all depends on the war, and whether we will win the battles with them.”
Regarding the Arab citizens of Israel, Benzion Netanyahu stated:
“We don’t have a real partnership with them. The Arab citizens’ goal is to destroy us. They don’t deny that they want to destroy us. Except for a small minority who is willing to live with us under certain agreements because of the economical benefits they receive, the vast majority of the Israeli Arabs would chose to exterminate us if they had the option to do so. Because of our power they can’t say this, so they keep quiet and concentrate in their daily life.
I think we should speak to the Israeli Arabs in the language they understand and admire – the language of force.” (English translation from the web site: http://www.promisedlandblog.com/?p=803)
American journalist Jeffrey Goldberg
Jeffrey Goldberg
Jeffrey Mark Goldberg is an American journalist. He is an author and a staff writer for The Atlantic, having previously worked for The New Yorker. Goldberg writes principally on foreign affairs, with a focus on the Middle East and Africa...
reported in the September, 2010 edition of Atlantic Magazine: “'Always in the back of Bibi’s mind is Ben-Zion,' one of the prime minister’s friends told me. ‘He worries that his father will think he is weak.’ One of Netanyahu’s Knesset allies told me, indelicately, though perhaps not inaccurately, that the chance for movement toward the creation of an independent Palestinian state will come only after Ben-Zion’s death. ‘Bibi could not withdraw from more of Judea and Samaria’—the biblical names for the West Bank—‘and still look into his father’s eyes.’”
He went on, 'The Jewish people are making their position clear and putting faith in their military power. The nation of Israel is showing the world today how a state should behave when it stands before an existential threat: by looking danger in the eye and calmly considering what should be done and what can be done. And to be ready to enter the fray at the moment there is a reasonable chance of success.’"
Netanyahu is now serving as an associate professor at the Academy for Jewish Research, a member of the Academy for Fine Arts, and a professor emeritus at Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
. He currently resides in Jerusalem.
Memberships and awards
- American Academy for Jewish Research (fellow; executive member, 1967--)
- Institute for Advanced Religious Studies (member of advisory council, 1967--)
- American Zionist Emergency Council, 1945–1948