Entebbe:Operation Thunderbolt

The name “Entebbe” and the operation with which it is associated hold a special place in the annals of the ongoing war against terrorism. To the people of Israel, and to many others, it was a declaration that free men need not submit to terrorist blackmail and extortion, no matter how impossible the alternatives may seem. Scores of men from the Israeli Defense Force, with unparalleled planning and preparation, made this mission successful in what …

…aware of the excitement in Israel, and throughout the free world, over what they had done this night. It was a mid-morning when a Hercules transport of the Israel Air Force touched down at Ben Gurion International Airport, rolled to a stop and opened its rear ramp to release its cargo of men, women and children into the outstretched arms of their relatives and friends and of a crowd of thousands. The ordeal was over.