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This week's hero is...
Yonatan Netanyahu
Yonatan "Yoni" Netanyahu was born on March 13, 1946, in New York City. Three years later, his family moved to the new country of Israel. After he graduated highschool, Yoni Netanyahu joined the Israeli Defense Forces in 1964. He saw combat in the Six Day War of 1967 and the Yom Kippur War of 1973. By 1976, he was a highly decorated and experienced soldier. However his most important act of valor would not occur on a battlefield in the Middle East, but at a small airport in Uganda. An airport called, Entebbe.
On the morning of June 27, 1976, Air France Flight 139 departed from Tel Aviv with 246 passengers and 12 crew members. After landing in Athens, Greece it picked up an additional 58 passengers and departed for Paris at 12:30. Just minutes after takeoff, four armed people stood up from their seats and hijacked the plane. They then forced the crew to deviate from their current course and land at Entebbe Airport in Uganda. An additional four hijackers were waiting for the plane's arrival. The hijackers demanded the release of 53 Palestinian militants who were incarcerated for terrorist attacks or plots against Israel. They also demanded a ransom of $5 million US dollars. If these demands were not met, the hostages would be executed on July 1.
Horrified by the hijacking, the Israeli Prime Minister (Yitzhak Rabin) demanded the Ugandan President (Idi Amin) rescue the hostages and arrest the terrorists. To his astonishment, Amin not only refused, but sent the Ugandan Army to aid the terrorists. As soon as the Ugandan Army arrived, the terrorists began sorting the passengers and crew into two groups. One group was comprised of Israelis and non-Israeli Jews. The second larger group was comprised of gentiles.
Over the next five days, negotiators were able to convince the hijackers to release half of the hostages (mostly from the gentile group) and extend their deadline to July 4. What the hijackers didn't know was that while they had been negotiating with the Israeli government, a small group of the Israeli Sayeret Matkal (special forces) had landed in the neighboring country of Kenya. By July 3, they had successfully snuck into Uganda and drove to Entebbe. The man leading this force was, Yonatan Netanyahu.
Early on July 4, the commandos launched their assault. With Netanyahu at the head, they first attacked the Ugandan soldiers surrounding the airport. After killing most of the Ugandans, the commandos turned their attention to the terrorists who were located in the airport's terminal. They simultaneously burst through two entrances and gunned down all seven of the terrorists before the latter had chance to aim their guns at the hostages. The commandos quickly gathered up all the hostages and called in four large C-130 transport planes to take fly all them all out from Uganda. As the liberated hostages were being loaded, the commandos turned their attention to eleven Ugandan fighters parked nearby. To ensure the Ugandans would not pursue them, they quickly destroyed the fighters and boarded the C-130s. Less than an hour after it had began, the operation was over.
During the rescue, all seven terrorists and around 40 Ugandan soldiers were killed. Sadly four of the hostages had also been killed in the crossfire. During the assault, Lieutenant Colonel Yonatan Netanyahu had been shot by Ugandan soldiers perched in the Air Traffic Control tower. The bullets had pierced his heart and he died on the tarmac. He was the only rescuer to die in the operation. Two days later, he was buried in Jerusalem with full military honors. Thousands of Israelis (including the surviving hostages) attended his funeral. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Distinguished Service. On March 31, 2009, Yonatan's younger brother (Benjamin Netanyahu) was sworn in as Israel's Prime Minister.
Today, Yonatan Netanyahu is remembered as an international hero. He is seen as a patriotic soldier who nobly gave his life so that others could live. Directly due to his courage and valor, more than 100 people were saved from being victims of terrorism. He truly is someone to be held in high regard.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/yonaton-quot-yoni-quot-netanyahu
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/25/entebbe-raid-40-years-on-israel-palestine-binyamin-netanyahu-jonathan-freedland
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/we-had-ensured-we-would-shoot-first-remembering-the-entebbe-raid/story-nlAjymYVrg976XIzE0J5OJ.html
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