Benzion Netanyahu — father of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, controversial historian, and former chair of what is now Cornell’s Department of Near Eastern Studies — died Monday at the age of 102.

Dozens of Cornell students had the opportunity to speak directly with Iranian citizens via long-distance phone calls yesterday afternoon. The students of Prof. John Weiss’s seminar, History 2161: Iran and the World, together with the assistance of volunteer translators (an assortment of Cornell students and professors fluent in Farsi), worked to bring the “Enough Fear” campaign’s phone event to Ho Plaza, where Cornellians waited in line for the opportunity to speak with volunteers in Iran over the single landline connected outside of Willard Straight.