Former Israelí PM Shimon Peres had famously said “ The most important thing in life is to dare” and Israel dared in true sense when it planned one the most famous rescue mission called Operation Thunderbolt. https://twitter.com/IDF/status/1279476023395078146

The Operation which included the PM and a few future Prime Ministers, one of most eccentric, volatile dictators in world Idi Amin who amongst other things titled himself “Lord of all the beasts of Earth” and a few terrorists.

The 59minute mission influenced many things In coming times including Israel’s stand on terrorism, the operation was read and studied by elite commando units across the world to learn successful execution of secret missions.

In the 70’s, extremists around the world and Palestinians specifically found Hijacking a plane an easy act to find a room to get their demands fulfilled which usually were to get their comrades released or to ask for money. It gained them international attention also.

In 1970, PFLP hijacked 4 planes bound to US and 1 to London, and forced them to land at Dawson’s field, which was remote airstrip in Jordan. This airstrip became notorious to be called “Revolutionary strip”. These hijackings became famous as “Dawson’s field hijackings”

Black September’s act of Munich Massacre was also a part of same strategy to take people hostage and negotiate for their demands. West Germany rejected Israel’s offer of sending Israeli Forces and unfortunately the rescue plan failed.

So coming to Operation Thunderbolt, on 27th June 1976, Air France flight from Tel Aviv to Paris carrying 248 passengers and 12crew members, made a planned stop at Athens. In Athens Wilfried Böse, Brigitte Kuhlmann and 2 others boarded the plane.

Böse and Kuhlmann were part of an extremist German faction known as Revolutionary Cells, or RZ. They partnered with two members of a breakaway faction of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

As soon as they boarded, Bose shoved himself in cockpit with revolver and grenade, took the microphone and announced that the flight will be called “Haifa1” on the name of a city in north.

The passengers kept on playing a guessing game for the next destination. China? Cuba?? Siberia?? Iran?? The game and flying both continued.

Eventually, almost after 24 hours post the take off from Tel Aviv, the plane landed at an airstrip and after looking at Idi Amin’s statue in army camouflages, they realised that they were in Uganda and they were now hostages and not passengers anymore.

While Israel had earlier made some sort of alliance With Uganda to such an extent that Idi Amin was militarily trained In Israel and he wore wings of IAF on his chest, the hijackers were confident of getting his cooperation once they landed in Entebbe.

So, the hijackers in an agreement with Idi Amin’s suggestion started to separate Israelis from Non Israelis. The Israelis were taken to transit hall, others to a different place who were released later.

Meanwhile, the hijackers announced their demands of release of 53 prisoners from 5 countries, out of which 40 were in Israel and a ransom of USD5Mn for 94 Israeli hostage and 12 crew.

Back in Israel, the military intelligence was trying to put all the available information on the table but there wasn’t much to talk about. Legend is that One general began turning an enormous globe slowly before asking a colleague, 'Are you sure you know where Entebbe is?'

The military instructors who trained Idi Amin were called to gain more deeper insight about his behavioural patterns. Fortunately they found an engineer who was involved in construction of Entebbe airport and still has some old blueprints.

Ehud Barak, the former elite commando and future prime minister was in charge of planning of such missions. While he had tremendous experience of rescue missions but this location made the situation more difficult.

Israelí PM Yitzhak Rabin and Barak were of the opinion that if they are not able to come up with viable military option, then despite its stated policy of “no talking with terrorists” , the government will be forced to negotiate for release of hostages.

If we give in to the hijackers’ demands and release terrorists,” Shimon Peres said during one of the heated meetings over the week, “everyone will understand us, but no one will respect us.”

Yet the opposite—however grim the results—held: “If, on the other hand, we conduct a military operation to free hostages, it is possible that no one will understand us—but everyone will respect us”

Eventually a plan got figured out and they found a window on 3July. They got intel that Idi Amin is going out for 2 days for a secret diplomatic trip. Now if they could fly 2500 miles below the radar, have one of the plane landed and complete the mission, this was the opportunity

Also, to give the impression to the guards at the airport, that it was Idi Amin who is paying a visit to the hijackers, the call went out to find a rare Mercedes limousine, like Amin’s. They found one – but it was a different colour. Instantly, the Israelis painted it black.

Finally on the afternoon of 3July 1976, a total of 6planes and more than 200 Israeli soldiers took off bound for Entebbe immediately and for greatness forever. The team was being led by Yoni Netanyahu, elder brother of future PM Bibi Netanyahu.

On late night, Entebbe Airport was looking in sight. To ensure that no other planes land, the hijackers had turned off the lights on airstrip and the first plane landed in dark and in a jiffy, the Mercedes with Ugandan flags was out.

While they had planned to use “element of surprise” to their use, destiny had other plans. A Ugandan soldier appeared with a gun. Yoni’s deputy ,Muki Betzer due to his previous assignment in Uganda was of the opinion that the solder will let Amin’s motorcade pass but he didn’t.

Yoni made a quick decision and along with another commando, they shot the Ugandan with their guns with silencer. However another commando shot with a gun without silencer and it prompted other Ugandans to realise that they are under attack. Disaster had struck.

Both Yoni and Betzer, ran towards the terminal building where hostages were, fearing that by this time the hijackers would have started to open fire on hostages but it wasn’t the case. The commandoes were able to kill all the hijackers soon.

The soldiers found the hostages, stoned, trampled, a few of them saying the ancient Jewish prayer Shema Yisrael. And then one soldier said those magical words in Hebrew-“don’t worry, we’ve come to take you home.’”

Soon the shooting was over, with all the hijackers and at least 20 Ugandan solders dead, the Commandos guided the hostages to the waiting Hercules plane. It was just 59 minutes post the soldiers had landed on Entebbe airport.

On board, all the people were accounted for, except 4. One of the 4 people missing was Yoni Netanyahu. He became a national icon and this Operation was shortly renamed as Operation Yonatan in his memory.

Tact in audacity is knowing how far you can go without going too far. When it came to audacious missions – involving stealth flights over long distances, maintaining the element of surprise till the last moment – Entebbe still is the best precedent.

Credits-1. One Day In Entebbe, presented by Jonathan Freedland on BBC 2. Time 3. Guardian magazine 4. Book “Operation Thunderbolt” by Saul David 5. Book “ Israel’s lightning strike” by Simon Dunstan.