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FILE – Israeli Brigadier Dan Shomron, who led Sunday’s commando raid into Uganda’s Entebbe Airport, speaks in Tel Aviv about how he and his men rescued hostages who were held for a week by pro-Palestine hijackers aboard an Air France plane, July 4, 1976.<\/p>\n
Castro\/AP Photo\/Castro<\/p>\n
FILE – A mother and her daughter embrace when the latter arrived at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport after Israeli paratroopers freed her and other hostages aboard a Air France jet at Uganda’s Entebbe Airport earlier in the day, July 4, 1976.<\/p>\n
Nash\/AP Photo\/Nash<\/p>\n
JERUSALEM (AP) \u2014 Israel on Friday released a cache of previously classified documents that outline in detail the decisions behind a daring 1976 raid to free more than 100 hostages held captive in Uganda.<\/p>\n
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The operation saw dozens of Israeli commandos storm the Entebbe Airport where Palestinian and German militants \u2014 backed by Ugandan forces \u2014 had taken 106 passengers from a hijacked flight from Tel Aviv to Paris. It lasted less than an hour with limited casualties among the commandos and hostages, most of whom were either Israeli or Jewish, making it the stuff of lore given the difficulty and high-risk nature of the mission.<\/p>\n
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Israel released the files ahead of the raid’s 50th anniversary on July 3, and as the nation still grapples with the aftermath of the hostage crisis that began when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The attack killed around 1,200 people and saw 251 others taken hostage to Gaza.<\/p>\n
The files on the Entebbe raid build on earlier disclosures and what was already known about then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin\u2019s ad hoc crisis team and show how officials weighed negotiating for the hostages\u2019 release against attempting a long\u2011range operation that would require Israeli commandos to fly thousands of miles (kilometers) over multiple hostile states.<\/p>\n
The team initially insisted there should be no negotiations with the hostage\u2011takers \u2014 the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and West Germany\u2019s Revolution\u00e4re Zellen. The groups, which hijacked the Air France flight from Tel Aviv when it stopped over in Athens, demanded the release of prisoners in multiple countries and warned they would start killing hostages if talks hadn\u2019t delivered by their self\u2011imposed deadline.<\/p>\n
But as the crisis dragged on over six days and pressure from the families of the hostages grew, Israeli leaders gradually became more open to talks, according to a summary of the files released by the Israel State Archives.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe zero hour is approaching \u2026 We believe that a supreme effort must be made and break the ultimatum,\u201d Rabin\u2019s crisis team wrote in one memo, authorizing negotiations over some of the conditions.<\/p>\n
Israel has historically negotiated with Palestinian militant groups to exchange hostages for Palestinian prisoners and detainees even as critics warned the practice could encourage more kidnappings. Entebbe is often viewed as a moment when Israel pivoted — choosing a risky military operation — but Friday\u2019s documents suggest otherwise. Behind the scenes, officials moved to force only once negotiations stalled and confidence in a potential operation grew.<\/p>\n
According to the documents, Israel took a two-pronged approach. It pushed forward France-led negotiations with Ugandan President Idi Amin, while mocking up blueprints of the airport and preparing to send transport planes to Kenya and onto Uganda to raid the airport under the dark of night.<\/p>\n
The commandos broke into the airport and saved all but three hostages killed in the crossfire. During the gunbattle, Israeli forces killed all of the hijackers and dozens of Ugandan soldiers. Only one commando \u2014 Yonatan Netanyahu, brother of future Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu \u2014 was killed.<\/p>\n
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The operation was criticized by Amin and the Organization of African Unity \u2014 the African Union’s predecessor organization \u2014 which saw the raid as a violation of Uganda\u2019s sovereignty at a moment when it claimed to be negotiating for the hostages\u2019 release.<\/p>\n
For Israel, Entebbe was widely seen as a success just four years after all nine Israeli hostages were killed in a German-led rescue attempt at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. Still, its leaders knew that military successes would not end conflict.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet us not deceive ourselves,\u201d Rabin wrote in one of the memos released Friday. \u201cIt was an extraordinary operation and achievement. However, the problem is not over. Terrorism continues to operate. What other problems terrorism will pose to us and what lessons we must learn from this matter, it is too early to say. We have finished one battle, but the war continues.\u201d<\/p>\n
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