In spite of the often repeated statement that the recovery of US Special Operations started with the April 1980 failure in the Iran Desert the actual recovery began July 1976 and continued, at an admittedly slow pace, through November 1979.
Many of the long term investments in Special Operations began in the FY 1978 budget cycle. Included in that budget was the classified directed operational requirement for elements of the DOD to develop and maintain both an individual and joint counter-terrorist capability. This language and its accompanying funds for its execution started the rebuilding cycle.
Prior to Entebbe, DOD had declared that we would never have to fight another unconventional war. After Entebbe Congress said we had better start preparing for another unconventional war.
Proof of statement lies in the money trail and the training cycles. Without the jump start provided by Entebbe there is no way we could have put boots on the ground in the Iranian Desert April 1980, 5 months after the American Embassy in Tehran had been seized (which is BTW an act of war by all accepted international codicils).
In that case one must tip their hat to the foresight and patriotism of the overwhelmingly liberal Dem Congress of the time. It seems that they were less reflexively anti-Israeli back then.