| Operation Entebbe |
Article Index for Operation |
Website Links For Operation |
Information AboutOperation Entebbe |
|
Operation Entebbe took place on the night of July 3 and early morning of July 4 , 1976 . It was actually called Operation Thunderbolt by the Israel i military operatives who planned it and carried it out, and it was retroactively renamed '''Operation Yonatan''' after the raid commander, Col. Yonatan "Yoni" Netanyahu , the only Israeli soldier to die in the raid. HIJACK On in Uganda . At Entebbe , the four hijackers were joined by three additional terrorists, supported by the pro- Palestinian forces of Uganda's President, Idi Amin . The terrorists were led by Wilfried Böse (and not, as occasionally reported, by Ilich Ramírez Sánchez a.k.a. "Carlos the Jackal"). They demanded the release of 40 Palestinians held in Israel and 13 other detainees in prisons in Kenya , France , Switzerland , and Germany . The passengers were held hostage in the transit hall of Entebbe International Airport 's old terminal. The hijackers, who demanded that Israel release Palestinian prisoners, released a large number of hostages, keeping only Israelis and Jew s, whom they threatened to kill if Israel did not comply with their demand. Upon the announcement by the hijackers that the airline crew and non-Israeli/non-Jewish passengers would be released and put on another Air France plane that had been brought to Entebbe for that purpose, Flight 139's Captain Michel Bacos announced to the hijackers that all passengers, including the remaining ones, were his responsibility, and that he would not leave them behind. Bacos' entire crew, down to the most junior flight attendant, followed suit. A French Nun also refused to leave, and insisted that one of the remaining hostages take her place, but was forced into the awaiting Air France plane by Ugandan soldiers. ISRAELI RAID The government of Israel refused to negotiate with the hijackers. They instead decided to undertake a Military rescue mission to free the remaining hostages, under the command of Brigadier General Dan Shomron. After days of collecting intelligence and careful planning, four Israeli Air Force C-130 Hercules transport aircraft flew secretly from Israel and landed at night at Entebbe Airport without the aid of ground control. They were followed by an air force jet with medical facilities, which landed at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi , Kenya . Over a hundred IDF troops, including members of the elite Sayeret Matkal team and possibly some Mossad troops, were involved at Entebbe – with the support of the Kenya n government, who were opponents of Idi Amin's regime. Col. Yoni Netanyahu , ground commander during Operation Entebbe]] The Israeli forces landed an hour before midnight, with cargo bay doors already open. A black Mercedes with accompanying Land Rover s were brought along to avoid suspicion while the Israeli troops drove from the landed Plane to the terminal building: this would look like a company of Idi Amin or another high official with escort. The Mercedes car was owned by an Israeli civilian, and was apparently spray painted black for the raid, on the understanding that it would be returned to the owner in its original color. The Mercedes, and its escorts, quickly travelled to the Old Terminal in the same fashion as Amin. However, on the way, two Ugandan sentries who were aware that Idi Amin recently purchased a white Mercedes that replaced his black one, ordered the cars to stop and were immediately shot dead. In fear of prematurely alerting the terrorists inside the terminal, the cars sped up and the assault teams were quickly sent into action. The hostages were sitting in the main hall of the building, directly adjacent to the runway. The Israelis sprang from their vehicles and burst into the terminal yelling, "Get down! Get down!" in says that Yoni was about to enter the Old Terminal when he was shot in the chest by a burst from an AK-47 . No one stopped to help him until later, as he had given the order that hostages were to be rescued before help was given to their own casualties. Yoni died as he was being evacuated to the C-130 just before the hostages were. Later, when doctors examined the body, they found that the bullets had entered through the chest. Iddo Netanyahu concluded from the evidence that his brother was most likely killed when a Ugandan soldier fired from inside the building. The assault lasted less than thirty minutes and six hijackers were killed. One hostage was killed when he leaped at the Israeli forces. Of the 103 hostages, 3 died. It is speculated that Israeli forces captured some of the hijackers but there is no confirmation of that. Colonel Netanyahu was the only Israeli military casualty during the operation. A total of 45 Ugandan soldiers were killed during the raid, and about 11 Ugandan Army Air Force fighter planes sitting on the ramp were wrecked. The rescued hostages were flown out shortly after the fighting via Nairobi to Israel. Dora Bloch , a 75-year-old hostage who was recovering from a choking episode, died at Mulago hospital in Kampala when the Israelis struck. In April 1987 , Henry Kyemba , who was Uganda's Minister of Health at that time, told Uganda's Human Rights Commission that Dora Bloch had been dragged from her hospital bed and murdered by two army officers on Amin's orders. Bloch's remains were recovered in 1979 following the Tanzanian-Ugandan War that led to the end of Amin's rule. ANALYSIS One of the reasons that the raid was able to be so well planned was that the building in which the hostages were being held was built by an Israeli construction firm. Israeli firms were often involved in building projects in Africa during the 1960s and 1970s . The firm which built the airport terminal still had the Blueprint s, and supplied them to the government of Israel. In addition many of the released hostages were able to accurately describe the interior of the building, the number of hijackers, the involvement of Ugandan troops and many other important details. While planning the military operation, the Israeli army built a partial replica of the airport building with the help of some Israeli civilians who had helped build the airport terminal. It has been claimed by researchers that after arriving at the military base to begin work on the replica building (not being aware beforehand what they were to do) the civilian Israeli contractors were invited to dinner with the commander of the base. At the dinner, it was indicated to them that, upon completion of the replica, and in the best interest of national security, they would be held guests of the military for a remaining few days. During the entire operation an extremely high level of security was maintained. In the week prior to the raid, Israel had tried a number of political avenues to obtain the release of the hostages. Many sources indicate that the Israeli Cabinet was prepared to release Palestinian prisoners if a military solution seemed unlikely to succeed. A retired IDF officer, General Chaim Bar-Lev , had known Idi Amin for many years, and was considered to have a strong personal relationship with him. At the request of the cabinet he spoke with Amin on the phone many times, attempting to obtain the release of the hostages without success. AFTERMATH The government of Uganda later convened a session of the United Nations Security Council to seek official condemnation of the Israeli raid, as a violation of Ugandan Sovereignty . The Security Council ultimately declined to pass any resolution on the matter. In his address to the Council, the Israeli ambassador Chaim Herzog said:
Additionally, for refusing to leave the plane, Captain Bacos was reprimanded by his superiors at Air France and suspended from duty for a period. TV AND FEATURE FILM DRAMATIZATIONS The incident was the subject of three films, two of which were US productions with American/British casts; the third was produced in Israel with mostly Israeli actors in the key roles.
REFERENCES
SEE ALSO
EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|