The Entebbe raid, also known as Operation Entebbe and officially codenamed Operation Thunderbolt (also retroactively codenamed Operation Yonatan), was a 1976 Israeli counter-terrorist mission in Uganda. It was launched in response to the hijacking of an international civilian passenger flight (an Airbus A300) operated by Air France between the cities of Tel Aviv and Paris. During a stopover in Athens, the aircraft was hijacked by two Palestinian PFLP–EO and two German RZ members,

A week earlier, on 27 June, an Air France Airbus A300 jet airliner with 248 passengers had been hijacked by two members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – External Operations (PFLP-EO) under orders of Wadie Haddad (who had earlier broken away from the PFLP of George Habash), Over 100 Ugandan soldiers were deployed to support the hijackers after the flight landed, and Amin, who had been informed of the hijacking from the beginning, had personally welcomed the terrorists at Entebbe. After moving all of the hostages to a defunct airport, the hijackers separated all Israelis and several non-Israeli Jews from the larger group of passengers, subsequently moving them into a separate room. Over the next two days, 148 non-Israeli hostages were released and flown out to Paris. The 94 remaining passengers, most of whom were Israelis, and the 12-member Air France crew continued to be held as hostages.

Representatives within the Israeli government initially debated over whether to concede or respond by force, as the hijackers had threatened to kill the 106 captives if the specified prisoners were not released. Acting on intelligence provided by Mossad, the decision was made to have the Israeli military undertake a rescue operation. The Israeli plans included preparation for an armed confrontation with Amin's Uganda Army.

Initiating the operation at nightfall on 3 July 1976, Israeli transport planes flew 100 commandos over to Uganda for the rescue effort. Over the course of 90 minutes, 102 of the hostages were rescued successfully, with three having been killed. One of the dead hostages, Dora Bloch, was murdered by Ugandan authorities at a hospital in Kampala shortly after the Israeli rescue operation; she had fallen ill during the hijacking and was removed from the plane for treatment prior to the commandos' arrival. The Israeli military suffered five wounded and one killed; Yonatan Netanyahu was Israel's sole fatality of Operation Entebbe, and had led Sayeret Matkal during the rescue effort – he was the older brother of Benjamin Netanyahu, who would later become Israel's prime minister. The Israeli commandos killed all of the hijackers and 45 Ugandan soldiers, and 11 of Uganda's leading to the deaths of 245 Kenyan-Ugandans and the exodus of around 3,000 Kenyans from Uganda. The plane flew to Athens, Greece, where it picked up an additional 58 passengers, including four hijackers. The hijackers diverted the flight to Benghazi, Libya. There it was held on the ground for seven hours for refuelling. During that time the hijackers released British-born Israeli citizen Patricia Martell, who pretended to have a miscarriage. The plane left Benghazi and at 3:15 pm on the 28 June, more than 24 hours after the flight's original departure, it arrived at Entebbe International Airport in Uganda. The hijackers transferred the passengers to the transit hall of the disused former airport terminal where they kept them under guard for the following days. Amin came to visit the hostages almost on a daily basis, updating them on developments and promising to use his efforts to have them freed through negotiations. They threatened that if these demands were not met, they would begin to kill hostages on 1 July 1976.

Separation of hostages

On 29 June, after Ugandan soldiers had opened an entrance to a room next to the crowded waiting hall by destroying a separating wall, the hijackers separated the Israelis (including those holding dual citizenship) from the other hostages Eleven Uganda Army Chief of Staff Mustafa Adrisi reportedly wanted to incarcerate or execute Godwin Sule, the Entebbe Air Base commander, who was absent from his post during the raid. Sule had left the air base early that day to meet a female companion at Lake Victoria Hotel on 4 July. Despite Adrisi's demands, Sule's closeness to President Amin guaranteed his safety.

The raid also sparked anger among sections of the Ugandan population. According to Amin's advisor Bob Astles, Uganda Army soldiers were so angry that they "accused [Amin] of allowing the Israelis (IDF) into the country" and even threatened him. The president responded by deflecting blame, claiming that the IDF had been assisted by Ugandan civilian collaborators. On 5 July, a Ugandan man named Abubakar Kibudde wrote a letter to the president, proposing that he and his veteran organization would join a volunteer army under Amin to oppose Israel and the Apartheid states of southern Africa.

Murder of Dora Bloch

thumb|upright|Relatives pay last respects to Dora Bloch, 75, after she was murdered by officers of the Ugandan army.

Dora Bloch, a 74-year-old Israeli who also held British citizenship, was taken to Mulago Hospital in Kampala after choking on a chicken bone. After the raid she was murdered by officers of the Uganda Army, as were some of her doctors and nurses, apparently for trying to intervene. In April 1987, Henry Kyemba, Uganda's Attorney general and Minister of Justice at the time, told the Uganda Human Rights Commission that Bloch had been dragged from her hospital bed and killed by two army officers on Amin's orders. Bloch was shot and her body was dumped in the trunk of a car that had Ugandan intelligence services number plates. Her remains were recovered near a sugar plantation 20 miles (32 km) east of Kampala in 1979, after the Uganda–Tanzania War ended Amin's rule.

Idi Amin's anti-Kenyan crackdown

Amin also ordered the killing of hundreds of Kenyans living in Uganda in retaliation for Kenya's assistance to Israel in the raid. Uganda killed 245 Kenyans, including airport staff at Entebbe. To avoid massacre, approximately 3,000 Kenyans fled Uganda as refugees.

On 24 May 1978, Kenya's former agriculture minister, Bruce MacKenzie, was killed when a bomb attached to his aircraft exploded as MacKenzie departed a meeting with Amin. Some have asserted that Ugandan president Idi Amin ordered Ugandan agents to assassinate MacKenzie in retaliation for Kenya's involvement and MacKenzie's actions prior to the raid. Others have indicated various other possible causes for the bombing, including that another person aboard the plane may have been the target. Later, Mossad Chief Director Meir Amit had a forest planted in Israel in MacKenzie's name. Abdalla, the representative of Uganda, alleged that the affair was close to a peaceful resolution when Israel intervened while Herzog, the representative of Israel, accused Uganda of direct complicity in the hijacking. However, the resolution failed to receive the required number of affirmative votes because two voting members abstained and seven were absent. A second resolution sponsored by Benin, Libya and Tanzania, that condemned Israel, was not put to a vote.

Western Bloc

Western nations spoke in support of the raid. Switzerland and France publicly praised the operation.

West Germany praised the raid and used it to advance its push for a multilateral U.N. convention against hostage-taking. Although the United States strongly backed the initiative, its support alienated many developing nations, which feared the convention could give great powers cover to infringe on weaker states' sovereignty. Despite the setback, West Germany persisted in its efforts, later leading the 1979 International Convention against the Taking of Hostages.

In the United States, the raid’s coincidence with the American bicentennial sparked the "Entebbe Derby," a dramatic surge in media attention, books, films, and television portrayals. President Gerald Ford publicly congratulated Israel, while members of Congress introduced 12 separate resolutions praising the operation and urging an international conference on terrorism. Under Colonel Charles Beckwith's leadership, the Army began laying the groundwork for the Delta Force, though it only received full authorization after the GSG 9 antiterrorist raid on Lufthansa Flight 181 in 1977. Despite blanket public support for the raid, Henry Kissinger privately criticized Israeli use of U.S. equipment during the operation during a conversation with Israeli Ambassador Simcha Dinitz. In mid-July 1976, the supercarrier and her escorts entered the Indian Ocean and operated off the Kenyan coast in response to a threat of military action by forces from Uganda.

The hijacked aircraft's pilot, Captain Michel Bacos, was awarded the Legion of Honour, and the other crew members were awarded the French Order of Merit.

In the ensuing years, Betser and the Netanyahu brothers – Iddo and Benjamin, all Sayeret Matkal veterans – argued in increasingly public forums about who was to blame for the unexpected early firefight that caused Yonatan's death and partial loss of tactical surprise.

In a letter dated 13 July 1976, the Supreme Commander's Staff of the Imperial Iranian Armed Forces praised the Israeli commandos for the mission and extended condolences for "the loss and martyrdom" of Netanyahu.

F-BVGG, the aircraft in the hijacking of Air France Flight 139, was repaired and returned to service with Air France.<!-- The ASN states:

"Aircraft damage: unknown

Aircraft fate: repaired"

The damage might have been minor or substantial. --> In April 1996, the aircraft was leased to Vietnam Airlines for three months. In December the same year, the aircraft was converted into a freighter and was delivered to S–C Aviation, having been re-registered as N742SC. In 1998, the aircraft was delivered to MNG Airlines and re-registered as TC-MNA. In 2009, the aircraft was placed into storage at Istanbul Atatürk Airport and was scrapped in 2020.

Bombing of Kenya's Norfolk Hotel in Nairobi

The Norfolk Hotel in Nairobi, owned by a prominent member of the local Jewish community, was bombed on 31 December 1980. The bomb flattened the hotel, killing 20 people, of several nationalities, and injuring 87 more. It was believed to be an act of revenge by pro-Palestinian militants for Kenya's supporting role in Operation Entebbe.

Commemorations

In August 2012, Uganda and Israel commemorated the raid at a somber ceremony at the base of the tower at the old terminal, where Yonatan Netanyahu was killed. Uganda and Israel renewed their commitment to "fight terrorism and to work towards humanity". In addition, wreaths were laid, a moment of silence was held, speeches were given, and a poem was recited. The flags of Uganda and Israel were flown side by side, symbolising the two countries' strong bilateral relations, next to a plaque bearing a history of the raid. The ceremony was attended by Ugandan State Minister for Animal Industry Bright Rwamirama and the deputy Foreign Affairs Minister of Israel Daniel Ayalon, who laid wreaths at the site. In the U.S., the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the operation was held at Temple Mikvah Israel, in Philadelphia, PA where a memorial to Yonatan Netanayahu who was killed in the operation was built in 1982.

Documentaries

  • Operation Thunderbolt: Entebbe, a documentary about the hijacking and the subsequent rescue mission.
  • Rise and Fall of Idi Amin (1980), a biographical film of the Ugandan dictator briefly features the raid, with an unusual depiction of Amin displaying cowardice when he learns of it.
  • Rescue at Entebbe, Episode 12 of 2005 documentary series Against All Odds: Israel Survives by Michael Greenspan.
  • Cohen on the Bridge (2010), a documentary by director Andrew Wainrib, who gained access to the surviving commandos and hostages.
  • Live or Die in Entebbe (2012) by director Eyal Boers follows Yonatan Khayat's journey to uncover the circumstances of his uncle Jean-Jacques Maimoni's death in the raid.
  • "Assault on Entebbe", an episode of the National Geographic Channel documentary Critical Situation.
  • Operation Thunderbolt, the fifth episode in the 2012 Military Channel documentary series Black Ops.

Dramatizations

  • Victory at Entebbe (1976): with Anthony Hopkins, Burt Lancaster, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Dreyfuss, Director: Marvin J. Chomsky.
  • Raid on Entebbe (1977): with Peter Finch, Horst Buchholz, Charles Bronson, John Saxon, Yaphet Kotto, and James Woods, Director: Irvin Kershner, Producer: Edgar J. Scherick.
  • Zameen (2003) is a Bollywood movie starring Ajay Devgan and Abhishek Bachchan who draw a plan to rescue hostages of an Indian airliner hijacked by Pakistani militants on the basis of Operation Entebbe.

Other media

  • Operation Thunderbolt, a 1988 arcade game, loosely based on Operation Entebbe, but using a fictional location.
  • To Pay the Price, a 2009 play by Peter-Adrian Cohen based in part on Yonatan Netanyahu's letters. The play, produced by North Carolina's Theatre Or opened off-off Broadway in New York in June 2009 during the Festival of Jewish Theater and Ideas.

<gallery>

File:Entebbe-international-airport-2009-002.jpg|The old control tower as seen from the front

File:Entebbe-international-airport-2009-003.jpg|Close up of the control tower

File:Entebbe-international-airport-2009-001.jpg|The old terminal building as it appeared in 2009

File:Entebbe-international-airport-2009-004.jpg|Wall plaque on display at the old terminal building

File:Entebbe-international-airport-2009-005.jpg|The old terminal building of the Entebbe International Airport as seen from the air

</gallery>

See also

  • Air France Flight 8969 – a similar hijacking and raid on another Air France airliner in 1994
  • Aspen Movie Map – a project whose funding came about because of Operation Entebbe
  • Israeli casualties of war
  • List of hostage crises
  • Lufthansa Flight 181 – a similar event the following year, involving a German airliner
  • Military Intelligence Directorate (Israel) (Aman) – Israel's military intelligence agency
  • Operation Gift
  • Operation Opera
  • Operation Outside the Box
  • Operation Wooden Leg
  • Operation Mikado – a proposed SAS operation during the Falklands War inspired by Operation Entebbe
  • Operation Niki – a clandestine airlift of a battalion of Greek commandos from Crete to Cyprus in 1974
  • Sayeret – Israeli Special Forces Units

Notes

References

Further reading

  • Live or Die in Entebbe Trailer
  • , video by National Geographic, 4 min.
  • video and digitised re-enactment, 9 min.
  • video documentary – detailed, 9 min. 10 min.
  • documentary – detailed, 44 min.
  • Israel's raid on Entebbe was almost a disaster, Daily Telegraph article by Saul David
  • Entebbe: Turning Point of Terrorism in Strategy and Tactics, No. 232, January/February 2006.
  • BBC Article and Videos – 4 July 1976: Israelis rescue Entebbe hostages (BBC)
  • BBC: 30th anniversary of the raid on Entebbe
  • BBC Age of Terror – Episode 1: Terror International
  • Operation Entebbe protocols Ynetnews 5 November 2010. transcripts of Israeli Cabinet discussions