40th anniversary: Raid on Entebbe

MikeD

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Staff member
40 years ago today, Israeli Defense Forces mounted a daring and long-range raid on the airport at Entebbe, Uganda, to free the 248 passengers and crew of Air France flight 139, which had been hijacked by 4 pro-Palestinian hijackers and diverted to that airport for asylum. During the week on the ground at Entebbe, non-Israeli passengers had been released by the hijackers, leaving 94 Jewish desendent passengers and the 12 Air France crew being held by the hijackers for ransom and being threatened with death.

Immediately upon the Air France A300 landing in Uganda and the hijackers being given asylum by Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, Israeli military planners swung into action. One week later, on 4 July, IDF military forces mounted a nighttime rescue operation with 100 commandos and transport aircraft, from Israel 2500 miles to Entebbe.

Using 4 C-130 Hercules transports and 2 707 jets, 1 for medical and 1 for Command/Control, the Israelis landed the 100-man commando team, plus 1 Mercedes car, 2 Land Rover vehicles (to simulate Idi Amin's Presidential convoy) and multiple Light Armored Vehicles for security. The C-130s flew low level to remain undetected by Ugandan radar sites, and landed blacked-out at Entebbe, quickly stopping and offloading their troops right on the runway. The ensuing lightning raid rescued all but 3 of the hostages and resulted in all hijackers killed as well as 45 Ugandan soldiers present killed, and most of the MiGs of the Ugandan Air Force destroyed on the ground, to ensure no one was able to chase the assault force as it departed. The only Israeli military casualty was IDF assault force commander, LtCol. Yonatan Netanyahu, older brother of current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was killed in the firefight with the hijackers. The commando force and rescued hostages were quickly shuttled out in the C-130s.

The entire operation lasted 1 hour on the ground.

Particular praise was noted for the success of this operation, including high praise from the Supreme Commander of the Imperial Iranian Armed Forces, who on 13 July praised the Israeli commandos for the success of the short-notice planning time mission, and also extended condolences for the death of LtCol Netanyahu.

The operation remains to this day, one of the most successful hostage rescues in history.

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Aerial recon photo (below) showing Entebbe airport and the hijacked Air France 139 at the approach end of RW 30. Battle plan-view map (above) of the Entebbe airport and hangars/buildings where the hostages were being held.



 
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If you get a chance "Raid on Entebbe" is a great movie. A bit of an older movie but pretty accurate about what happened. Full movie is on YouTube.
 
I watched the movie as a young boy many, many years ago. It wasn't until I had the opportunity to fly into and stayed a few days in Entebbe that I was able to understand how the Commandos were able to land undetected. It is a pretty impressive military operation.

The terminal building where the hostages were held is still there just down the hill from the new terminal building. I was able to park right next to it as it is now used as a VIP terminal.

This is a picture of the plaque that commemorates this event.
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A very good/interesting interview with Lt. Col. Shai Ish-Shalom, a member of the Israeli commando force that freed Jewish hostages in Entebbe, who is currently an arms and combat instructor.


A word also for the Captain of the flight Michel Bacos, now in his 90's, who was allowed to leave, and along with his crew, refused to abandon their pax. This is his account:

“We heard commotion in the cockpit (coming) from the passengers’ cabin. I asked the flight technician, who was with me, to see what was its cause. We didn’t know what was happening. Wilfried Böse, the German terrorist, was waiting directly on the other side of the locked cockpit door. He tackled the technician to the floor and pointed his gun at my head. He also had a grenade. I immediately realized that a hijacking was taking place and that we had no ability to resist it. We were not armed; we had to listen to the hijackers’ directions.”

Today, Michel Bacos, the captain of the Air France plane that was hijacked to Entebbe, is 92 years old, but the story of the hijacking is etched into his memory, and he can recount it as if it happened just a few months —and not 40 years—ago. Ahead of our interview at his apartment—which overlooks the beautiful Bay of Angels in Nice in the south of France—his wife asked I have the questions I was planning to ask him in advance, to allow him time to recollect his memories. But despite the fact he had prepared written answers ahead of time and brought documents he could rely on should he forgets any detail, the events of that incident are reignited in his memory. He abandoned his papers and got lost in his own story.

Bacos, an experienced Air France pilot, was in charge of Flight 139 that left Ben-Gurion Airport for Paris on June 27, 1976, with a stopover in Athens. When the plane landed in the Greek capital, four terrorists boarded the flight—two Palestinians from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and two Germans—carrying weapons and explosives in their bags.

“The hijacking was carried out four minutes after the plane took off from Athens towards Paris,” Bacos remembers.

“My co-pilot had his hands raised and we put the plane on autopilot. We told him (Böse) a few times: ‘Please, don’t shoot.’ Then he calmed down and ordered the technician to return to his place and my co-pilot to sit with the passengers. I asked him why, and he responded: ‘Because there are too many people here. I am alone and you are three,’ even though he was armed and we weren’t.

“The co-pilot joined the passengers until we arrived in Benghazi and then I brought him back into the cockpit. Böse sat behind me with his gun pointed at my head. Every time I tried to look in a different direction, he pressed the barrel of his gun against my neck.

“When we landed in Benghazi, I stayed in the cockpit. I spoke with the hijacker, Böse. I demanded that he allow my technician to get off the plane onto the runway to supervise refueling. The plane was modern and the Libyan ground technicians did not know how to refuel it. Böse agreed.

“On our way into Benghazi, Böse prepared a speech in (Muammar) Gaddafi’s honor and read it on the PA system. A few minutes after his speech, we received confirmation to land in Benghazi. Everything was organized ahead of time. Böse told me in English to make a soft landing because they booby-trapped the airplane doors with explosives to prevent passengers from fleeing. Because I didn’t want to die, I landed as he requested.”

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On the plane’s way out of Libya, “the control towers (in Benghazi) hailed us, but we couldn’t respond. They realized we had been hijacked after they saw us on the radar changing our route and redirecting southward.”

“After landing in Entebbe, the hijackers spoke between themselves like crazy people. The passengers and the crew kept quiet. Only after three or four hours did people start talking. No one knew what was going to happen,” Bacos continues.

“All of us were initially put in the same hall. They brought us mattresses and we slept on the floor. The hijackers had a separate area of their own. The Palestinians told the Germans what to tell the passengers. They were in control of the situation and the Germans merely helped them. Their mission was to carry out the hijacking at all costs. Böse was the only person who had the capabilities to carry out such a (task) because he had experience flying planes.”

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‘We’ll kill you all’

To this very day, Bacos is considered by many to be one of the heroes of the Entebbe hijacking because of his refusal to leave his Israeli and Jewish passengers behind.

“At a certain point, the hijackers took our passports and IDs, read the names, and those who had Jewish names were separated from the others and put in a nearby hall. They (the hijackers) said we were not allowed to go there. I told the Palestinians and the Germans: ‘I’m responsible for all of the passengers and demand to be able to see all of them—be they Israeli or not—at any given moment.’ I insisted, and the Germans agreed. I was able to go from one hall to the other without receiving permission, every time. It lasted until the non-Jewish passengers were released. The Germans told me on Tuesday that we were going to be released. I gathered my crew and told them there was no way we were going to leave—we were staying with the passengers to the end. The crew members immediately agreed. I told Böse that none of us was going to leave Entebbe as long as there are any passengers left there. The crew refused to leave, because this was a matter of conscience, professionalism, and morality. As a former officer in the Free French Forces, I couldn’t imagine leaving behind not even a single passenger.”

The flight crew members, with Bacos among them, remained with the Jewish hostages. “We were not allowed to leave the hall,” Bacos remembers. “No one could escape or leave. At any moment we could’ve been executed. We had to remain calm, otherwise the Palestinians were capable of killing us. We all knew it. We had no contact to the outside world: No phones or radios. No one knew what was going on. Idi Amin (the Ugandan despot —ed.) came and told us nonsense. I heard what he told the passengers, but I haven’t spoken to him personally. I didn’t have anything to say to him. I knew he was crazy. Passengers asked him to help us, and he insisted to be called all of the titles he gave himself. Every time he came to see us, he said: ‘I’m your friend, but if your countries don’t accept the ultimatum of the Palestinians, I’ll give the order to execute you.'”

The IDF raid of the Entebbe terminal began at 11pm on Saturday night, July 3. Bacos remembers how the Israeli hostages were confident their country would not forsake them.

“I thought France would try to save us. There were French forces stationed in Africa, closer than Israel, but either way I knew someone would come rescue us. In the middle of the night we heard gunfire. Everyone dropped to the ground and laid flat on the floor, on the mattresses. We heard gunfire from all directions. During the week of the hijacking, I was talking to the flight technician when Böse approached us. The hijackers were prepared for the possibility someone would try to mount a rescue operation. He told us, ‘If any kind of commandos arrive, it doesn’t matter which country they’re from, we’ll hear them landing and then we’ll come and kill you all.’

“When the rescue operation began, Böse came into the passengers’ hall, stood next to the technician who was lying on the floor, and said: ‘Stay down, don’t move.’ He took his machine gun, broke the windows and fired out. He couldn’t see anything. The IDF soldiers identified the source of the gunfire and killed him and the German woman hijacker who was with him. But Böse didn’t shoot any of the passengers.

“One of the Palestinians came into the passengers hall. They too were instructed to kill the hostages. He saw an Israeli passenger (Ida Borochovitch —ed.) and shot her to death at close range. The IDF soldiers identified him and killed him. There were two young passengers (Jean Jacques Maimoni and Pasko Cohen —ed.) who started running of joy and shouting ‘Israel came to rescue us.’ The Israeli troops thought they were terrorists and shot them to death.

“The shooting lasted for a long time. After about 30 minutes, the IDF soldiers killed all of the terrorists and about 20 Ugandan soldiers. The IDF had the airport’s buildings surrounded, they had to clear the entire area. When they were done clearing the area, we were told to come out. ‘We’re taking you to Israel. Leave your luggage behind, its too heavy,’ we were told. And so, we boarded the Hercules plane—some in nightgowns, some without shoes on. The soldiers brought the body of (Sayeret Matkal commander) Yonatan Netanyahu, who was killed by a Ugandan soldier stationed at an abandoned guard tower. We knew (the guard) was there, but we couldn’t have alerted (the soldiers to that). We flew to Nairobi to refuel and leave the wounded IDF soldiers there. The Kenyans wanted to treat them, as Israel refused to sell fighter jets to Idi Amin, who wanted to attack Kenya—and the Kenyans have not forgotten that.”
 
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" ... because this was a matter of conscience, professionalism, and morality."

Honor and integrity are ever valued, less-often seen. I'm reminded again of those willing to pay a price for others when hate comes a-knocking; ordinary people, if you will, who rise above the moment and point the way to all that's best in a dark world.

There ARE still giants who walk among us, often unseen.
 
" ... because this was a matter of conscience, professionalism, and morality."

Honor and integrity are ever valued, less-often seen. I'm reminded again of those willing to pay a price for others when hate comes a-knocking; ordinary people, if you will, who rise above the moment and point the way to all that's best in a dark world.

There ARE still giants who walk among us, often unseen.
None of us are born to greatness. It is those defining moments in our lives where our character meets and surpasses our own needs for the sacrifice of others. I am comforted and inspired that there are still human beings among us, who will do the right and honorable thing when called upon.

“A man must know his destiny… if he does not recognize it, then he is lost. By this I mean, once, twice, or at the very most, three times, fate will reach out and tap a man on the shoulder… if he has the imagination, he will turn around and fate will point out to him what fork in the road he should take, if he has the guts, he will take it.”
― George S. Patton Jr.
 
"We are like the official hangman or the doctor on Death Row who administers the lethal injection. Our actions are all endorsed by the State of Israel. When Mossad kills it is not breaking the law. It is fulfilling a sentence sanctioned by the prime minister of the day". Meir Amit, former Director of Mossad.
 
"We are like the official hangman or the doctor on Death Row who administers the lethal injection. Our actions are all endorsed by the State of Israel. When Mossad kills it is not breaking the law. It is fulfilling a sentence sanctioned by the prime minister of the day". Meir Amit, former Director of Mossad.

Operation Wrath of God after Munich is fascinating stuff.

I went to those apartments when I was there. Pretty eerie.

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There are bad asses and then there are the Mossad. They are singular, faithful, driven and focused in their duty. Authorized by Golda Meir and Moshe Dayan, the Mossad were sent to hunt, track down and assassinate those responsible for the massacre in Munich. It took them years, yet they never wavered in their mission.

The Book One Day In September by Simon Reeve is an excellent account.
 
I've always said it, there are Jason Bourne and James Bond movies, and then there are the real missions the Israelis did.

If I am not mistaken, I believe the Israeli commando missions were the precursor to the page borrowing US 'black forces' aka 'Delta.'
 
If I am not mistaken, I believe the Israeli commando missions were the precursor to the page borrowing US 'black forces' aka 'Delta.'

Not exactly.

Both the Mossad and the guys like Delta all pretty much trace their lineage to the Special Air Service and OSS of WWII (which worked with and was modeled on the SAS). Prior to WWII clandestine spies didn't really do the commando style operations that became common place. England got a jump on everybody doing Commando ops prior to our entry into the war. We actually set up schools in the states on Commando operations once the war was on to get our OSS on its feet. Skills like knife technique and hand to hand combat for instance as well as trade craft having been well refined by the Brits it was easier to just borrow from them.

With the case of the Israelis many of the people that went on to form the Mossad were guys who cut their teeth in WWII as SAS/OSS type commandos prior to the formation of the state of Israel. Same way our CIA grew out of the same.




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Not exactly.

Both the Mossad and the guys like Delta all pretty much trace their lineage to the Special Air Service and OSS of WWII (which worked with and was modeled on the SAS). Prior to WWII clandestine spies didn't really do the commando style operations that became common place. England got a jump on everybody doing Commando ops prior to our entry into the war. We actually set up schools in the states on Commando operations once the war was on to get our OSS on its feet. Skills like knife technique and hand to hand combat for instance as well as trade craft having been well refined by the Brits it was easier to just borrow from them.

With the case of the Israelis many of the people that went on to form the Mossad were guys who cut their teeth in WWII as SAS/OSS type commandos prior to the formation of the state of Israel. Same way our CIA grew out of the same.




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Indeed, Reuven Shiloah was involved in the covert matters of the Jewish Yishuv in the Land of Israel, and was a close associate and confidant of its leaders, David Ben Gurion and Moshe Sharett. Shiloah was a man of covert missions to other countries. In 1931, at the age of 22, he was sent to Iraq and Kurdistan. During World War II, Shiloah was the Jewish Agency's contact person with the British. Among other things, he was involved in recruiting Yishuv people to the British Army, and convincing the British to include them in operations to save Jews in occupied Europe and assist British activity in Europe, such as parachuting Chana Senesh and her friends into Hungary. He also worked with the SAS.

Shiloah was also involved in intelligence collection, and one of his important achievements was obtaining the Arab League's invasion plans for Israel upon the establishment of the State. In 1949, he participated in the cease-fire talks in Rhodes and Lausanne with Israel's neighboring Arab countries. There, he was involved in developing the foreign politics–intelligence side of the talks, but also strove for personal contact with their representatives. In 1949–1950, he participated in Golda Meir's talks with King Abdullah of Jordan. He also initiated developing ties with the periphery countries (Turkey, Iran, Ethiopia).

He established the Mossad, and was the Director from 1949–1952, a position assigned to him by then Prime Minister and Minister of Defense David Ben Gurion. Covert activity was close to his heart, mainly regarding foreign politics, in his desire to extricate the State of Israel from its regional and international isolation during its first few years. For this purpose, he established contact with, among others, the Kurdish liberation movement and Western intelligence services, among which the most important was the CIA. After resigning in 1952, Shiloah served as a delegate in the Israeli embassy in Washington DC, and a political advisor to the Foreign Minister. It was a shock that he died so young from heart issues.
 
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Indeed, Reuven Shiloah was involved in the covert matters of the Jewish Yishuv in the Land of Israel, and was a close associate and confidant of its leaders, David Ben Gurion and Moshe Sharett. Shiloah was a man of covert missions to other countries. In 1931, at the age of 22, he was sent to Iraq and Kurdistan. During World War II, Shiloah was the Jewish Agency's contact person with the British. Among other things, he was involved in recruiting Yishuv people to the British Army, and convincing the British to include them in operations to save Jews in occupied Europe and assist British activity in Europe, such as parachuting Chana Senesh and her friends into Hungary. He also worked with the SAS.

Shiloah was also involved in intelligence collection, and one of his important achievements was obtaining the Arab League's invasion plans for Israel upon the establishment of the State. In 1949, he participated in the cease-fire talks in Rhodes and Lausanne with Israel's neighboring Arab countries. There, he was involved in developing the foreign politics–intelligence side of the talks, but also strove for personal contact with their representatives. In 1949–1950, he participated in Golda Meir's talks with King Abdullah of Jordan. He also initiated developing ties with the periphery countries (Turkey, Iran, Ethiopia).

He established the Mossad, and was the Director from 1949–1952, a position assigned to him by then Prime Minister and Minister of Defense David Ben Gurion. Covert activity was close to his heart, mainly regarding foreign politics, in his desire to extricate the State of Israel from its regional and international isolation during its first few years. For this purpose, he established contact with, among others, the Kurdish liberation movement and Western intelligence services, among which the most important was the CIA. After resigning in 1952, Shiloah served as a delegate in the Israeli embassy in Washington DC, and a political advisor to the Foreign Minister. It was a shock that he died so young from heart issues.

Or just share this link...

https://www.mossad.gov.il/eng/history/Pages/Reuven-Shiloah.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
 
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