Free Republic

Arab fascism: The separating Jews from non-Jews (PFLP examples) *El Al Flight 426 hijacking - July 23, 1968.Naor, Mordechai. The war after the war. Israel: Ministry of Defense Publishing, 1970. p. 98. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ec1BAQAAIAAJ&q=%D7%94%D7%97%D7%96%D7%99%D7%AA+%D7%94%D7%A2%D7%9E%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%AA+%D7%94%D7%9E%D7%98%D7%95%D7%A1+%D7%99%D7%94%D7%95%D7%93%D7%99%D7%9D%22&dq=%D7%94%D7%97%D7%96%D7%99%D7%AA+%D7%94%D7%A2%D7%9E%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%AA+%D7%94%D7%9E%D7%98%D7%95%D7%A1+%D7%99%D7%94%D7%95%D7%93%D7%99%D7%9D%22]. After the Boeing 707 plane took off from the Italian capital, it was taken over by two terrorists from the "Popular Front" and directed it to Damascus. When the plane landed in the capital of Syria, the passengers and crew hurried to leave through the escape hatches, because the hijackers threatened to blow it up immediately after landing. And indeed, a short time later, the plane crashed...

Uganda has announced that it has struck a deposit of 31 million tonnes of gold ore, with extractable pure gold estimated to gross 320,000 tonnes.President Museveni broke news of the find in his State-of-the-Nation Address yesterday, but provided little detail, pointing in general that it would fetch the country more than $12 trillion.Technocrats in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, Mr Museveni noted, had informed Cabinet that the country was positioned to get slightly under $700m in royalty payments, with the investors poised to cash in on the windfall.Citing six local gold refineries, among them Africa Gold Refinery in...

Uganda lost its only international airport, the Entebbe International Airport, to China for failing to repay a loan,.. The government has failed to reverse a loan agreement with China which had repayment conditions for attaching its only airport. In 2015, China’s Export-Import (EXIM) Bank lent Uganda $207 million at two per cent upon disbursement. The loan, meant for the expansion of Entebbe airport, came with a maturity period of 20 years including a seven-year grace period, News X reported. However, as per international media reports, the Ugandan government waived off the clause for international immunity for securing the loan, following...

Forty-five years ago, a small force of Israeli sol­diers flew south over the Red Sea, skim­ming the ter­ri­to­r­i­al waters of a string of ene­my states and res­cu­ing near­ly all of the 105 hostages at Entebbe, Uganda. The sto­ry is well-known. But what few peo­ple real­ize is that those sol­diers, many of whom served in the elite Say­eret Matkal recon­nais­sance unit (or the ​“Unit,” as the out­fit is known), met with the prime min­is­ter and defense min­is­ter and, after being dri­ven back to their base, sim­ply ate, show­ered, con­grat­u­lat­ed one anoth­er on a job well done, and went home. The post-mis­sion...

As a dual American and an Israeli, July 4 has always had a dual special meaning. That is, since 1976, America’s bicentennial. Like many American children, the year leading up to and during the bicentennial was a period of sharing national pride in all that America stood for, and its history. Growing up in a town with a famous revolutionary war battlefield, the reenactment of that battle made things extra vivid. As an Israeli, it is remarkable to me that after 200 years, the U.S. was able to celebrate its independence by reenacting the war in which it fought to...

Leader of the fedayeen: we want a war like the Vietnam war LIFE Jun 12, 1970, pp. 32-33 ... there are only 1,600 or so members. Yet those 1,600, for ill or for good, are attracting the world's attention with acts of terrorism. "Why?" is what I went to ask Dr. Habash. We met at night in the suburbs of Amman, in a building attached to a refugee camp. The room contained one desk and a few chairs; outside the closed doors, armed fedayeen stood guard ... Let me explain: the attacks of the Popular Front are based on quality,...

On July 4th, 1976, as America celebrated its Bicentennial, four Israeli Air Force C-130 Hercules planes carrying over 100 Jewish passengers, twelve Air France flight personnel, and their Israeli rescuers landed safely at Ben Gurion Airport. The safe landing of civilians and commandos marked the end of a week-long, nightmarish drama that gripped all of Israel. The saga began on June 27, when a Paris-bound Air France commercial airliner took off from Tel-Aviv. The plane was scheduled for a stopover in Athens. Lax security at Athens International Airport enabled four terrorists with forged passports – two from the notorious West...

A mercenary air force that became a symbol of the U.S. occupation of Iraq is back in action—this time in Central Africa, supporting a shadowy American U.S. Special Forces commando operation targeting the Lord’s Resistance Army. In late January, a source on the ground in Central African Republic spotted a Sikorsky S-61 helicopter with the registry number N408RC carrying American Special Forces troops. The LRA, a cultish band of thieves and rapists led by warlord Joseph Kony, is most active in the forested region where Central African Republic, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo meet. In 2010, President...

If you've never heard of Entebbe you've probably never heard of what makes Entebbe famous, or why that matters. As America celebrates July 4 as the anniversary of independence, Israel and those who support her celebrate the historic milestone and miracles connected to the rescue of hostages and heroic counter terrorism operation at Uganda’s capital also on July 4, 40 years ago. The celebrated operation was comprised of imagination on steroids, tremendous bravery and numerous miracles. On 27 June 1976, an Air France plane with 248 passengers was hijacked by Arab and German terrorists, and flown to Entebbe, Uganda’s main...

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — It was perhaps the most daring Israeli military exploit ever — a rescue raid in Africa that inspired Hollywood films and became etched in Israeli history. Nearly four decades later, a first-of-its-kind exhibit showcases the story behind the July 1976 freeing of hostages from a hijacked plane at Entebbe, Uganda. The display includes a copy of the original order to launch the operation and the original combat vest worn by the lone casualty among the Israeli troops: Lt. Col. Yonatan Netanyahu, brother of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Wow. You have to watch this earnest exchange, in which a young girl who lost her father in last summer's war asks the prime minister, who lost his brother in the Entebbe Operation, how it felt.

The Jewish Standard shared this “earnest exchange” between Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a little girl on its Facebook page: he girl asked the Prime Minister about losing his brother Yonatan. Tablet writes that Netanyahu’s older brother “Yoni” was killed commanding 1976’s Operation Entebbe, in which an attempt was made to rescue hijacked hostages. Netanyahu’s response to the girl highlights the softer, sensitive side of the world leader: I felt like someone took an axe and chopped my hand off. Not only the hand. Somebody took an axe and chopped off my leg. Maybe both legs… That’s how I...

JULY 4, 1976 ENTEBBE, UGANDA – Led by Lieutenant Colonel Yonatan Netanyahu, crack Israeli commandos race from their airplanes covered by the midnight darkness. Methodically, they approach a non-descript airline terminal, burst inside, killing the stunned terrorists. Helpless and shocked, 103 hostages lift their heads and gratefully weep at the mesmerizing sight of their saviors. As the alarms begin to sound, the Israeli soldiers strike with surgical precision and speed — a lightning bolt of controlled, finely rehearsed fury. It is all over in a few minutes. Terrorists lay dead. The hostages rush out to board the transport planes waiting...

Thirty-five years ago last week, Israeli commandos flew into the heart of Africa to the old terminal building at Uganda’s Entebbe Airport. In a lighting operation, they freed 103 hostages. 248 passengers and 12 crewmembers had been hijacked a week earlier aboard Air France Flight 139 en route from Athens to Paris. The hijackers were German and Arab -- this was a collaboration between Baader-Meinhof and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a Marxist-Leninist PLO faction that is now part of Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority (PA).

Israeli commandos have rescued 100 hostages, mostly Israelis or Jews, held by pro-Palestinian hijackers at Entebbe airport in Uganda. At about 0100 local time (2200GMT), Ugandan soldiers and the hijackers were taken completely by surprise when three Hercules transport planes landed after a 2,500-mile trip from Israel. About 200 elite troops ran out and stormed the airport building. During a 35-minute battle, 20 Ugandan soldiers and all seven hijackers died along with three hostages. This operation will certainly be inscribed in the annals of military history, in legend and in national tradition. Yitzhak Rabin, Israeli Prime Minister The leader of...

A British man of Somali origin has been arrested at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport on suspicion of being a terrorist, prosecutors say. He had arrived from Liverpool en route to Entebbe in Uganda, they said. A police spokesman said the man had been arrested before a flight took off from the airport, one of Europe's busiest, on Sunday. Two Yemenis arrested in Amsterdam on suspicion of planning a terror attack were released earlier this month. Police were investigating whether the man arrested on Sunday had links to a foreign militant organisation, prosecutors said. The tip-off to arrest the man came from...

Today marks the 34th anniversary of Operation Yonatan, Israel's dramatic rescue of 103 hostages that took place on July 4, 1976 at Entebbe, Uganda. As a college student in the US, I vividly remember watching events unfold as most of the rest of the nation was focused on the celebration of America's bi-centennial. Jews around the world held their breath as the terrorist incident ended with a relatively minimal loss of life. Pride and admiration for the daring and courage of Israel's decision-makers and generals was the order of the day. In Israel, the anniversary of the operation was marked...

Dear Prime Minister Netanyahu,From an American gentile who has always admired, loved and respected the Jewish people and brave Israel, please receive my hopes and prayers that you will do the right thing, despite the human obstacle currently residing in our White House, who is a gross embarrassment to 80% of all Americans and whom we would like to eject much sooner than the 2/1/2 more years through which we must suffer his monstrous policies.Do what you must, Mr. Prime Minister. More citizens of the world are with you than you realize. The Islamic beast is on the march. He...

On July 4th 1976 shortly after midnight Israeli Planes landed at Entebbe and began their now famous rescue. The entire assault lasted less than 30 minutes and all six of the hijackers were killed. Yonatan Netanyahu (Bibi's older brother) was the only Israeli commando who died during the operation. He was killed near the airport entrance, apparently by a Ugandan sniper who fired at the Israeli commandos from the nearby control tower. At least five other Israeli commandos were wounded. Out of the 103 hostages, three were killed and approximately 10 were wounded. A total of 45 Ugandan soldiers were...

In addition to drawing crowds of international dignitaries, President Shimon Peres's "Facing Tomorrow" presidential conference in Jerusalem on Wednesday brought together Ugandan President Gen. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and members of the Netanyahu family, whose oldest son, Yoni, was killed in the 1976 Operation Thunderbolt. Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu, his brother Ido and his father, Prof. Benzion Netanyahu, met with Museveni in the afternoon at the Knesset. As part of the meeting, Museveni announced that the only remaining structure of the old Entebbe airport, the control tower, would be turned into a museum commemorating the operation later renamed "Operation Yoni." Yoni...