The date is June 27th, 1976 and an Air France Airbus is taking off from Athens, Greece,
enroute to Paris.
Aboard the flight are 248 passengers, most of them Israelis, along with 12 air crew.
Amongst the passengers however are two Palestinian and two German terrorists, and shortly after
takeoff the three men and one woman reveal concealed weapons and threaten to murder passengers
if the flight is not immediately diverted.
The aircrew radios their situation to ground authorities and changes heading for Benghazi,
Libya where the plane lands and is refueled.
Seven hours later the plane departs and finally lands in Entebbe Airport in Uganda.
Outside the plane's windows the hostages see scores of Ugandan troops and are briefly relieved,
believing themselves about to be rescued.
Yet as the plane's doors open up a Ugandan army colonel strides up the emergency stairs
and shakes hands with one of the terrorists- the Ugandans are not here to liberate the
hostages, they are here to protect the terrorists.
Soon after, one of the hijackers contacts international media with their demands: they
want a ransom of $5 million for the release of the airplane along with the release of
53 Palestinian and Pro-Palestinian militants from prisons around the world.
If their demands are not met they will begin executing hostages on July 1st.
Back in Israel, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin phones US President Gerald Ford, asking him
to contact the Egyptian government and request their aid in negotiating with Ugandan President
Idi Amim.
Egypt, not particularly friendly to the Israeli situation, promises to do what it can.
Meanwhile the Israeli cabinet furiously argues back and forth on whether they should give
in to the terrorist demands or not, and prepares to release the forty Palestinian prisoners
that they are holding.
The US and Britain however are adamant that they will not negotiate with terrorists, and
inform Israel that they will under no circumstances release any of their prisoners.
The American and British stance is a harsh one, but a logical one- if these terrorists
and their demands are surrendered to, then it will only encourage further terrorism.
Meanwhile Egyptian President Anwar Sadat attempts to negotiate with Amim, but makes no headway.
He then turns to the Palestinian Liberation Organization and surprisingly gets Yasser
Arafat to send his political aide to Uganda to negotiate with the hostage takers, though
the hijackers refuse to see him.
A political situation is quickly becoming untenable, but the Israeli government asks
the hijackers for another week in order to buy themselves more time.
President Amim, who has been in contact with an Israeli Defense Force officer whom he had
a long personal history with, agrees to negotiate with the terrorists after he is told that
Israel is preparing to release their prisoners.
The hijackers release 48 non-israeli hostages on the 30th of June, and after agreeing to
a deadline extension, release another 100 non-israelis, all of which are flown to Paris.
This leaves 84 Israeli hostages, 10 french hostages, and the aircrew of 12 who had refused
to leave with the earlier released hostages.
With their extra time, the Israeli government breaks into furious discussions on how to
proceed, with many wanting to agree with the hijacker's demands in order to gain a release
of the rest of the hostages- yet others, mostly those from the intelligence and military community,
refute the idea, warning that this will only encourage further terrorism.
With pressure mounting and the US, Britain, and now France adamant that they will not
negotiate with terrorists, a final decision is made: there will be no negotiation.
Instead, the Israeli Defense Forces will mount a rescue, leading to one of the most incredible
military operations in history.
With only a week left before the noon deadline of July 4th set by the hijackers, IDF commanders
convene an emergency meeting to determine a strategy for the rescue.
One idea is to have naval commandos air-dropped into Lake Victoria, which borders the Entebbe
International Airport where the hostages are kept.
Dropped into the lake, the commandos would inflate rubber boats and ride them to the
airport, where they would engage and kill the hijackers, and then hold their position
and ask President Amim for safe passage home.
The plan is almost immediately shot down, for one the Israelis are told that the lake
is infested with Nile crocodiles, and there are serious concerns about Ugandan President
Amim's support for any rescue operation.
Rather than allow the rescuers to fly home, he might order an attack on the Israeli forces
instead which would lead to a slaughter.
The Israelis have two major problems to overcome in devising a realistic rescue attempt: first
they need more solid intelligence on the airport and its layout, and secondly they must get
the assistance of an East African nation for the raid, as the Israeli military lacks the
capability to refuel four to six military aircraft so far away from Israeli airspace.
The Americans have a huge airborne refueling fleet, but in order to get their tankers on
station to support the Israelis, they too would need the permission of several African
nations to fly through their airspace, and such a plan risks tipping off Amim to a pending
rescue attempt.
Instead the Jewish owner of a hotel chain in Kenya, along with other prominent members
of the Jewish and Israeli community in that nation all pressure Kenyan President Jomo
Kenyatta to support the IDF raid, thus securing Kenyan permission for the IDF task force to
cross into their airspace and refuel at what is today Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Further, Kenyan Minister of Agriculture Bruce MacKenzie persuades President Kenyatta to
allow Mossad agents into the nation so they can collect information across the border
in Uganda on the Entebbe airport.
Within 24 hours Isareli Mossad agents have crossed the border into Uganda en route to
scout out the airport and its defenses.
Other Mossad agents meanwhile have flown to Paris, where they are conducting interviews
with the released hostages.
One of them, a French-Jewish passenger with a military background has an extraordinary
memory and is able to provide information not just on the airport, but on the hijackers
and the number and types of weapons they carry.
All this information is relayed back to the IDF, who have also contacted the Israeli construction
company which had actually built the exact terminal where the hostages were being kept
years ago.
Building a miniature replica of the terminal, the Israelis begin to piece together where
the hostages may be being kept and prepare their strike force.
The plan is risky, but simple- four C-130s would take off from Israel and head to Uganda
with a strike force of 100 commandos who would assault the airport terminal, secure the airport
against any Ugandan military forces responding to the attack while the planes refueled, and
then fly everyone home.
The men are split into three elements:
Ground Command And Control consists of a small group including the ground commander, Brigadier
General Dan Shomron and support and communications personnel.
The Assault element consists of a 29 man assault force led by Lt. Colonel Yonatan Netanyahu
and made up entirely of commandos from the elite Sayeret Matkal unit.
They will be the spearhead of the assault and are tasked with breaching the terminal
and rescuing the hostages.
The Security element is the largest element, and is made up for three parts.
A force of paratroopers will secure the airport field, clear and secure the runways, and protect
the aircraft while they are fueling.
The Golani force will secure the C-130 tasked with rescuing the hostages and board them,
while also acting as general reserves and reinforcing where needed.
The Sayeret Matkal force will clear the military airstrip nearby and destroy a squadron of
MIG fighter jets on the ground to prevent any possible interceptions by the Ugandan
Air Force.
They will also repel any attack by Ugandan military forces responding from the nearby
city of Entebbe.
The plan is set and with time nearly running out late in the evening of July 3rd, just
hours before the July 4th deadline, the strike force loads into their waiting C-130s.
The four plane flight takes off and flies over the Red Sea at a height of no more than
100 feet (30 m).
From their windows the soldiers can see waves breaking below them as the airplanes roar
along at almost four hundred miles an hour.
The strike force is flying low and fast to avoid radar detection by the Egyptians, Sudanese,
and Saudi Arabians, fearing that if they are detected the mission may be given away.
Plus there is the added concern that any one of these nations- not currently on friendly
terms with Israel- may decide to intercept the flight, the Israelis after all did not
gain permission to penetrate or approach their airspace.
While flying at 30 meters lets the Israelis avoid ground based radar, if any military
aircraft happen to be in the sky they would be very quickly detected by airborne radar,
and so far out of range of Israeli jets, there would be no hope of protecting the strike
force from hostile attack.
Nervously the pilots keep an iron grip on their control sticks, at such low altitudes
the smallest mistake will send them plummeting into the ocean just a hundred feet below them,
disintegrating the massive planes on impact.
Trailing behind the strike force's C-130s are a flight of two Boeing 707s, civilian
transports that have been retrofitted with medical facilities and a command post for
the commander of the operation, General Yekutiel Adam.
Hours later the planes have landed at Jomo Kenyatta International airport in Nairobi,
Kenya.
One of the 707s, the medical support plane, is left behind while the other five planes
are refuelled and take off for the assault on Entebbe International Airport.
On approach to the airport the remaining 707 circles overhead, allowing General Adam to
remain in contact with his forces on the ground.
At 2300 hours the four C-130s all make a combat landing on the airport's runway, their cargo
bay doors already open and ready to discharge the men inside.
In the darkness though the first plane almost taxis straight into a ditch, but the other
three land without incident.
From one of the C-130s, a black Mercedes made to look like President Amin's personal vehicle
rolls out , followed by two Land Rovers- all bearing the insignia of the Ugandan president.
Inside each vehicle are Israeli commandos, hoping to be able to roll past two known security
checkpoints.
However as the vehicles approach, one of the sentries orders the cars to stop- he knows
that Amin has recently purchased a white Mercedes and is suspicious.
As the vehicle rolls to a stop, Lt. Colonel Netanyahu orders the commandos inside to shoot
the sentries.
The commandos fire two shots at the sentries using their silenced pistols and roll away,
yet as one of the Land Rovers approaches they realize the sentries are still alive.
Orders are clear: there can be no sentries left alive who may raise the alarm.
The last land rover pulls to a halt and an Israeli commando hops out, killing the two
sentries.
Upon hearing the gunshot from the commando's unsilenced rifle, the assault force fears
that they've been given away, and the vehicles roar to the airport terminal at high speed.
Meanwhile armored personnel carriers are being hurriedly unloaded from the other C-130 planes.
One force of armored vehicles hurries to the main entrance to the airport to set up a defensive
position should Ugandan military forces respond from the city.
The other immediately roars to the adjacent military airfield and begins to rake the eleven
Ugandan Migs with cannon fire.
Ugandan pilots rush out from their barracks in a panic, but upon seeing their planes being
destroyed by heavy cannon fire, flee from the airfield.
In moments all that remains of the Migs are smoking wrecks riddled with heavy caliber
machine gun fire.
On the flight line the security element has fanned out around the C-130s as the planes
begin to refuel from on-board fuel tanks.
The mood is tense and suddenly gunfire is heard from the direction of the airport control
tower as the Golani force comes under fire from Ugandan army forces.
Back inside the terminal, the commandos burst into the building.
One of the soldiers uses a bullhorn and screams in both English and Hebrew, “Stay down!
Stay down!
We are Israeli soldiers!”
Unfortunately a 19 year old boy stands up in the confusion and is immediately cut down
by the commandos, who believes that he is one of the hijackers.
Another hostage is also fatally wounded by the commandos in the confusion, but the rest
dive to the floor and keep their heads down.
One of the hijackers, the German Willfried Bose, rushes into the hall holding the hostages
and brandishes his AK at them, but a moment later seems to have a change of heart.
Instead of firing at them, he orders the hostages to seek shelter in the bathroom, then turns
and starts firing at the commandos.
In moments he is cut down by Israeli gunfire.
One of the commandos asks the hostages where the rest of the hijackers are, and the hostages
all point at a door inside the terminal's main hall.
The commandos quickly form an assault team, lining up on either side of the door and toss
in three hand grenades.
As soon as the grenades explode, the commandos burst through the doors to discover the wounded
and stunned hijackers, who are immediately shot dead.
With the building secure, the commandos rush the hostages to the exit and hurry them along
to a waiting C-130.
Outside though the Golani force is under assault by a platoon of Ugandan soldiers, most of
which have holed themselves up in the airport control tower.
From their vantage point the Ugandan soldiers begin to fire down at the hostages as they
are being loaded onto their C-130, but the Israeli armored vehicles respond with their
automatic cannons.
Cannon fire blasts the concrete structure, eliminating many of the Ugandans hiding within,
but return fire wounds five of the commandos, and kills the assault element's commander,
Lt. Colonel Yonatan Netanyahu.
In response the Israelis fire a rocket propelled grenade into the tower and strafe it with
machine gun fire, effectively silencing any opposition within.
Loading the rest of the hostages and Netanyahu's body into the planes, the assault force is
quickly in the air.
The entire operation has lasted only 53 minutes, with the assault itself only lasting 30 minutes.
Seven hijackers, 33 to 45 Ugandan soldiers and eleven Ugandan Migs have been lost to
the Israeli commandos, and only three hostages have been killed with ten wounded.
The C-130s fly to Nairobi and link up with the waiting medical plane, which immediately
begins to treat the wounded as it climbs into the sky and heads for home.
In the aftermath of the raid Israel faced international condemnation from many states,
with a resolution raised in the UN by Benin, Libya and Tanzania condemning Israel for what
it called provocative actions, though it was not put to a vote.
The Ugandan and Israeli representatives were summoned before the UN Security Council after
a complaint was filed by the Chairman of the Organization of African Unity charging Israel
with an act of aggression.
The Ugandan foreign minister claimed that the hostage situation was nearing a peaceful
diplomatic resolution, while the Israeli ambassador charged Uganda with being fully complicit
in the hijacking.
In the end a general resolution condemning international terrorism and calling for stronger
civil air security- without condemning Israel's actions- was raised, but failed to pass in
the general assembly.
Most western nations would go on to praise the Israeli raid, with representatives of
the UK and the USA congratulating Israel on an “impossible operation”.
Uganda's President Amim however was furious, and threatened direct military action against
Kenya for their support of the operation.
In response the US dispatched the supercarrier USS Ranger and her escorts to the Indian Ocean
and based it off the Kenyan coast, ready to respond if Uganda followed through with its
threats.
While he did not take direct military action against Kenya, Imam did order the murder of
one of the hostages who had been left behind, Dora Bloch a 74 year old Israeli woman who
had been taken to a hospital after choking on a chicken bone.
Ugandan military officers showed up at her hospital room and dragged her out of bed before
fatally shooting her, along with several Ugandan doctors and nurses who tried to intervene.
Amin would also go on to order the killing of hundreds of Kenyans living in Uganda in
retaliation, with as many as 245 Kenyans killed by July 11th and 3,000 fleeing the nation
as refugees.
Was the decision to use military force the right call for Israel, or should diplomacy
have been tried to the end?
Should terrorists be negotiated with?
Let us know in the comments!
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