Ashtray.....don't fvck with Israelis

Posted on: July 5, 2025 at 07:56:35 CT

On June 27, 1976, Air France Flight 139 was hijacked en route from Israel to France after a stop in Athens where it picked up additional passengers to include two members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and two Germans of the Baader-Meinhof Gang. Using a revolver and grenade they forced the plane to divert to Benghazi where they refueled and were joined by 3 additional terrorists. They then flew to Entebbe, Uganda, where they released 209 passengers, keeping the 91 Israeli and non-Israeli Jewish hostages. The 12 Air France crew members refused to go. The terrorists demanded the release of 53 jailed comrades. In Israel, the Sayeret Matkal began planning. A Mossad operative named “David” rented a plane in Kenya and flew over Entebbe taking photographs. Impersonating a wealthy English hunter, he landed and shared a drink with the air traffic controllers, gathering crucial intelligence. On July 3rd, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin approved Operation Thunderbolt. 4 C-130s carried the 200-man assault force from Israel to Uganda flying lower than 100 feet to avoid detection. Landing in the early morning hours of July 4th, they rolled off the aircraft’s ramp in a black Mercedes flying a Ugandan flag and in Land Rovers intending to look like Idi Amin’s motorcade. Armed with AK-47s and Galils, and wearing Ugandan military uniforms, they drove toward their target building. Two Ugandan guards attempted to stop them and were killed. The Israeli commandos assaulted the terminal where the hostages were being held. Other elements took an attached building and the control tower while another destroyed eight MiGs on the runway. 99 minutes after the first C-130 touched down they were again airborne with 100 rescued hostages. All terrorists and 45 Ugandan soldiers were killed. 3 hostages were also tragically killed and another who had been moved to a hospital would later be murdered. 5 Israeli commandos were wounded and the assault force commander, Yonatan Netanyahu, was KIA. 40 years later, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu visited the Entebbe Airport where his brother was killed, the control tower still bearing bullet holes from the 1976 raid.