What is the story of the IDFs operation to release the hostages from Entebbe in July 1976?
On June 27, 1976 Air France flight 139 with 246 passengers travelling from Ben Gurion Airport to Paris via Athens was hijacked by Arab terrorists who boarded during the Athens stopover. The hijackers, armed with guns and grenades, ordered the plane to divert to Benghazi, Libya for refueling. There one passenger, a young, pregnant worman, was allowed to leave the plane. The plane then took off again and flew south to Entebbe, Uganda, where it landed at 3:15 local time on the morning of June 28. The hijacking turned out to be a collaborative effort between Dr. Wadia Hadad’s Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a branch of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. Once at Entebbe, the passengers were moved to the Old Terminal building, guarded by Ugandan soldiers and local PFLP terrorist operatives in addition to the hijackers themselves. As diplomatic efforts involving the French, owners of the aircraft, and the Israelis were gearing
