Dear Editor,
On the Eve of July 4, 1976, a task force of brave steely-eyed Israeli commandos departed from Sharm El Shiekh under the cover of darkness aboard a squadron of C-130 Hercules aircraft, for Uganda’s Entebbe airport. The commandos’ mission: to rescue 106 hostages held captive in a terminal at Entebbe’s airport.
Just one week earlier, on June 27, an Air France airbus was hijacked after departing from Paris by members of the popular front for the liberation of Palestine(PLO) and the German revolutionary cells. The crew of the Air France Airbus was ordered by the terrorists to reroute the flight to Uganda's Entebbe airport where upon arrival the passengers, mostly Israelis, disembarked and, were huddled into an old terminal and held hostage.
While at Entebbe the Israeli hostages, all of whom were kept in separate rooms from non-Israelis, recounted having memories of the selection process during the holocaust and the singling out of Jews for persecution. With memories of the holocaust fresh in their minds, the Israelis feared that it was just a matter of time before the terrorists would start executing them.
But little did the hostages know that the Israeli defense force had already conceived of and put in motion a bold rescue plan. A special team of courageous warriors from the elite Sayeret Matkal commando unit was hurtling towards the hostages on a daring mission to rescue and take them back to their homeland.
Aboard one of the C-130 Hercules was Lieutenant Colonel Yonathan Netanyahu, once a Harvard philosophy major and brother of Israel’s former prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Yoni, as he was affectionately called, fought his way back into active military duty after he suffered severe nerve damage during the Yom Kippur war. A charismatic, brilliant, and highly respected military officer, Yoni was regarded by his peers, subordinates, and superiors alike. The higher echelons of the Israeli defense force and the then-prime minister Yitzhak Rabin reposed special trust in the leadership and ability of Lt. Col. Jonathan Netanyahu to lead the assault team on the raid at Entebbe.
After the squadron of C-130s landed at Entebbe’s airport the assault team deplaned and began tactically making their way towards the hostages’ terminal in Mercedes Benz and Land Rovers. A firefight ensued between the assault team and Ugandan soldiers guarding the airport’s terminal after the commandos lost the element of surprise. As the commandos continued advancing amidst heavy gunfire towards the terminal one of their colleagues could be heard frantically repeating on the radio “Betser! Betser! Yoni is hit, Yoni is hit.” Lt. Col. Yonathan Netanyahu took a fatal bullet from a Ugandan sniper and collapsed, the only Israeli combatant killed.
When the firefight was over all the Ugandan soldiers and terrorists lay dead. All but four of the 106 hostages survived and were quickly taken on board the waiting aircraft for the flight back to Israel.
There was jubilation and celebration in Israel and when the freed hostages and their liberators arrived at Ben Gurion airport the commandos received a hero’s welcome. But for the men who were under the command of Lt. Col. Yonatan Netanyahu, it was one of the darkest and saddest moments in their lives, they had lost a well-loved, respected, and great leader.
In the ensuing years, Operation Entebbe would come to be regarded as one of the best counter-terrorism hostage rescue missions ever executed in military history. Studied in military academies and celebrated for its surgical precision, planning, and execution, Operation Entebbe has been retroactively renamed Operation Jonathan in honor of Lieutenant Colonel Yonathan Netanyahu. A valiant military commander and fearless combatant, Yoni’s men followed him unquestioningly into the deepest valley and darkest night confidently assured of victory.
Orlando Patterson
