Netanyahu family

The Netanyahu family, whose most prominent member is the 9th Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, have used the last name Netanyahu since the early 1920s, when Benjamin Netanyahu's father, Benzion Mileikowsky, immigrated from Congress Poland to Mandatory Palestine with his family. At the time, the Hebraization of surnames was a popular practice among Ashkenazi Jews amidst Zionist efforts to revive the Hebrew language. Benzion began using Netanyahu as his surname instead of Mileikowsky, to honor his father, rabbi Nathan Mileikowsky, who had used the name Netanyahu as a pen name.

Etymology of name

Netanyahu (Hebrew: נְתַנְיָהוּ) is a Hebrew-language Jewish surname. The name means "given by Yahweh, or God" in Hebrew, from the Hebrew natan (נָתַן, 'to give') and Yah (יָהּ, 'Yah, Yahweh').

Though the family adopted the surname only in the 1920s, the surname can be traced back to Ancient Israel and Judah. Netanyahu, also spelled Nethaniah in English-language texts, appears three times in the Hebrew Bible, given to minor Biblical characters in the First Book of Chronicles, the Second Book of Kings, and the Book of Jeremiah. Because yahu and el are used interchangeably in Hebrew as names for God in Judaism, the name has the same meaning as Nathanael and Nathan is a short form of both names.

Notable family members

Notable members of the Netanyahu Family include:

• Benjamin Netanyahu (born 1949), Prime Minister of Israel 1996–1999, 2009–2021, and 2022–present
• Avner Netanyahu[he] (born 1994), an Israeli venture capitalist and Benjamin Netanyahu's son
• Benzion Netanyahu (né Mileikowsky; 1910–2012), Israeli historian and Benjamin Netanyahu's father
• Elisha Netanyahu (1912–1986), Israeli mathematician and Benjamin Netanyahu's uncle
• Iddo Netanyahu (born 1952), Israeli physician, author, and Benjamin Netanyahu's younger brother
• Miki Haran[he] (born 1949), Israeli chemist and Benjamin Netanyahu's first wife
• Nathan Mileikowsky (1879–1935), Zionist activist, rabbi, and Benjamin Netanyahu's grandfather
• Nathan Netanyahu (born 1951), Israeli computer scientist, and Benjamin Netanyahu's cousin
• Sara Netanyahu (née Ben-Artzi; born 1958), Benjamin Netanyahu's third wife
• Sinaia Netanyahu[he] (born 1965), Israeli economist and Benjamin Netanyahu's cousin in law
• Shoshana Netanyahu (née Shenburg; 1923–2022), Israeli Supreme Court justice and Benjamin Netanyahu's aunt (by marriage)
• Yair Netanyahu (born 1991), Israeli podcaster and Benjamin Netanyahu's son
• Yonatan "Yoni" Netanyahu (1946–1976), Israeli special forces commander and Benjamin Netanyahu's older brother

Notable members of the Ben-Arzi family who are in-laws to the Netanyahu Family include:

• Amaziah Ben-Artzi[he] (born 1952), Israeli-American entrepreneur and Benjamin Netanyahu's brother in law
• Galia Ben-Arzi[he] (born 1982), Israeli-American entrepreneur and Benjamin Netanyahu's neice
• Guy Ben-Arzi[he] (born 1980), Israeli entrepreneur and Benjamin Netanyahu's nephew
• Hagai Ben-Artzi[he] (born 1950), Israeli educator and Benjamin Netanyahu's brother in law
• Matanya Ben-Artzi[he] (born 1948), Israeli mathematician and Benjamin Netanyahu's brother in law
• Shmuel Ben-Artzi (1914–2011), Israeli writer and poet and Benjamin Netanyahu's 3rd father in law.
• Ruth Ben-Arzi[he] (born 1971), Israeli-American political scientist and Benjamin Netanyahu's neice

Family trees

See also

• Mileikowsky, the original surname of the Netanyahu family
• Nathaniel, a given name of Hebrew origin used as the basis for the Netanyahu surname
• The Netanyahus a 2021 fictional novel about the family
• Netanya, an Israeli city whose etymology is similar to the etymology of the Netanyahu surname