46 years later, the pilots from Operation Entebbe in special documentation: "June said goodbye as if he knew where he was going"

The IDF archives at the Ministry of Defense reveal an internal film, prepared on the tenth anniversary of the operation, in which the fighters describe the operation from their point of view and their faces are blurred. Will be the biggest success "

Eli Ashkenazi

04/07/2022

Monday, 04 July 2022, 15:06 Updated: 16:00

• Share on Facebook

• Share on WhatsApp

• Share on Twitter

• Share on Email

• Share on general

• Comments

  Comments

In the video: The fighters who participated in Operation Entebbe recreate the operation and the celebrations in Israel with its success (Photo: IDF Archives and the Defense System)

"I never believed in the possibility of predicting the future or in the upper senses, but June's breakup was like someone knowing what he was going for. He passed among all the people on the plane, also got into our car that was inside the plane, shook hands with all the soldiers. After a few minutes He touched the ground and the operation began, "said one of the General Staff patrol fighters of what happened inside the Hercules plane, moments before landing at the airport in Entebbe and beginning the operation to release the hostages captured by terrorists.

Yoni Netanyahu, commander of the General Staff patrol, describes him , Killed during the operation that has since borne his name, "Operation Jonathan."

Today (Monday), July 4, the 46th anniversary of Operation Jonathan, the IDF Archive at the Ministry of Defense reveals an internal film prepared a decade after the operation in which three General Staff patrol fighters who participated in the operation describe the events as they experienced that day, with their faces hidden.

Entebbe kidnappers arrive in Israel (Photo: Courtesy of the family, Sami Farage)

In the same video, the three warriors share the feelings that accompanied them before and during the operation, looking back ten years.

"I arrived with my vehicle at the base, one of the team members stood there at the gate and announced: Guys, we are the burglary squad and then there are all kinds of butterflies in the stomach that start jumping in every direction," said one of them and his friend adds: "I told Ilan, ' And he said, 'It really is unbelievable.' I did not believe there would be approval, but I remember saying - either it would be the IDF's biggest failure or the IDF's biggest success. "

They think you have to save them, you have to, not because they told you you were a soldier or something, because it's your people, it's your history," he said. Explained one of the interviewees.

More on Walla!

How do you get kids started recycling?

With the help of original tips and ideas

In collaboration with Tamir

Entebbe kidnapped (Photo: Walla !, courtesy of the family)

Fifteen months earlier, the unit's fighters had participated in the takeover of a terrorist cell that entered the Savoy Hotel in Tel Aviv and took hostages.

During the operation, Colonel Uzi Yairi, who had been the unit's commander eight years earlier, and Itamar Ben-David, a fighter in the unit, were killed.

A soldier was killed, "said one of the fighters about the fears on the eve of his departure for Entebbe, and his friend added:" My good friend, Itamar, was killed at the Savoy Hotel.

A member of the team, and it's a sediment or trauma that stays and goes on and here we are again in a similar situation. "

By the time of the flight to Uganda the fighters were already engrossed in thoughts of what awaited them when the operation began.

"You're trying to figure out what exactly there is to such an action, shots at such a close range have its smell, its noise, its screams. On the expected location of the bullet), on the Kalashnikov, check that it did not come out of reset. That's what you shoot, what the flashlight points to. "

Hijacked Air France plane (Photo: AP)

One of the fighters recalled the first thoughts that went through his mind immediately after landing.

"As we descended it was clear to me that this is Africa, that this is another world, this is the equator. I was waiting to see monkeys, lions, coconuts, I do not know what, all my imaginations about Africa. We landed and nothing. The door opens, the track is bright, quiet, looks like "Route in Lod, exactly the same. We started driving, the Mercedes drives first, followed by Jeep number 1, followed by Jeep number 2. Driving slowly, not fast. We saw in the distance the control tower, the terminal. The terminal was lit."

"I was sitting inside the Mercedes, we got out, we jumped out of the car, we started running," his friend adds.

The fighter who a short time earlier feared that his reset was being hit, now realizes that the weapon was reset properly.

"Suddenly I saw the glass shatter, I realized someone was shooting at me. I did not hear the shots, it's amazing, I was so focused I did not hear the shots. I saw the glass shattered, I glanced, I saw inside the building, about 5 meters inside this ... everyone "I was lying there. I saw a man with a Kalashnikov lying, shooting in my direction. Automatically, instinctively, I shot him 5-4 bullets through the glass. He shot lying on me, I saw his head fall."

"I shouted in a completely strangled voice"

"I shouted in a completely suffocated voice, unusual excitement, I could barely get a word out of my mouth, luckily there was a megaphone. I shouted: everyone was lying down. "They came to save them. While shooting, a 6-year-old boy got up and started shouting, 'Mom, what a beauty, what a beauty.' .

One of the fighters remembers a smiling moment when he accompanied one of the released passengers at the end of the takeover operation.

"An older man asked if there was a plane. I said to him, 'Do you want to walk? It's far away.'

After a few hours, the Hercules planes landed in Lod.

The video published today includes excerpts from the great joy at the airport as well as excerpts from a news edition in which happy citizens are seen and heard expressing great joy at the success of the operation.

• news

• Army and Security

Tags

• Antebe Operation

• IDF Archives

• Ministry of Defence