Raid on Entebbe





  • On June 27, 1976, Air France 139 flight Tel Aviv-Athens-Paris took off from Athens with more than 246 passengers (77 were Israeli nationals) on board.
  • Within eight minutes of the flight air borne, 4 persons (including one woman), heavily armed, belonging to Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine showed up and invaded the cockpit and within minutes, they had secured the plane. 
  • Within a half hour the terrorists contacted a Libyan control tower to issue their demands. In addition to fuel, they demanded that the local representative of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine meet them at the Libyan airport.
  • The plane touched down in Libya, although it was clear that this was only a fueling stop. The terrorists released a single passenger, a young pregnant woman. In the meantime, the Israelis huddled, trying to come up with a viable plan, despite the fact that the situation was unstable and the terrorists’ ultimate destination unknown.
  • With an almost empty tank, the terrorists had flight land the plane at Entebbe, in Uganda, in the wee hours of the morning of June 28. Entebbe was an unpromising location for the Israelis because Idi Amin, the dictator in charge, was no friend to Israel.
  • Once in Entebbe, Amin left no doubt that he was working with the terrorists. He allowed several more terrorists to meet the airplane, he assembled his troops at the airport, and he appeared there himself, making a speech supporting the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. 
  • Women & Children numbering 47 were freed immediately. Later all non-Israeli and non-jews numbering about 100 were also freed by hijackers. Air France Captain Michel Bacos and his crew of 12 were also let go by hijackers but Captain Michel Bacos declined to leave stating the all the passengers of the flight AF139  was his responsibility and he can't leave them and walk away. His crew also decided to stay back with Israelis & Jews.
  • Despite the information vacuum, the Israeli Defense Forces started brainstorming. The IDF was lucky in that it knew that the airport where the hostages were being held was within flying range and had a fair idea about the site itself.
  • By June 29, the situation was static and the IDF made the formal decision to start turning its brainstorming into reality.
  • With help from Ugandan soldiers, the terrorists at the airport terminal created a small passageway between two rooms. Then began dividing the hostages into two groups: Jews and Israelis in one group, everyone else in another group. For the Jews, it was with its life and death divisions.
  • By early June 30, the IDF continued its information gathering and planning abd the consensus was that the Israelis had to seize the Entebbe airport and free the hostages that was difficult to put into operation. It turned out that, aside from buying some time, Amin was not otherwise deterred from his murderous path.
  • In Israel, the IDF’s plans were advanced to begin gathering personnel. The responsibility of leading the raid was Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Netanyahu (brother of present PM  Benjamin Netanyahu). The three major plans being considered — one of which, of course, was the air raid that ultimately took place. On July 1, the date the terrorists had given as their deadline for killing the Jewish hostages.
  • The Israelis had an unexpected bit of luck. The Israeli building contractor who built the Old Terminal at Entebbe, gave IDF access to the building’s plans.
  • Although the Israelis were determined not to submit to the terrorists’ demands - perceiving that to do so would open the door to unlimited kidnappings and hostage situations - the Cabinet voted unanimously to begin negotiations with the terrorists as a means of buying time. 
  • Idi Amin, swayed by Israeli flattery on his ego, announced that he would allow one extra hour stretched into two, and then a day, and then two days, until the Israelis had a fortunate reserve of time within which to work.
  • On July 1, all except Israeli passengers and Air France crew were released.
  • By mid-morning on July 2, the plan was sufficiently developed that Netanyahu and his fellow officers were beginning to conduct dry run practices in their minds. Air Force ground crews began getting seven airplanes reading for the raid: four Hercules for the trip; one Hercules as a reserve plane; and two Boeing 707s as command headquarters and backup to fly the rescued hostages home. One plane was swiftly converted into a flying medical center.
  • The surprise aspect of the raid once the planes landed involved using a Mercedes limousine as one of the assault vehicles, because Ugandan officials always traveled in these vehicles.
  • For the rest of the day, the troops led by Netanyahu, drilled and drilled. Their rehearsals were so disciplined that, by July 3, they were ready. Negotiations stagnated and didn’t really matter since the purpose was to buy time. It was galling to see the terrorists use these talks as a way to humiliate Israel. No one in Israel believed that, if Israel capitulated to the terrorist demands, the terrorists would actually release all 105 hostages safely.
  • At noon on July 3, 1976, the operation “Operation Thunderbolt” was reading to go. By 1:30, the commandos were airborne and heading South.Even on the plane, both officers and troops, continued to go over the plans, mentally rehearsing and polishing small details. The flight, already stressful, was made worse by turbulence over Ethiopia, which forced the planes to divert. The one good thing was that the same storm meant that the Israelis didn’t need to worry about being detected because the storm ruined incoming radar signals.
  • Despite the horrific conditions, the pilot landed the plane at Entebbe only 30 seconds behind the scheduled time. Within minutes of landing, the men were piling into the decoy Mercedes and two Land Rovers. Even as the plane was still moving, the instant the cargo doors opened, the cars drove off the plane. The paratroopers placed temporary lights on the runway, the planes were able to taxi slightly forward. The Mercedes and its escorts speed down the road to the terminal, all the while trying to give the appearance of an official entourage. When two Ugandan sentries challenged them, however, they had no option but to shoot. They hit one soldier, but the other was able to run for the control tower. In minutes, despite the loss of their cover, the commandos secured one of the terminal entrances and moved on to another.
  • Only after commandos landed at Entebbe airport and ground operation started, Israel informed United States, Great Britain and France about the 'Operation Thunderbolt'. Until then no one knew about this. Isreal neither solicited any external help nor made any diplomatic maneuvers. Only Kenya government knew to some extent because Israeli's needed their help for refueling and medical treatment of any possible injured persons.
  • Shortly after entering the building, the terrorists began firing, both at the Israelis and the hostages. A firefight began, with Israeli troopers successful in bringing down two of the terrorists. Despite bullhorn announcements from the IDF warning the hostages to keep down, one man was killed in this first burst of gunfire.The second assault team managed to kill those terrorists. At the same time, Netanyahu’s group killed Ugandan soldiers assisting the terrorists. Within the building, after only three minutes, the raid was over. The only step remaining was to get everyone — paratroopers and hostages alike — back to the waiting planes for the return trip to Israel.
  • Israeli commandos then destroyed Ugandan MiG fighter planes, 10 no's parked at Entebbe airport,  to prevent them from pursuing, and conducted a sweep of the airfield for intelligence-gathering.
  • Sadly, the raid was not without costs. Three hostages died on the ground. Another, an old lady, had been taken to a Ugandan hospital, where she was subsequently murdered on Amin’s orders. And, in what proved to be a terrible blow to the Israeli psyche,  Netanyahu was fatally wounded. He died on the flight back to Israel. 
  • In all Four hostages died during the operation and 10 were wounded; 7 hijackers, about 45 Ugandan soldiers, and 1 Israeli soldier, Yoni Netanyahu, were killed. 
  • And that’s the story. It’s an incredible story of a small force, fighting against the odds, and, with creativity and bravery, freeing over a hundred people from captivity. It’s also a story of sacrifice, because not only did Netanyahu die on that day, every single one of the paratroopers on the flight was willing to give his life to rescue his fellow Israelis and Jews from a brutal terrorist assault. Lastly, it was a story of remarkable government foresight. By refusing to give in to the terrorist demands, Israel managed for 30 years to insulate herself from hijackings and kidnappings, a situation that changed only a few years ago, when terrorists realized that Israel no longer had the will (or, perhaps, the ability) to pull off another Entebbe.
  • Rabin declared the mission was victorious from human, moral, and the military-operational points of view, but it owed its success more to luck and to a last-minute display of humanity on the part of a doomed terrorist who had weapon & grenade urged hostages to take cover realizing 'No, we won’t do it because it’s over’.
  • Reminiscences & after effects of Operation Thunderbolt / Operation Yonathan.
  • UN Security Council deliberations after the raid.



Raid on Entebbe (1976) - Peter Finch, Charles Bronson - An English Movie

Subsequently, Idi Amin became weaker and was isolated in the world. Amin was forced to flee into exile by helicopter on 11 April 1979, when Kampala was captured by Tanzanian forces. He escaped first to Libya, where he stayed until 1980, and ultimately settled in Saudi Arabia, where the Saudi royal family allowed him sanctuary and paid him a generous subsidy in return for his staying out of politics. Amin lived for a number of years on the top two floors of the Novotel Hotel, Jeddah. On 19 July 2003, one of Amin's wives, Madina, reported that he was in a coma and near death at the King Faisal Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from kidney failure. She pleaded with the Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni, to allow him to return to Uganda for the remainder of his life. Museveni replied that Amin would have to "answer for his sins the moment he was brought back". Amin's family decided to disconnect life support and Amin died at the hospital in Jeddah on 16 August 2003. He was buried in Jeddah in a simple grave without any fanfare.

"When these 40 terrorist murderers are exchanged it won't be a cause for celebration; 
It will be a day of mourning for Israel" - Yitzhak Rabin

"Given the present mood of the country, if the rescue mission is a catastrophy
 Israel may not survive. And yet we have no choice"  - Yitzhak Rabin

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