Yoni's Last Battle: The Rescue at Entebbe, 1976

217 Pages·2001·2.01 MB·English

by  Iddo Netanyahu

Copyright © Iddo Netanyahu
Jerusalem 2002/5762
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be translated, reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without express
written permission from the publishers.
Typesetting: Marzel A.S. … Jerusalem
Cover Design: Studio Paz, Jerusalem
Translated by Yoram Hazoni
7 9 8
Gefen Publishing House Gefen Books
POB 36004, Jerusalem 91360, Israel 12 New Street Hewlett, NY 11557, USA
972-2-538-0247 [email protected] 516-295-2805 [email protected]
www.israelbooks.com
Printed in Israel Send for our free catalogue
ISBN 965-229-283-4 (alk. paper)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Netanyahu, Iddo
[Ha-kerav ha-aharon shel Yoni. English]
Yoni s last battle / Iddo Netanyahu
Includes bibliographical references
1. Netanyahu, Yonatan, 1946-1976.
2. Entebbe Airport Raid, 1976,,History.
3. Israel,,Armed Forces,,Officers,,Biography. I. Title.
DS119.7.N4413 2001 956.9405 092,,dc21 CIP Number: 2001040950
CONTENTS
Testimonial Statements
Author’s Note
Foreword
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Epilogue
Notes
Testimonial Statements about Yoni’s Last
Battle
The time I served in the General Staff Reconnaissance Unit of the Israeli army
(generally known as the “Unit”) formed an unforgettable period in my life, and
one of its high points was the rescue mission to Entebbe, renamed “Operation
Jonathan.”
Our unit was given the task of freeing 105 hostages who were held by
terrorists at the old terminal of Entebbe Airport in Uganda. The Unit’s men did
their utmost in preparing and carrying out the mission. Their commander was
Lt.-Col. Jonathan (Yoni) Netanyahu.
From the moment the rescue mission was assigned to the Unit, Yoni was, of
course, the man who led his staff in the preparations. From the start, he laid out
the Unit’s plan of operation, oversaw the preliminaries, gave briefings to all the
Unit’s participants in the mission — and, above all, imbued us and others
involved in the operation with the faith that the task could be successfully
accomplished. All this he carried out in a determined and inspiring fashion.
In the years since, I have read everything published about the Entebbe
mission. The book before you — by Yoni’s brother, Iddo Netanyahu — is a
landmark of the greatest importance in chronicling the operation. For the first
time, as a result of definitive research, it provides a true picture of the General
Staff Reconnaissance Unit’s actions — from the moment it began preparing for
the operation, through the successful assault on the old terminal at Entebbe, in
which Yoni was killed, to the return to Israel of the troops and the hostages they
had freed.
This book tells our story in a manner that is graceful, stirring, and most
important, completely faithful to the facts.
Lt.-Col. (Res.) Yohai Brenner
Head of Staff of the General Staff Reconnaissance Unit
(Sayeret Matkal) at the time of the Entebbe operation
Operation Jonathan was one of the most spectacular airborne military operations
ever. It was carried out by the unique combination of a small, brave, and
determined crack commando unit and a young, professional C-130 Hercules
squadron. Both the Unit and the squadron were assigned to the mission on
extremely short notice. Nevertheless, this combined task force, assisted by
additional elements, successfully executed its complex mission, which was
fraught with grave dangers.
This book describes the operation, named after Jonathan Netanyahu, the
commander of the rescue force, who lost his life during the raid. Besides being a
gripping narrative, it offers a faithful account of the events. The author, brother
of the late commander and himself a former member of the Unit, managed,
through meticulous research, to reconstruct the great drama that moved and
inspired millions of people around the world.
Brig. Gen. (Res.) Joshua Shani
Israel Air Force
Lead pilot of the Entebbe operation
Author’s Note
The present work is based on more than seventy taped interviews, mostly with
participants of the raid at Entebbe. They included the organizers, planners and
fighters assigned to the mission. I also examined the written reports of the squad
leaders from the Unit (General Staff Reconnaissance Unit, or Sayeret Matkal),
describing various phases of the action. Additionally, I utilized transcripts of
interviews conducted in July 1976 by Israel Defence Forces Radio researcher
Dani Veseli with three of the Unit’s participants in the raid, as well as taped
statements made in July 1986 during a commemorative meeting of the Entebbe
operation, by several reserve members of the Unit who described the raid and the
preparations that led to it. Of assistance also were materials culled from a few
broadcasts and published accounts, which helped me complete the overall
picture.
Because the identities of some of the Unit’s members remain classified, I
have referred to them by their first names alone.
Unless otherwise indicated, the quotes included are from taped interviews.
Foreword
A
few minutes past midnight on July 4, 1976, a band of
Israeli commandos drove along the silent runways of Entebbe Airport in
Uganda. The Hercules transport plane that had brought them receded from view,
and before them stretched dark asphalt, hedged on either side by tall African
grass. The lead car of the tiny convoy was a black Mercedes waving a Ugandan
flag. Close behind it were two Land Rover jeeps. All three cars bore “Ugandan”
license plates made of cardboard and drove with their lights on to add to their
innocent appearance.
Their target — the old terminal building at the east end of the airfield — was
drawing closer. In less than a minute, the men in the three cars would carry out
one of the most spectacular and successful commando missions in military
annals — the rescue of 105 hostages, held there at gunpoint for nearly a week by
both the terrorists who had hijacked their plane and the Ugandan army.
Thirty-odd soldiers comprised the assault force. All belonged to the General
Staff Reconnaissance Unit of the Israeli army (known as the “Unit” or Sayeret
Matkal). Their commander, who rode in the front seat of the Mercedes and who,
like his soldiers, wore Ugandan camouflage fatigues, was my brother, Lt.-Col.
Jonathan (Yoni) Netanyahu. At 30, he was the oldest man in the group.
Several hours later, a phone call from an officer I knew from my own service
in the same unit woke me up in my home in Jerusalem. I was still assigned to the
Unit as a member of the army reserves, and wondered what it was that he wanted
from me at that early hour of the morning. “For the time being, stay at home,” he
said. “Once all this is over, you can go back to your usual routine.” Only half
awake, I vaguely remembered a phone call earlier in the week from the Unit,
following the hijacking of the Air France plane to Uganda, telling me that I
should be ready for call-up at any moment if I was needed. “By the way, can you
give me Bibi’s phone number in Boston?” added the officer who had woken me
up, referring to my other brother, Benjamin Netanyahu, who was then studying
in the United States.
I gave him Bibi’s number and put the phone down. I had no inkling that a
rescue mission had taken place, and even less that anything had gone awry. But
along with the rest of the country, I soon found out about the operation, once the
first report was broadcast on the radio and everyone in Israel began phoning one
another to pass on the news. It didn’t take long before I got a call from Bibi. He
was overjoyed at the news of the raid and its success, and asked if I’d heard yet
from Yoni — there was no question, of course, that Yoni and his unit were at the
center of the action.
Not long after that, I was called at home and informed of Yoni’s death. He
was the only Israeli soldier who died in the battle.
To the general public, Yoni was virtually unknown during his lifetime
because of the secret nature of his work in the army. In less than 24 hours after
the safe landing of the hostages and soldiers in Israel, Yoni’s name would
become a household word throughout the country; his life and person would take
their hold on the imagination of countless Israelis.
What hasn’t been said about the raid on Entebbe since then? It occurred two
and a half decades ago, yet evokes images of legends from the distant, heroic
past. An “operation with no precedent in military history,” it was called by Drew
Middleton, military analyst of the New York Times.
But it was outstanding not only in military terms. Refusing to knuckle under
to blackmail and terror, a beleaguered nation of only three million people sent its
finest men thousands of miles away to a hostile land, on a mission fraught with
risks. In a world grown almost indifferent to brutality, in which purported
disagreement over right and wrong is often merely a cover for moral feebleness
and cowardice, the raid on Entebbe touched the souls of men and women across
the globe in the most fundamental way possible. For it proved that at least once,
even against inconceivable odds, justice could be done and right could win.
No wonder, then, that the raid took on mythic proportions almost overnight.
The story was told and retold in many books, countless newspaper and magazine
articles, and four different movies, as well as songs and poems. In many different
ways, people strove to record this incredible event and reflect on its meaning.
Yet in spite of the plethora of accounts, the true story of Entebbe was not told.
For its essential part — the feat of the men from the Unit who planned and
prepared the heart of the mission, the rescue itself, who fought to have it
approved, and who eventually carried it out — was not portrayed.
Part of the reason for this was that the activities of the Unit my brother
headed were closely guarded secrets of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The