Benzion Netanyahu (born Benzion Mileikowsky; March 25, 1910 – April 30, 2012) was a Polish-born Israeli historian, medievalist, encyclopedist, and a leading intellectual of the Revisionist Zionist movement. Born in Warsaw to Nathan Mileikowsky, a rabbi, writer, and Zionist activist, and Sarah Lurie, his family immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1920, where they adopted the Hebraized surname Netanyahu, meaning "God-given." He specialized in Judaic history, particularly the history of Jews in Spain during the Middle Ages and the Inquisition. Netanyahu served as a professor of history, notably at Cornell University in the United States, edited the Hebrew Encyclopedia, and worked closely with Revisionist Zionist leader Ze'ev Jabotinsky as an assistant to his personal secretary. Deeply committed to Revisionist Zionism, he actively lobbied in the United States for support of a Jewish state in Palestine and was a key figure in the movement’s American branch, advocating Jabotinsky’s maximalist vision. He was the father of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Yonatan (Yoni) Netanyahu—hero of the Entebbe raid who died in 1976—and writer Iddo Netanyahu. He lived in Jerusalem later in life and died there at the age of 102.