July 4th,1976: The Miraculous Raid On Entebbe

Exactly 37 years ago, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) pulled off one of the most daring and successful rescue operations in history.

The Entebbe Airport terminal building 

The story began on the 27th of June 1976 when an Air France flight that originated from Tel-Aviv was hijacked by four terrorists from Palestine and West Germany who boarded the flight during a stopover at Athens Airport. The plane was forced to land in Benghazi, Libya for refueling and then took off for Entebbe Airport, Uganda.  When the plane landed in Uganda, four more terrorists joined the party and the Jewish passengers were separated from the rest and herded into the airport terminal. Non Jews were put on another plane and flown out of Uganda. Idi Amin was in full support of the terrorists and personally welcomed them. Ugandan troops were also posted to secure the area.

Wilfried Bose, one of the German
terrorists killed by the IDF

The hijackers made their demands clear - they wanted the release of 40 members of the Palestinian Liberation Organization being held in Israel and 13 others held in different countries. They gave an ultimatum that if the men were not released by the 1st of July they would commence the killing of the 106 hostages. The Israeli military knew that a military option or diplomatic would not be feasible in the limited time available. Miraculously Idi Amin the then Chairman of the Organization of African Unity extended the deadline till the 4th of July. By the 3rd of July the rescue operation was approved and on the 4th of July at about 2300 hours (11pm) an Israeli Lockheed C-130 flew into Ugandan airspace at approximately 100 feet to avoid detection.

The plane landed with the cargo bay open and 29 crack commandos led by Lt. Col. Yonathan Netanyahu stealthily stormed the airport in a convoy of cars identical to that used by President Idi Amin and raided the terminal where the Israeli hostages were being kept. The Israelis had a huge tactical edge because the terminal had been built by Israeli construction firm, Solel Boneh and the commandos had practiced the operation with a replica of the terminal over and over. Within 30 minutes of the assault the C-130 had taken off Ugandan soil headed for Israel via Kenya and the IDF commandos had rescued 102 of the hostages while losing four and lost one soldier, none other than the commander Lt. Col. Netanyahu. The commandos dispatched 7 of the hijackers and killed at least 45 Ugandan soldiers.

The Late Lt.Col Yoni Netanyahu

Jubilation as the hostages land on Israeli soil

The operation was a startling success and was a morale boosting victory against international terrorism that plagued the 1970's. It also inspired a number of movies, books and even copycat operations like the disastrous Operation Eagle Claw hatched by the US government to rescue 53 Americans held hostage in Tehran during the Iranian hostage crisis.