Free Republic

“There was a knock on the door. A voice said, ‘It’s the IDF. We’ve come to take you home.’” This is how former hostage Noa Argamani described her rescue from Hamas on the Sabbath — Saturday, June 8 — which also happened to be her father’s birthday. Israelis spent the weekend cheering her rescue, along with the rescues of three other former hostages — Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv. All four, ranging in age from 22 to 41, were kidnapped from the Nova music festival on October 7, Hamas’s notorious day of atrocities. Israeli intelligence recently determined...

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...

The items included books Yoni gave to Yosef, the unit's shirt, a sleeping bag, gloves and a compass. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his brother, Dr. Ido Netanyahu, on Monday received personal items belonging to their late brother Yoni, who was killed in the hostage rescue operation in Entebbe in 1976, which he heroically commanded. Yosef Shemesh served with the late Netanyahu in the 71st Batallion of the Armored Corps in the Golan Heights, and kept the items in his possession since he was commanded by Netanyahu. The prime minister and his brother met with Yosef Shemesh in the Prime...

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...

In his youth, King David proved his heroism by slaying a lion. He went on to put his life on the line for the Jewish People and become a hero for all Israel. Three thousand years later, another lion-hearted lion-slayer also put his life on the line for the Jewish People and became a hero for all Israel. He wasn’t even Jewish, but he was one of the greatest friends and supporters that the Jewish People ever had - and his experiences with lions assisted in numerous ways.Colonel John Patterson was an Irish soldier and engineer assigned to Kenya by...

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...

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...

On Sunday, as Cpl. Gilad Shalit's terrorist captors in Gaza prepared their ultimatum, in Jerusalem, at the Mt. Herzl military cemetery a crowd stood quietly around a grave, bowed their heads and remembered one of the greatest heroes the State of Israel has produced. The 30th memorial ceremony for Lt.-Col. Yonatan Netanyahu, who was killed on July 4, 1976 while commanding the raid that freed more than 100 hostages held in Entebbe by Palestinian and German terrorists, could not have come at a more significant moment. For Israel's Arab enemies, who today hold Cpl. Shalit, no doubt the decision to...