The Raid on Entebbe
Entebbe juts out into Lake Victoria and is the main airport for Uganda. The only reason any of us know the name is because of the 1976 Arab-German hijacking of an Air France airliner enroute from Tel Aviv to Paris. It was less about the fact that the terrorists landed at Entebbe and sought sanctuary from Idi Amin, than it was about the 100 Israeli commandos that executed a near-flawless and daring rescue of the hostages after a week of negotiations. It is noteworthy that in addition to the rescue, the commandos also destroyed eleven MiG jets provided the Ugandans by the Soviets. It is considered one of the great military rescue missions of all time and established the Israeli armed forces and Mossad as a force to be reckoned with (if the six-day war victory over Egypt in Sinai and Gaza left any doubt.)
When I was a sophomore in college in 1972, one of my fraternity brothers had two items on his wall. One was an Israeli flag and the other was a picture of a victorious tank commander after the six-day war. He was very proud of the Israeli army and left no doubt about it. He was the son of a Jewish graduate of West Point. Even though the second graduate in 1802 was Jewish, there have only been 900 Jewish graduates of the 75,000 historical graduates. That’s 1% versus 1.4% of the population that is Jewish. Nevertheless, hearing stories from him from his days at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, one would imagine that being a Jewish army officer was an unusual role. It certainly felt lonely to my friend as he grew up on army bases around the world and said he rarely had a convenient synagogue. So, he was proud to be Jewish and proud of the Israeli army even though he had never been to Israel to my knowledge.
I became a very close friends of this fraternity brother. I would say that we became best friends over our college years. He convinced me to attend business school with him, so we were best friends into 1976 when the raid on Entebbe took place. I paid particular attention to the events surrounding the raid since my friend was following it in great detail. It happened just as we graduated and left for our first jobs, hi to Virginia and me to New York City. It was daring and righteous. We were all worried about airplane hijacking in those days and this was the realization of all our worst fears. It was an ethnic/religious act of terrorism involving a crazy African warlord. None of it made sense and all of it was almost incomprehensibly scary. What would any of us do in that situation?
In some ways we all became aware of the Palestinian issue in 1972 with the Munich Olympics massacre. The killing of eleven Israeli Olympic team members shocked the world. The Olympics were about peace and harmony until that point. And we all learned about Israeli retaliation when they launched Operation Wrath of God and went after the Palestinian perpetrators (as discovered by the Mossad), even by going into Lebanon to do the deed.
I have spent a great deal of time in both the Arab world and in Israel. I worked for an Israeli company for two years. I partnered with an Israeli company and with a Saudi Arabian company. I’ve even had the distinction of being one of the few people who has flown directly from Saudi Arabia into Israel on the private jet of a Saudi prince who got special approval to land at Ben Gurion Airport. I’ve crossed the Allenby Bridge from the West Bank into Jordan. I’ve even flown unexpectedly into Medina on a Saudia flight that got taken by royal edict into the sacred city before going on to its intended destination of Jeddah. I feel like I understand the two cultures, so I want to tell two stories.
The first involves my wife and I deciding on the spur of the moment to take up a young well-spoken Palestinian tour guide on his offer to take us to Bethlehem in the West Bank without our passports, by driving around the formal roadblock. It was quite an adventure that involved seeing Christ’s manger in the Church of the Nativity, having lunch of a fresh mezza at the guide’s cousin’s restaurant (opened just for us) and being offered tea and honey cakes at the guide’s mother’s house. We did it because Kim thought he had nice shoes. As crazy as it sounds now that we did this, I suspect my comfort was a function of all the time I had joyously spent in the Arab world.
The other story came about when I was on the board of directors of one of the world’s largest NGO’s. That was when I worked for the Israeli company I mentioned. It seems that company in its Israeli activities had done a goodly amount of construction (which was its business) in the settlements. It was a time when the Palestinians were very upset about expansion of the settlements into the diminishing West Bank territory that the Palestinians felt was their property. Now I had absolutely nothing to do with the company’s Israeli business, as I was CEO of the large U.S. subsidiary. That seemed to be irrelevant to a certain Palestinian activist group who had unearthed the fact of my employment and chose to pursue a vendetta to have me removed from the board. The board chair stood by me, but the NGO CEO felt I should resign. It was not an issue I was prepared to fight, so I resigned. I remember wondering what those nice Palestinians I had enjoyed during our bootleg excursion to Bethlehem, would have thought about all of this.
My wife and I had the pleasure of touring all over Israel during a trip there. I tell everyone I know that if they haven’t been to Israel, whether they are Jewish, Christian or whatever, they should go to Israel because it is one of the centers of world history and is more interesting than most places I have been. It is so strange to realize that this amazing place that is so important to so many cultures is so strained and wracked with constant unrest. It’s like going to the top of Masada (I’ve been three times). There you hear the stories of the Roman legions and the Zealots in what seems like such a peaceful spot overlooking the Dead Sea and the Judaean Desert. Peace and violence seem ever-present in a place like Israel, not unlike the fundamental aspects of that fabled raid on Entebbe. Violence in the name of righteousness and peace. What a strange world.
Dear Traveling Ranger (I guess that’s redundant, isn’t it?),
I have many clear memories of that period and recall Arab UN members saying many negative things about the squatter nation of Israel. This was while explosive devices were being lobbed into Israel almost daily from the Golan Heights. I was not personally vested but tried to keep up on all of the news which is why the dynamic of the area intrigued me. In hindsight I wonder if the Arab nations weren’t itching for any excuse to attack Israel and get rid of them entirely.
When they got their wish, perhaps they and everyone else were surprised by the rapidity and expertise of Israel’s armed forces. Taking the west bank and Golan Heights in the bargain. Ever since the animosity over these areas not being returned is great. Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Egypt’s army attack again a few years later only to get quickly surrounded by Israel armed forces? From there the total annihilation of the Egyptian forces would have been simple. Instead Israel told them to go home and not come back. That should stand for something.
Back to the lands in question. Hasn’t whether to give them back been wavering between doing and then not doing so for years? We both know the group doing most of the development while not complying with the 2 year military service obligation of every citizen. 60 Minutes did an intriguing story about them over 20 years ago and their long game approach for the future. However, regardless of who it is, I cannot understand not giving the West Bank back. Not the Golan Heights. I must admit to being geographically ignorant of where it sits but I would hang onto it no matter.
Then there are the problems of the excavation near sacred sites. John, an avowed atheist, had to admit walking on the level where it is believed Christ overturned the money lender’ tables made an overwhelming impression on him. He was also interviewed by the airport police (mossad) because he hugged an Indian friend goodbye. Talk about profiling. They had both been to a friend/classmates wedding. Of course they were both asked to answer a few questions. If you know John, you would understand why he was very interested in their interrogation techniques without worrying too much about the possible outcome. He had taken a psychology class at Cornell and it had spent a few days on Mossad tactics. He was comparing notes.
Meanwhile the Muslims have been busy buying up much of Jerusalem. What used to be one third Christian, one third Jewish and one third Muslim is now heavily owned by them. What a firestorm will erupt if the Knesset decides to make Jerusalem the new capital of Israel. Also, if you read the Koran (a very dry read), you would see the tremendous overlap of the three faiths. I cannot see what is worth actually fighting over but I am probably not knowledgeable enough to grasp it all. And hatred doesn’t take as much thinking as understanding and love do.
I envy your travels and would love to do so myself. Problem is someone I would have to have accompany me is very safety conscious. One of her best friends was in Paris a couple of years ago when there was a terrorist event on the other side of the city. That went a long way to reinforce my companions reticence to European travel altogether. What can I say other than it looks like we will end up seeing the USA in our Chevrolet.
Sincerely, Stuck In Place Lonny
Interestingly, Kim and I are getting less anxious to travel overseas as well. It’s more about wanting to see more of the USA than fear of foreign lands. We just have less and less wanderlust as we age.
Yes Rich, you’re looking more and more like ‘The Picture Of Dorian Gray’ every day