Heute vor 30 Jahren: Entebbe, Uganda
Israel gedenkt heute eines historischen Siegs über seine Gegner: Vor dreissig Jahren fand die Befreiung von hundert Geiseln in Entebbe statt. Die Knesset hat schon in einer Sondersitzung dem Ereignis gedacht:
Originally called Operation Thunderbolt by its planners, the mission was renamed Operation Yonatan in memory of its commander Yonatan Netanyahu (former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s brother), whose life was one of the prices Israel paid.
The incident began on June 27, 1976, when an Air France jet on its way from Tel Aviv to Paris was hijacked by a group of German and Palestinian terrorists, who embarked in Athens. They first flew the plane to Libya, and then to Entebbe, the capital of Uganda, 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) from Israel.
At the Entebbe airfield, the hijackers separated the 100 Jewish passengers from the 150 non-Jewish ones, freeing the latter – though the plane’s pilot Michel Bacos refused to abandon the Jewish passengers. (He was later temporarily suspended by Air France for his troubles.)
Uganda was ruled at the time by dictator Idi Amin, who had had some ties with Israel years before. Israeli officials made contact with Amin, who had been helped by Israel in the past but who was now cooperating with the hijackers. At the same time, the Israelis were making very detailed plans for the bold rescue plan, based on knowledge of the airport in which the hostages were being held – because Israel had helped build it.
After receiving the final go-ahead from then-Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin, four large cargo planes carrying over 100 Israeli commandos took off for Entebbe. They landed under the cover of darkness, rolled out a black Mercedes of the type used by dictator Amin, and proceeded to the airport lounge and killed the hijackers with grenades and gunfire. One hostage was killed when he jumped up to greet the rescuers, and another hostage – Dora Bloch, 75, who had been taken to a Uganda hospital when she choked on food – was later murdered at Amin’s behest.
The hostages and army forces were greeted joyfully by thousands of Israelis upon their return.
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