In the early hours of July 4, 1976, what military analysts believed to be the most successful rescue mission in history took place in Entebbe, Southern Uganda. Spearheaded by Lt. Col. Yonatan(Jonathan) Netanyahu. The elder brother to the current Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Codenamed Operation Thunderbolt, Israeli intelligence forces undertook the most daring attempt to rescue about 106 Israel's who were among 254 passengers aboard Air France flight 139 that was hijacked off the coast of Greece. The Airline which took off from TelAviv, Israel had 254 passenger onboard, a third of whom were Israelis; and was headed for Paris but had to stop over in Athens, Greece.
The plane was hijacked en-route to Paris by four heavily armed terrirists who took over the cockpit at gunpoint, planting explosives along the aisles, confiscating passports and announcing that the plane had been hijacked everyone aboard was now hostage. The terrorists claimed allegiance to Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Among them were two Arabians belonging to Popular Front breakaway faction, and two Germans (Wilfred Bose and his female companion, Bridgette Kuhlmann) who were members of the Leftist terror group sympathetic to Popular Front.
When Flight 139 lost contact with the radar, the Israeli intelligence forces went on high alert. The terrorist had the plane refuelled in Benghazi, Libya, then took off again, flying for five hours before finally touching down in Entebbe, Southern Uganda.
Standing on the tarmac of the airport as hostages alighted, was a notorious figure that many in the Western world dreaded at that time. Heavily decorated with camouflage fatigue, and staring gleefully into the eyes of frightened hostages; was a 6-foot, 4-inch, 250-pound frame of the Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin. Amin had sized power five years earlier in a military coup, and was notorious for killing as many as 300,000 of his countrymen.
Idi Amin was notorious not just for his bloody campaign against his countrymen opposed to his tyranny, but also for persistent bellicose rhetoric against the West- particularly UK and its allies. He was also into arms smuggling and terrorism financing against Western interests. He gave himself lengthy titles such as "His Excellence, President for Life, Field Marshal al-Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in particular." He had sometimes drawn outrage and condemnation from western media for his praise for Adolf Hitler, whom he described as a 'perfect gentleman' and once said that the German dictator was 'right to have killed 6 million Jews'.
Now the hostages were in his territory, surrounded by his troops. Amin directed dozens of his soldiers together with other terrirists to herd the hostages into an abandoned terminal building. The next day, the terrorist issued their demand: $5 million and the release of 53 pro-Palestine terrorists imprisoned in Israel, West Germany, Kenya, France and Switzerland; one of whom had killed 26 people and injured 80 at an Israeli airport four years earlier. They threatened to execute the hostages should their demand not met by 2 pm on July 1, 1976.
Back in Israel, the atmosphere was tense. The then prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, and his cabinet was considering their options. Entebbe is thousands of mile away. It is in the heart of Africa, far beyond the region where Israel's intelligence and military assets are domiciled. Any rescuers has to illegally fly through the airspace of enemy nations, and must do so undetected. Should they make it to Uganda, they will also have to square it up with not just radical terrorists, but also a national military under the command of a despotic dictator. Any such attempt would amount to putting political considerations, international support and somewhere around 100 highly trained commandos at risk, in addition to the hostages.
To begin with, Israel had limited information and "No real plan could be constructed because there was no information about what was happening in Entebbe" Netanyahu said. But then they need to do something fast to beat the July 1 deadline. The prime minister was under intense pressure to yield to the demands of the terrorists, and had gotten assurance from other countries willing to cooperate in releasing held terrorist prisoners- at least to save lives. But defence minister, Shimon Peres and others thought otherwise. They felt Israel need to resist terrorism and dare to attempt a rescue. But to what end?
The challenge before Shimon Peres was to present a viable rescue plan that prime minister Rabin could approve in good conscience.
As luck may have it, the terrorists released some of the hostages who were non Jews, flew them to Paris and also agreed to extend the deadline. Now this is a bit of a good news for Shimon and his men as they now got some badly needed information from descriptions offered by some of the freed hostages. Such valuable information included: exactly where the remaining 106 hostages were being held, how many terrorists and soldiers were guarding them and numerous other details.
Time to act is now! As the prime minister and defence chiefs wallowed in the ire of the chaos, Lt. Col. Yonatan(Jonathan) and his team of D unit were assembling every fragment of information available, formulating several possible rescue strategies. Of utmost importance in this preparation is the need to take the targets by surprise. As the hours ticked by, government officials closely monitored the military planning and stressing that unless the proposal was extremely strong and foolproof, the government will be left with no choice than to yield to the terrorists demand. But those were not the words Col. Jonathan cared to hear.
There were now some 48 hours left before the terrorists would start their avowed execution. Israeli intelligence forces finally came up with a plan on which depends the fate of 106 hostages. The plan detailed that four C-130s and two other planes would be needed to airlift about 113 specially trained commandos. They would fly from Sinai Peninsula all the way to Uganda at an extremely low altitude to avoid detection from Egyptian and Saudi radar.
Idi Amin had jetted off to Mauritius on a state visit. So, a team D unit would land directly at Entebbe airport, pretending to be Idi Amin and his entourage returning from his trip to Mauritius. They would exit C-130s in a motorcade of vehicles that looks exactly like those used by the dictator and his men.
Even though Rabin's government failed to approve of it, D unit went on with the plan. They acquired a Mercedes limousine similar to the one Amin travelled in. But it was in a bad shape- -- and wrong colour. They swung into action, repaired the car, repainted it and added a Ugandan flag and cardboard license plates similar to Ugandan military vehicles. They also worked on the Land Rovers that were to escort the limousine. They did these works all night!
Early morning the next day, they rehearsed the plan over and over again, to correct obvious error and get the troops accustomed to the plan( even went as far as mimicking the exact point where Idi Amin's guards normally stand) and how he drove his motorcade.
On the afternoon of Saturday July 3 1976, Jonathan Netanyahu and his team were in the air aiming towards Uganda; even without government approval. To the pilots and troops, they were only undergoing contingency training. But Jonathan was already determined to go ahead with his plans. As they refuelled in Southern Sinai, Col. Netanyahu made it clear to them they were headed for war! He quickly reviewed his plans and tactics and gave them his final verdict---no going back.
As they were somewhere over Ethiopia, prime minister Yitzhak Rabin called in to give his approval. Thirty minutes later, they touched down at Entebbe carrying Netanyahus assault team, reinforcements, commanders and medical staff. The first transport touched down on the runway about a mile from the old terminal building(where the hostages were being held).
The cars quickly left the plane and made their way with full headlights " you know Idi Amin coming with a convoy " Dr. Netanyahu said. And about 200 yards before the old terminal , exactly where Jonathan had anticipated there would be Ugandan guards in the model exercise, indeed there were two guards. But they were quickly neutralized, and despite short bursts of gunfire, the Israelis still had their most valuable advantage over the terrorists intact: element of surprise.
The commandos exited their vehcles walking towards the building and scanning the area around them. But Col. Jonathan sprinted forward urging his men to move swiftly and enter the building. Knowing full well that each step and each door could bring Ugandan bullets, terrorist grenades and bomb trip wires. But they pushed ahead.
There in the main hall of the old terminal were 106 hostages: 94 Israeli national and a handful of others, mainly Air France crew who refused to leave. Terrorist and soldiers fired at Israeli commandos but the Israelis were able to kill About 7 terrorists and dozens of soldiers. But Col. Jonathan was unlucky as one of the bullets hit him on the chest as he in the midst of the gun duel. Seven other hostages sustained gunshot wounds. Medics rallied to revive him but Jonathan gave up the ghost. The operation had lost only three hostages and its exemplary leader. Also, five israeli soldiers were wounded in the encounter.
As the commandos refuelled the transport planes and destroyed Ugandan fighter jets to prevent any pursuit, the lives Jonathan Netanyahu had helped save streamed unto evacuation plane that would carry them to safety and freedom.
Given the limited time taken to plan this mission, it was argued that the resue was probably the most successful commando operation carried out since world war II. It was codenamed Operation Thunderbolt but was later renamed Operation Jonathan, in honour of the man who paid the ultimate sacrifice.
It has inspired more than a dozen documentaries and featured films, including this years '7 Days in Entebbe'.

Source: http://www.thetrumpet.com/17678-operation-jonathan-the-most-daring-resue-attempt-in-history

Nice. Every crime na Muslim

What a epic stuff ! OP thanks for this info...!
I know most people bearing Jonathan are always good guys with high sense of justice for humanity...!

Can we ever have this type of commander or a real country where people are willing to die for??

Not in naija.

Terrorists killing terrorists...who cares

Thanks OP.

This is documented in the movie, Raid On Entebbe too.

Cool stuff

Nice read

mykelswa:
Nice. Every crime na Muslim

And any non-Muslim shooter is a gun man.

its because of of his bravery that his brother nenthanyahu became the prime minister and still
is

Kingso1414:
In the early hours of July 4, 1976, what military analysts believed to be the most successful rescue mission in history took place in Entebbe, Southern Uganda. Spearheaded by Lt. Col. Yonatan(Jonathan) Netanyahu. The elder brother to the current Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Codenamed Operation Thunderbolt, Israeli intelligence forces undertook the most daring attempt to rescue about 106 Israel's who were among 254 passengers aboard Air France flight 139 that was hijacked off the coast of Greece. The Airline which took off from TelAviv, Israel had 254 passenger onboard, a third of whom were Israelis; and was headed for Paris but had to stop over in Athens, Greece.
The plane was hijacked en-route to Paris by four heavily armed terrirists who took over the cockpit at gunpoint, planting explosives along the aisles, confiscating passports and announcing that the plane had been hijacked everyone aboard was now hostage. The terrorists claimed allegiance to Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Among them were two Arabians belonging to Popular Front breakaway faction, and two Germans (Wilfred Bose and his female companion, Bridgette Kuhlmann) who were members of the Leftist terror group sympathetic to Popular Front.
When Flight 139 lost contact with the radar, the Israeli intelligence forces went on high alert. The terrorist had the plane refuelled in Benghazi, Libya, then took off again, flying for five hours before finally touching down in Entebbe, Southern Uganda.
Standing on the tarmac of the airport as hostages alighted, was a notorious figure that many in the Western world dreaded at that time. Heavily decorated with camouflage fatigue, and staring gleefully into the eyes of frightened hostages; was a 6-foot, 4-inch, 250-pound frame of the Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin. Amin had sized power five years earlier in a military coup, and was notorious for killing as many as 300,000 of his countrymen.
Idi Amin was notorious not just for his bloody campaign against his countrymen opposed to his tyranny, but also for persistent bellicose rhetoric against the West- particularly UK and its allies. He was also into arms smuggling and terrorism financing against Western interests. He gave himself lengthy titles such as "His Excellence, President for Life, Field Marshal al-Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in particular." He had sometimes drawn outrage and condemnation from western media for his praise for Adolf Hitler, whom he described as a 'perfect gentleman' and once said that the German dictator was 'right to have killed 6 million Jews'.
Now the hostages were in his territory, surrounded by his troops. Amin directed dozens of his soldiers together with other terrirists to herd the hostages into an abandoned terminal building. The next day, the terrorist issued their demand: $5 million and the release of 53 pro-Palestine terrorists imprisoned in Israel, West Germany, Kenya, France and Switzerland; one of whom had killed 26 people and injured 80 at an Israeli airport four years earlier. They threatened to execute the hostages should their demand not met by 2 pm on July 1, 1976.
Back in Israel, the atmosphere was tense. The then prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, and his cabinet was considering their options. Entebbe is thousands of mile away. It is in the heart of Africa, far beyond the region where Israel's intelligence and military assets are domiciled. Any rescuers has to illegally fly through the airspace of enemy nations, and must do so undetected. Should they make it to Uganda, they will also have to square it up with not just radical terrorists, but also a national military under the command of a despotic dictator. Any such attempt would amount to putting political considerations, international support and somewhere around 100 highly trained commandos at risk, in addition to the hostages.
To begin with, Israel had limited information and "No real plan could be constructed because there was no information about what was happening in Entebbe" Netanyahu said. But then they need to do something fast to beat the July 1 deadline. The prime minister was under intense pressure to yield to the demands of the terrorists, and had gotten assurance from other countries willing to cooperate in releasing held terrorist prisoners- at least to save lives. But defence minister, Shimon Peres and others thought otherwise. They felt Israel need to resist terrorism and dare to attempt a rescue. But to what end?
The challenge before Shimon Peres was to present a viable rescue plan that prime minister Rabin could approve in good conscience.
As luck may have it, the terrorists released some of the hostages who were non Jews, flew them to Paris and also agreed to extend the deadline. Now this is a bit of a good news for Shimon and his men as they now got some badly needed information from descriptions offered by some of the freed hostages. Such valuable information included: exactly where the remaining 106 hostages were being held, how many terrorists and soldiers were guarding them and numerous other details.
Time to act is now! As the prime minister and defence chiefs wallowed in the ire of the chaos, Lt. Col. Yonatan(Jonathan) and his team of D unit were assembling every fragment of information available, formulating several possible rescue strategies. Of utmost importance in this preparation is the need to take the targets by surprise. As the hours ticked by, government officials closely monitored the military planning and stressing that unless the proposal was extremely strong and foolproof, the government will be left with no choice than to yield to the terrorists demand. But those were not the words Col. Jonathan cared to hear.
There were now some 48 hours left before the terrorists would start their avowed execution. Israeli intelligence forces finally came up with a plan on which depends the fate of 106 hostages. The plan detailed that four C-130s and two other planes would be needed to airlift about 113 specially trained commandos. They would fly from Sinai Peninsula all the way to Uganda at an extremely low altitude to avoid detection from Egyptian and Saudi radar.
Idi Amin had jetted off to Mauritius on a state visit. So, a team D unit would land directly at Entebbe airport, pretending to be Idi Amin and his entourage returning from his trip to Mauritius. They would exit C-130s in a motorcade of vehicles that looks exactly like those used by the dictator and his men.
Even though Rabin's government failed to approve of it, D unit went on with the plan. They acquired a Mercedes limousine similar to the one Amin travelled in. But it was in a bad shape- -- and wrong colour. They swung into action, repaired the car, repainted it and added a Ugandan flag and cardboard license plates similar to Ugandan military vehicles. They also worked on the Land Rovers that were to escort the limousine. They did these works all night!
Early morning the next day, they rehearsed the plan over and over again, to correct obvious error and get the troops accustomed to the plan( even went as far as mimicking the exact point where Idi Amin's guards normally stand) and how he drove his motorcade.
On the afternoon of Saturday July 3 1976, Jonathan Netanyahu and his team were in the air aiming towards Uganda; even without government approval. To the pilots and troops, they were only undergoing contingency training. But Jonathan was already determined to go ahead with his plans. As they refuelled in Southern Sinai, Col. Netanyahu made it clear to them they were headed for war! He quickly reviewed his plans and tactics and gave them his final verdict---no going back.
As they were somewhere over Ethiopia, prime minister Yitzhak Rabin called in to give his approval. Thirty minutes later, they touched down at Entebbe carrying Netanyahus assault team, reinforcements, commanders and medical staff. The first transport touched down on the runway about a mile from the old terminal building(where the hostages were being held).
The cars quickly left the plane and made their way with full headlights " you know Idi Amin coming with a convoy " Dr. Netanyahu said. And about 200 yards before the old terminal , exactly where Jonathan had anticipated there would be Ugandan guards in the model exercise, indeed there were two guards. But they were quickly neutralized, and despite short bursts of gunfire, the Israelis still had their most valuable advantage over the terrorists intact: element of surprise.
The commandos exited their vehcles walking towards the building and scanning the area around them. But Col. Jonathan sprinted forward urging his men to move swiftly and enter the building. Knowing full well that each step and each door could bring Ugandan bullets, terrorist grenades and bomb trip wires. But they pushed ahead.
There in the main hall of the old terminal were 106 hostages: 94 Israeli national and a handful of others, mainly Air France crew who refused to leave. Terrorist and soldiers fired at Israeli commandos but the Israelis were able to kill About 7 terrorists and dozens of soldiers. But Col. Jonathan was unlucky as one of the bullets hit him on the chest as he in the midst of the gun duel. Seven other hostages sustained gunshot wounds. Medics rallied to revive him but Jonathan gave up the ghost. The operation had lost only three hostages and its exemplary leader. Also, five israeli soldiers were wounded in the encounter.
As the commandos refuelled the transport planes and destroyed Ugandan fighter jets to prevent any pursuit, the lives Jonathan Netanyahu had helped save streamed unto evacuation plane that would carry them to safety and freedom.
Given the limited time taken to plan this mission, it was argued that the resue was probably the most successful commando operation carried out since world war II. It was codenamed Operation Thunderbolt but was later renamed Operation Jonathan, in honour of the man who paid the ultimate sacrifice.
It has inspired more than a dozen documentaries and featured films, including this years '7 Days in Entebbe'.

Source: http://www.thetrumpet.com/17678-operation-jonathan-the-most-daring-resue-attempt-in-history

op I totally read everything, infact for once I thought I was watching a movie. That was nice.

Hit like if you thought it was our own "GEJ" who relinquished power to PMB amidst several options to rig the 2015 election which the consequences might not have affected him directly.
BTW, most of the Jonathan I've met so far are always humane and heartwarming

It's as if I'm watching an action movie. What a bravery! Nigerian army una don see?

There is one thing about Israeli military, their commanders are always first to die in any operation.

Just like a movie I enjoy reading, now I'm going to get the DVD

I remember watching the movie RAID ON ENTEBE as a kid. One line I can never forget is, "Johnny go, Johnny go." Then after a few seconds, another replied "John is dead"... I was so emotional, afterwards as if the director of the film purposely killed Johnny.
Never knew it was actually a real life story, until years later.