Looking Back
From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History
accessible at www.djnfoundation.org
54 | JULY 8 • 2021
45 Years Since Daring Raid
A
round 11:00 on the night of July
3, 1976, six airplanes carrying
100 commandos and medical
equipment approached Entebbe, Uganda.
Less than 90 minutes later, the aircraft
were back in the air. Israeli special forces
had just carried out one of the most
spectacular rescue missions in history,
saving 102 hostages held at the Entebbe
Airport by Palestinian
terrorists and their two
radical German accomplices.
It began on June 27,
1976, when the terrorists
hijacked Air France Flight
139 with 246 passengers,
largely Jewish or Israeli,
and 12 crew members. The
flight was diverted to the Entebbe airport.
Once in Uganda, the hijackers demanded
the release of Palestinian militants
imprisoned in Israel and elsewhere. The
infamous Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin,
abetted the hijackers. Negotiations led to
the release of some non-Jewish hostages
over the next few days, but 94 Jewish
hostages remained under the threat of
death, along with the Air France crew
that heroically would not abandon their
passengers.
The Israeli military began planning
Operation Jonathan shortly after the
hijacking, but the risks were extremely
high; the objective was 4,000 miles away.
After several days of failed negotiations,
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin made the
tough decision to act.
Operation Jonathan was a huge success.
Sadly, three hostages were killed; a
fourth, Dora Bloch, who had been moved
to a hospital was subsequently slain.
The leader of the raid, Lt. Col. Yonatan
Netanyahu, brother of the future longtime
prime minister of Israel, Benjamin
Netanyahu, was also killed. But, 102
people were saved.
As a military operation, the Entebbe
Raid was one of the most successful in
history. It was an extension of power from
a very small nation that demonstrated the
courage, skill and planning abilities of
Israelis. It sent a strong statement about
not giving in to terrorism. Ian Fleming
or Tom Clancy could not have written a
more thrilling saga.
The William Davidson Digital Archive
of Jewish Detroit History holds 433 pages
that mention Entebbe. Soon after news
of Operation Jonathon reached Detroit,
Entebbe became a topic of discussion
in the Jewish community. Rabbi Harold
Loss lectured on the Entebbe Raid at
Temple Israel (Aug. 13, 1976, JN). At
Congregation Beth Abraham, Yael Rom
spoke about the “Entebbe Escape.” (Oct.
29, 1976). And this says nothing about
conversations between friends and
neighbors, or the extensive reporting in
media from around the world.
The Entebbe Raid also inspired several
movies and books. Within a month, Uri
Dan, military affairs correspondent for
the Israeli newspaper Maariv published
the first book: Ninety Minutes at Entebbe.
Many others soon followed. There have
been five movies about the raid, most
recently 2018’s Seven Days at Entebbe.
And one can find hundreds of entries on
the internet.
Perhaps the best story in the Archive
is “Entebbe Memories” by Don Cohen
in the June 30, 2016, JN. It is about Arie
Smargon, from Huntington Woods, the
neighbor next door, who happened to be
a veteran of special forces in both the U.S.
Army and IDF. Smargon was a commando
on the Entebbe Raid, where he lost his
best friend, Yonatan Netanyahu.
Simply stated, the Entebbe Raid is
legendary and deservedly so. Forty-five
years later, it is a still a thrilling story of
derring-do.
Want to learn more? Go to the DJN Foundation
archives, available for free at www.djnfoundation.
org.
45 Years Since Daring Raid
Mike Smith
Alene and
Graham Landau
Archivist Chair