Remembering Entebbe and Freedom on the Fourth.
I'm going to take a different twist in remembering Independence Day on this blog. It's been over thirty years since the Raid on Entebbe. Many of you don't know what this was, as nearly a generation has passed since that night when the Israelis freed their people from terrorists on July 4. The Israelis knew something about freedom as it was denied to them for so long. After a long struggle, they finally established a homeland and created a free and prosperous nation amid decades of wars initiated by their neighbors, as the Arabs refused to acknowledge they even existed. Fresh off the heels of the Arab sneak attack of Yom Kippur and the murder of its Olympians at Munich, the Israelis must have thought "not again" as PLO terrorists hijacked a plane, flew it to Uganda, and separated the Jews from the rest of the passengers, whom they freed.
The Israelis sent several C-130's carrying commandos (led by Netanyahu's brother) to the airport in Uganda where they were held, as Idi Amin gave the terrorists and their hostages sanctuary. The Israelis killed the terrorists, freed the hostages, and returned home to a shocked world and joyous nation. Watch the faces of the crowd in the clip below as they wait for the planes to return. What does one see but hope, relief, and a feeling that only among each other are they free and safe, that they have something worth fighting for.
The movie is available on Youtube. Forget the phony action movies filled with pretty boy 'roid monsters produced by Hollywood. Here is a movie needing no scriptwriting, as the true story was script enough. It has an all-star cast, a great director in Irving Kershner, and several moving scenes. The ending. The commandos singing several hymns as they flew to carry out their mission. The barbarism of the terrorists and the surreal nature of Idi Amin's Uganda. Entebbe is a lesson for the free world and to its enemies that there will always be those who will fight and die for freedom.
Interviews with some of the people involved 30 years later.




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