July 4, 1976 was a day of bicentennial celebration for Americans but was also a day of liberation for Israel.
The Israelis suffered the Munich massacre and other terrorist attacks in the 1970s. A group of German Arab terrorists hijacked a plane laden with passengers and flew to Uganda where the bloodthirsty Idi Amine protected them. Amine would visit the hostages on a regular basis and taunt them.The terrorists separated the Jews from the rest of the passengers - whom they promptly freed. Imagine the horror of Jews in 1976 as they rounded up like cattle for possible extermination while their captors spoke German.
Well, the Israelis said enough is enough. They packed C-130's with commandos and sent them to Uganda to free their people. The mission was a huge success as they liberated their people while only suffering one casualty, Yanni Netanyahu, Bibi's brother. The terrorists were all killed.
NBC produced an outstanding movie telling the story of the raid on the Entebbe airport. Irving Kirschner directed the movie. You might have heard of one of his other productions, The Empire Strikes Back. The cast was stellar: Peter Finch, Charles Bronson, James Woods, Jack Warden, and Yaphet Kotto as the Ugandan dictator.
The raid is almost forgotten but it lives on in the movie posted below. Enjoy.
12 comments:
I remember that very well.
We were on one of the last classic American family car "road trips" of that era.
The Great American Bicentennial dominated everything back in 1976.
But then some idiots had to "FA & FO" with the Israeli military.
It did not go well for that rouge African dictatorship.
Even SNL started an ongoing parody about the goofy African dictator that was stupid to take on Israel.
(Idi Amin) ..."Dada"
The quality of the readers of this blog are shown via the quality of the comments those readers submit to this blog. The quality of the blogger himself is shown via the approved comments.
Award-winning journalist Donna Ladd told the truth.
Today in 1776 was when armed citizens first exercised their Second Amendment RIGHTS.
I think of July 4th, 1976 on every July 4th. Being a young man living in Jackson, EVERY fire hydrant was painted red, white & blue. EVERY where there was a place to display the United State Flag, there was one. Banners, streamers, decorations were EVERYWHERE.
And when the Spirit Of 76 stopped at the crossing of S.West St., Burrrrrt Case was there to interview the engineers. After a brief question and answer session, Burt offered to buy their lunch at a local restaurant when one of the engineers spoke up and said "Well, we thought we would walk down to Beatty St. and get a hamburger". Only time Burt Case was speechless.
Is that you Don?
Excellent movie. Very well done.
Not me, 9:38. But please allow me to share my enthusiasm for July 4, 1976, 47 years ago. We got married three days earlier on Eagle Lake and were still celebrating the Honeymoon. lol
The only IDF fatality was Yoni Netanyahu, commander of the Sayeret Matkal unit that carried out the raid & older brother of the future Prime Minister.
Bibi also served in Sayeret, the IDF’s equivalent of the Green Berets.
It's Idi Amin, not Amine. His full name was Idi Amin Dada Oumee and he would fit right in on Chowke's staff. Right?
Great post, KF, and thanks. Every once in a while we all need to be reminded that Americans’ solemn and paramount duty is to protect and remember our greatest ally in the Middle East.
@7:54 PM - 1776 was 15 years before the 2nd Amendment even existed! History buff, are you?
@2:08 PM has a firm grasp on the obvious.
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