LIFE MATTERS
Rescue of Israeli hostages from Uganda
On June 27, 1976, an Air France flight from Tel Aviv to Paris made a stopover in Athens. It let off some passengers and picked up some new ones. Among the passengers they picked up were four terrorists consisting of two Palestinians and two Germans. They hijacked the plane as soon as it took off and took the plane to Benghazi, Libya where it was refuelled. Then they flew it a great distance to the southern part of Africa to the nation of Uganda where President Idi Amin was waiting to welcome them.
All of this had been pre-orchestrated. He was part of the deal and he was delighted to have all this attention from the world. Lieutenant Colonel Yoni Netanyahu, or Jonathan Netanyahu as his nickname was Yoni, was selected to lead the commando assault team. He was the older brother of the man who now serves as the Prime Minister of Israel. Yoni's assault team consisted of 29 elite commandos. A second group was assigned the job of encircling the new terminal building, immobilising it, and killing all the Ugandan soldiers. A third was given the task of destroying all the MiG fighters on the ground. That was very important because they didn't want those fighters coming after their big, old, slow airplanes. A fourth group was assigned the responsibility of refuelling the Israeli airplanes. Finally, a fifth squad was put in charge of rounding up and evacuating the hostages.
The mission was launched and set on the afternoon of 3rd July. The planes flew nearly all the way at an altitude of 100 feet to avoid radar detection. Just try flying a plane as big as a Boeing 747 or one of these Hercules at 100 feet. It's not easy. The flight took seven hours and 40 minutes. They arrived just one minute behind schedule.
Uganda is on a different time than Israel, and when they arrived one minute behind schedule at 12:01 am, it was the beginning of July 4th, 1976. The surprise blitz attack proved successful beyond any expectation.
All seven of the hijackers who were present were killed, together with 33 to 45 Ugandan soldiers, and all eight MiG fighters on the ground were destroyed. Three hostages died in the crossfire. As the commandos went in they began to yell, "Get on the floor! Get on the floor!" Some of the people didn't understand Hebrew and they stood up and got shot. Ten more hostages were wounded. One was left behind because she had been taken to the hospital. A total of 102 hostages were taken back to Israel alive. Five Israeli commandos were wounded. Only one commando was killed, and that was Yoni Netanyahu, the leader of the raid, himself. His grave can be seen at Israel's National Cemetery.
The entire raid including the refuelling of the planes and the evacuation of the hostages took a total of only one hour and 39 minutes. To this day, this amazing raid is considered to be one of the most outstanding examples of military planning, coordination, and execution in the entire annals of history. The extraordinary success of the rescue operation was nothing short of a miracle.
Against All Odds: Rescue At Entebbe
Rescue of Israeli hostages from Uganda
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