Video: Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech for the 40th anniversary of the Entebbe rescue
Here's Prime Minister Netanyahu speaking at the Entebbe Airport today. Part of the speech is in Hebrew, and since this was posted by the Ugandan television network NBS, there is no English translation. I apologize but I don't have the time to write a translation.
Let's go to the videotape.
Ugandan President Musevani's speech was in English - long and rambling and spending way too much time on the 'Palestinians' - and it may be found here.
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.
Prime Minister Netanyahu's brother Yoni - who was killed in the raid on the airport in Entebbe in 1976 - has returned from the dead to see what his brother is doing.
Unfortunately, we're not. And Yoni's and Bibi's father would probably have an even harsher reaction.
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.
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.
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
