On Wednesday last week, a group of 250 Israelis traveled on a first direct flight from Tela Viv to Entebbe International Airport for a tourism visit after 43 years as they commemorated the three Israelites that lost their lives during operation thunderbolt rescue mission of the 248 passengers by Israeli defense forces and the hijackers of Air France on the 3rd -4th July 1976 at Entebbe airport tower.
While in Uganda last week, Israel tourists started off with a visit to the old tower where the 1976 July events happened and managed to tell a story of what exactly took place and then after traveled to the different national parks, visited the Jewish community in Mbale, toured many attractions, cultural places and the source of the great river nile in Jinja.
Commenting on the Ugandan visit in an interview with i24 news in Israel, ELAL Boeing 777 pilot Capt. Itzik Garber had this to say; ‘’When I saw the flight order to Entebbe on my schedule, I was so amazed and said to myself I want to be part of this flight because I want to see this place. I remembered the Israel Entebbe operation story when I was 10 years old about the hostages, later on 15 years later, I was flying the same C130 that landed the same night at the operation itself, now 43 years after the operation, I had the privilege to take on a flight and land at Entebbe airport and saw it in broad day light.
He adds that; ‘’When we landed and passengers left the aeroplane, we went into this old tower and passed the same steps that the special forces were that is no longer operational but surprisingly it was reserved and left as a monument to recall history. I was surprised by that because I think that this operation did not serve the Ugandan people but they left a memorial gesture for Israel’’.
He further reveals that; ‘’we were able to see bullets on the wall that tell the real drama as they left them, it was amazing to see it.
Capt. Itzik Garber told i24 news that the Ugandan officials were saw helping, friendly and welcoming and that its now time that Israel and Uganda have very good relations.
Entebbe Raid (operation thunderbolt)
Operation Entebbe, most times refered to as operation thunderbolt occurred on the 4th July 1976. 43 years ago, 248 passengers aboard Air France Airbus A300 traveling to Paris – France from Tela Viv –Israel were taken hostage by four hijackers who included two members of the popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine –external operations under orders of Wadie Hadda and two members of the German Revolutionary Cells forcing the pilot to divert the flight to Entebbe Airport and soon as they reached Entebbe, the were cleared by the then president of Uganda, Iddi Amin Dada.
The hijackers had earlier stated objective to set free 40 Palestinian and affiliated militants who had been imprisoned in Israel and 13 prisoners in four other countries, demanded for a ransom in exchange for hostages. The flight which had earlier originated from Tela Viv was diverted after a stopover in Athens via Benghazi to Entebbe as the Iddi Amin supported the hijackers from the beginning. After moving all the hostages from the aircraft to a disused airport building at Entebbe hijackers separated all Israelites and several non –Israel Jews from the larger group and forced them into a separate room. On the following two days, 148 non Israel hostages were released and flown out to Paris as the ninety four mainly Israel passengers along with the 12 member air France crew remained as hostages.
On the night of 3rd July 1976, the Israel defense forces (IDF) embarked on a rescue mission initiated by their commandos as they released 100 ideal Special Forces with staff and speed traveling over 2,500 miles to Entebbe Airport where they exchanged fire with the hijackers and freed all the 102 hostages during a raid on Entebbe.
During the rescue, the IDF acted on information provided by the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad as the hijackers threatened to execute hostages if their prisoner’s demands weren’t met. The IDF operation on Entebbe took place at night after a week’s planning and lasted for ninety minutes thereby rescuing 102 as three were killed, one hostage in hospital who was later also killed, five commandos were wounded and one unit commander Lt. Col Yonatan Netanyahu was also killed in the process. Netanyahu was the elder brother to Benjamin Netanyahu who later became prime minister of Isreal.
The Israeli defense forces managed to kill all the hijackers plus forty five Ugandan soldiers who aided the hijackers as eleven soviet MiG-17s and MiG-21s of Uganda’s airforce were destroyed.
Later on in 1986, President Museveni re-established new ties between Israel and Uganda which created a new page of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
In 2003, Prime Minister for Israel met President Yoweri Museveni in Tela Viv to discuss business and economic growth.
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