Prime Minister Netanyahu is currently speaking at Entebbe Airport in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Entebbe Airport rescue which was led by his brother Yoni 40 years ago today. Below is the memorial to Yoni Netanyahu which (incredibly) now stands at Entebbe Airport on the site of the old terminal.
Video: Israeli commando gives insider's view of Entebbe mission
Yishai interviews Lt. Col. (ret.) Shai Ish-Shalom, a member of the Israeli commando force that freed Jewish hostages in Entebbe, Uganda. Beginning at 1:57 Ish-Shalom talks to Yishai about his growing up in Israel and his experience as a member of Sayeret Matkal, the most prestigious unit in the Israel Defense Forces along with his personal ideology about Jewish defense in both Israel and the Diaspora. Shai is a counter-terrorism expert and one of the senior instructors at Caliber 3. Lt. Col. Sharon Gat (Counter-terror expert, Founder and Chief Instructor at Caliber 3) is seen doing a demonstration in the video at 2:15. For more information visit http://caliber3range.com
Rescue at Entebbe: An interview with the lead pilot
36 years ago this week, Israel carried out a daring raid in which it rescued hostages in Entebbe, Uganda. The IDF's blog interviews Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Joshua Shani, who was the lead pilot of the Entebbe mission.
How did the operation begin?
We began our journey from Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, which at the time was under Israeli control. The takeoff from Sharm was one of the heaviest ever in the history of this airplane. I didn’t have a clue what would happen. The aircraft was crowded. I was carrying the Sayeret Matkal assault team, led by Yonatan Netanyahu. I was also carrying a Mercedes, which was supposed to confuse Ugandan soldiers at the airport, because Idi Amin, the country’s dictator, had the same car. And I also found room to pack Land Rovers and a paratrooper force.
I gave the plane maximum power, and it was just taxiing, not accelerating. At the very end of the runway, I was probably two knots over the stall speed, and I had to lift off. I took off to the north, but had to turn south where our destination was. I couldn’t make the turn until I gained more speed. Just making that turn, I was struggling to keep control, but you know, airplanes have feelings, and all turned out well.
The flight to Entebbe is about 2,500 miles (4,000 km). How’d you do it?
We had to fly very close to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, over the Gulf of Suez. We weren’t afraid of violating anyone’s air space — it’s an international air route. The problem was that they might pick us up on radar. We flew really low — 100 feet above the water, a formation of four planes. The main element was surprise. All it takes is one truck to block a runway, and that’s all. The operation would be over. Therefore, secrecy was critical.
At some places that were particularly dangerous, we flew at an altitude of 35 feet. I recall the altimeter reading. Trust me, this is scary! In this situation, you cannot fly close formation. As flight leader, I didn’t know if I still had planes 2, 3 and 4 behind me because there was total radio silence. You can’t see behind you in a C-130. Luckily, they were smart, so from time to time they would show themselves to me and then go back to their place in the formation, so I still knew I had my formation with me.
What was going through your head as you approached the runway in Uganda?
My biggest fear was not being shot at from the ground, but making a mistake as a pilot. All I could think the entire time was “Don’t screw this up!” True, the risks to my life were real, but I was more worried about botching the landing and endangering the success of the entire operation. Think about it — how many people would have died at Entebbe if I had made a mistake?
In case something did go wrong, though, I was prepared for the worst. I was wearing a helmet, a bullet-proof vest, and I had an Uzi. I was also given a thick wad of cash in case I needed to use it to escape Uganda. Luckily, I never had to use it. I returned the cash after returning to Israel.
What happened after you landed?
I stopped in the middle of the runway, and a group of paratroopers jumped out from the side doors and marked the runway with electric lights, so that the other planes behind me could have an easier time landing. The paratroopers went on to take the control tower. The Mercedes and Land Rovers drove out from the back cargo door of my airplane, and the commandos stormed the old terminal building where the hostages were. While coordinating the assault, Yonatan Netanyahu, Sayeret Matkal’s commander, was fatally shot by a Ugandan soldier. When the hostages were freed, what was your next move?
We had a little problem: We needed fuel to fly back home. We came on a one-way ticket! We had planned for a number of options for refueling, and I learned from the command-and-control aircraft flying above us that the option to refuel in Nairobi, Kenya, was open. After about 50 minutes on the ground in Entebbe, I gave the order: “Whoever is ready, take off.” I remember the satisfaction of seeing plane number 4, with the hostages on board, taking off from Entebbe — the sight of its silhouette in the night. It was then that I knew. That’s it. We did it. The mission succeeded.
This past week marked the 35th anniversary of the raid on Entebbe in which four Israeli hostages (out of more than 100) and the commander of their rescue operation - Yoni Netanyahu, the brother of our present Prime Minister - were killed. There were some nice tributes to Yoni published this week, and I'd like to point you to two of them.
One is a reprint of an article about Yoni that appeared in the Harvard Crimson shortly after Netanyahu was killed. It includes interviews with some of his friends from Harvard, where he spent a year and a summer. Netanyahu could not tear himself away from the IDF and ultimately did not finish his degree there.
Netanyahu’s Harvard friends, like Seamus P. Malin ’62, his adviser in 1967-68 and the current director of financial aid, are wary that their eulogies be mistaken for run-of-the-mill posthumous praise, and they offer eerily similar descriptions of Netanyahu’s extraordinary qualities.
“This place does attract some pretty unusual individuals,” Malin says, “so it is not therefore a big deal to say you’ve come across somebody who is going to be a future senator or a bigwig in national or international life. But there are few people that you do meet whom you genuinely feel add to you as a person and really make being here and being associated with them in some way a fuller development of your own life.”
In that sense, Malin adds, Netanyahu’s death left an “emptiness because he was a person who lived a kind of exemplary personal life, without being schmaltzy about it, that made you kind of feel warm when you were with him. A conversation with him always made you think about your own life in a way you wouldn’t have thought about it if he hadn’t popped in to see you.”
The other article is this one from the Daily Caller, which talks about some of Yoni's letters to his father, his brother the Prime Minister, and his wife.
Writing to brother Benjamin after the 1973 Yom Kippur war, Jonathan wrote about how he refused to become part of the “wandering Jewish people.”
“I would rather opt for living here in continual battle than for becoming part of the wandering Jewish people.,” he declared. “Any compromise will simply hasten the end. As I don’t intend to tell my grandchildren about the Jewish State in the twentieth century as a mere brief and transient episode in thousands of years of wandering, I intend to hold on here with all my might.”
In another letter to Benjamin in 1974, Jonathan expressed his anxiety about Israel’s long term prospects for survival.
“I feel profoundly apprehensive about the future of the Jewish State. Shedding illusions, I see that the process aimed at annihilating us is gathering momentum and the noose is tightening. It won’t be a rapid process, though our strength will diminish from one war to the next,” he wrote.
Hamas really doesn't want to kidnap another Israeli now. They'd rather get their 1,000-1,400 terrorists for Gilad Shalit and then start the process over again. But a funny thing happened on the way to the terror club. It's been five years, and Israel is giving no indication that it's going to pay the price that Hamas wants. Unless they can lower the ratio. They're not willing to give up on the number of terrorists to be released, so they're talking about kidnapping another IDF soldier.
“Shalit’s kidnapping was not the first nor will it be the last,” he said. “We will return the ball to our court when and where it will be appropriate, and in a way which will surprise everyone and especially the occupation.”
Meanwhile, a PA Arab commentator who is considered an expert on Israel, Hatem Abu Zaida, told Al-Risala that he believes the terror organizations will try to kidnap Israeli soldiers using other methods which Israel does not expect. He added that Israel would in the end be forced accept the terms of the kidnappers and release terrorist prisoners.
Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, refused to directly address his organization’s future course of action regarding the kidnapping of soldiers, noting that “we will not provide the enemy with free information.”
At the conclusion of the article, its author expressed hope that there will soon be another kidnapping of soldiers.
The article comes after last week, an official with the Palestinian Authority defended Hamas, saying it was not Hamas terrorists who kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
The PA’s representative in Belgium, Leila Shahid, said during a joint meeting with Israeli representatives that it was a terror organization other than Hamas who kidnapped Shalit and transferred him to Hamas.
35 years ago today, Israel gave a different answer to 'Palestinian' terror. It's time to go back to that answer. It was much more effective.
The picture at the top of this post includes - from left to right - Yoni HY"D, Cela (their mother), Bibi and Iddo Netanyahu. Yoni Netanyahu died in the raid on Entebbe 35 years ago today (on the second calendar). According to Mike Evans, Bibi's decision to go into politics was connected to Yoni's death in Entebbe. I cannot tell you whether it is true, but it's a good story.
Perhaps the greatest symbol of Israel’s sacrifice is Yonatan Netanyahu, the commander of Sayeret Matkal who was killed in action during Operation Entebbe in Uganda. Character and dedication come through in a letter he wrote to his parents on December 2, 1973: “We are preparing for war and it’s hard to know what to expect. What I am positive of is that there will be a next round and others after that. But, I would rather opt for living here in continual battle than for becoming part of the wandering Jewish people. Any compromise will simply hasten the end. As I don’t intend to tell my grandchildren about the Jewish State in the twentieth century as a mere brief and transient episode amid thousands of years of wandering, I intend to hold on here with all my might.”
Radical Islamists call America the “Great Satan,” and Israel the “Little Satan.” The reason is obvious; the Jewish people in Israel have, with their own blood, defended America and the Western world against radical Islam since the days of Netanyahu’s death on July 4, 1976.
On July 4, 1980, I read his story in The Jerusalem Post. It deeply touched me, and I made my way to the Netanyahu home to express my sympathies for his sacrifice. His father, Benzion Netanyahu, answered the door and graciously invited me inside for tea. After a few moments, we were joined by Yoni’s brother, Binyamin. The pain in his eyes over the loss of his beloved brother was apparent. I asked him if I could pray for him. He politely acquiesced. I held his hands in mine and prayed, “Jonathan loved David; you loved Jonathan. Out of the ashes of your despair will come strength from God, and you will be the prime minister of Israel twice.”
I wept as I prayed. Binyamin Netanyahu looked at me as if I had little if any sense, and said, “I’m not going into politics; I’m going into business.”
I was so moved by the encounter that I requested a meeting that week with then-prime minister Menachem Begin through his personal secretary, Yehiel Kadishai. When Begin came through the door of his office, I said, “Mr. Prime Minister, yesterday I met the prime minister of Israel.”
He said, “You are mistaken; it wasn’t yesterday that we met.”
I said, “No, it is not you.”
He laughed and asked who his competition was. I responded, “Benjamin Netanyahu. He will be prime minister twice. Will you give him a job?”
At that time, Begin didn’t know Netanyahu, but his senior adviser Reuven Hecht, also in the room, did, and spoke highly of him. Begin agreed. The following night, Hecht offered Netanyahu a position in the Israeli Embassy in Washington under Moshe Arens.
For over 20 years, I kept the story in confidence and did not tell Netanyahu that I had asked for an appointment for him... until he demanded that I tell him the truth. He smiled and said, “Oh, so you’re the one. I don’t know whether to kiss you or kick you in the rear.”
Without a doubt, the prime minister has maintained the courageous and moral clarity of his brother, Yonatan.
Here's another July 4th treat. Since this is the 35th anniversary of the IDF raid on Entebbe, in which IDF commandos rescued over 100 passengers who were being held hostage at the Entebbe Airport in Uganda, here is the full-length feature movie Raid on Entebbe.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
