I always thought no one — including Israel — could pull off something as incredible as the July 4, 1976, raid on Entebbe, Uganda. To remind readers what happened that day: A week earlier, on June 27, two Palestinian and two German terrorists hijacked an Air France Tel Aviv to Paris flight with 248 passengers on board, which they diverted to Entebbe Airport in Uganda. At the airport, the hijackers and four additional terrorists, aided by Uganda’s Idi Amin regime, held the Israeli and other Jews, and allowed the 148 non-Jewish passengers to fly on to Paris. The terrorists announced that unless 53 Palestinian prisoners — 40 in Israel and 13 elsewhere — were released, the kidnapped Jews (and the Air France crew, all of whom heroically remained with the Jewish passengers) would be killed.
On July 4, the Israelis flew a disguised transport plane filled with Israeli commandos 2,500 miles from Israel to Entebbe. After refueling in Kenya, they landed in Entebbe, killed the terrorists and saved nearly every hostage — all in 53 minutes.
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