Forty years ago, Israel amazed the world with the daring Entebbe Raid. On June 27, 1976, Air France Flight 139 from Tel Aviv, with 248 passengers on board, was hijacked by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and two German terrorists. The hijackers demanded the release of Palestinians prisoners held by Israel and of terrorists imprisoned in Europe. After stopovers in Athens and Benghazi, the plane landed in Entebbe, where the Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin, welcomed the hijackers warmly. The Israelis and non-Israeli Jews were separated from the others and held in an old terminal knowing they could die at any time.
Israel had its own plan. On July 3, at 11pm, four Israeli C-130 Hercules transport aircraft landed in Entebbe Airport and fighters from the elite units stormed the terminal and freed the hostages. Lt. Col. Jonathan (Yoni) Netanyahu, commander of the elite unit (Sayeret Matkal) was killed in action, and sometimes the raid is named after him, Operation Jonathan, rather than the original Operation Thunderbolt.
Entebbe gave rise to many myths. Yitzhak Rabin, Prime Minister at the time, was hailed as the father of this success, although he had been sceptical about it and even prepared a letter of resignation in case it failed. It was actually Shimon Peres, then Defence Minister, who pushed fervently for the operation. The mission commander was not Netanyahu, but rather Gen. Dan Shomron, later to become the Chief-of-Staff of the IDF. Netanyahu's performance in the operation was controversial, and became a source of bitter feud between the Netanyahu family and Colonel Muky Betser, Netanyahu's deputy, with each side fighting ruthlessly for the lion's share of public memory, as if there was not enough glory to go round.
For Benjamin Netanyahu, the Entebbe raid was a momentous event. Apart from the obvious personal grief, the loss of his elder brother contributed to his positioning as a potential future leader of Israel. Not only did he know first-hand the consequences of government decision-making, but when he started establishing himself as a world expert on terror, the aura of his brother, the dead hero of Entebbe, contributed to his success.
The fact that there were two Germans among the hijackers and the selection they carried out between Israeli and Jewish passengers and the others, sparked memories from the dark days of the Holocaust. Indeed, Brigitte Kuhlmann, one of the German hijackers, abused the hostages with antisemitic slurs, but her partner, Wilfried Böse, seemed to be different. When one of the Israeli hostages, Yitzhak David, showed him the number tattooed on his arm at Auschwitz and said he had believed that there was a new Germany, Böse answered that he wasn't a Nazi, he was just trying to help the Palestinians.
lt was as if there was not enough glory to go round
Another Holocaust survivor, Harry Klausner had a pivotal role to play. He was born in the German city of Wuppertal in 1936. During the Kristalnacht Pogrom of 1938 his home was looted and so were the stores of his wealthy father, who was also arrested. When his father was released, he left for Palestine and little Harry, his mother and his sister moved to the Netherlands, planning to follow him. In 1942 they were ordered to report to Westerbork transit camp, where Dutch Jews were assembled before being transported to the east. Instead, the three hid in the attic of a Dutch family's farm. The single, small window was young Harry's only contact with the outside world. Once he saw Allied bombers flying by, and later a British pilot who had bailed out was brought to the farm by the Dutch Underground. "One day," vowed Klausner, "I will be a pilot like him."
And he was indeed. In 1956, Klausner, now Lt. Arie Oz, stood proudly in an Israeli Air Force base and received his pilot wings. Later he became a squadron leader and in July 1976, he was the captain of one of the four C-130 aircraft that participated in the Entebbe raid.
Commemorating Operation Thunderbolt, even after forty years, still invokes in us deep feelings. The daring operation sent a clear message that unlike the days of the Holocaust, Jews were not helpless, because now they had a state of their own, which could save them.
The daring raid also won Israel and the IDF huge respect globally, both for not yielding to terrorist extortion and for the impressive execution of the operation.
In the forty years that have passed since, Israel and the IDF have travelled through many paths, some more favourable than others. Still, the Entebbe Raid is a shining example of Israel at its best. There is no harm in such reminders, once in a while.
