#Operation Entebbe

[girlactionfigure]

Operation Entebbe - In Animation

The daring rescue operation which stunned the world. July 4'th 1976

[secular-jew]

“One of the most complicated hostage rescue missions in history.”

The rescue operation was named "Summer Seeds" (renamed "Operation Arnon", in honor of the fallen commander of the rescue mission: Arnon Zmora) and one of the most complex ever undertaken in history, even more so than the raid on Entebbe. Movies will be made about this successful humanitarian mission. Courses on military strategy will center around the brilliance of the mission's execution and outcome.

For starters, the hostages were held in a heavily civilian populated area, in 3 & 4 story buildings.

The IDF focused its rescue on the 2 apartments where the hostages were held: Noa, on the 1st floor of building 1; Andrey, Shlomi, & Almogon on the 3rd floor of building 2. The two buildings were roughly 300 meters apart.

Hamas and their Gazan civilian accomplices constantly moved the hostages from apartment to apartment, and the IDF had to be careful that if they went in one apartment at a time, the terrorists would simply move the hostages from one place to the next.

The challenge was to storm the apartments in such a way that the terrorists would NOT shoot the hostages first.

Israel's counter-terrorism unit, called "Yamam", practiced for weeks, in and around similar structures, and even built models from scratch. Adding to the complexity was that the apartments were protected by dozens of terrorists armed with RPGs and machine guns, requiring the IFF to run a dangerous gauntlet of fire in the streets and alleys surrounding the buildings.

Many Gazan civilians were killed during the dense fire exchange, and a large % of the dead hit by Hamas themselves.

According to an IDF spokesperson: "The difference between success and failure in such an operation is a hair's breadth, and we relied on exceptional technology from the Intelligence and Shin Bet. Without ground activity and maneuvering in the Gazan area, it would not have been possible to succeed."

The one on the Israeli casualty was Commander Zamora, who was a true hero. "Shin Bet and Intelligence Directorate fighters entered the lion's den in the refugee camp and dismantled houses in areas where we hadn't maneuvered," they said. "This is bravery on the level of Judah Maccabee. The operation was planned for weeks with drills, rescue plans, and fires executed, alongside scenarios of cases and responses."

The forces equipped with special weapons developed specifically for the rescue operation, targeted two houses, extracted the hostages, and withdrew while fighting dozens of terrorists. One of the IDF vehicles holding the 3 hostages came under extreme fire and was stuck. Immediately, Division 98 forces rescued the vehicle rescue in deep battle, supported by helicopter gunships, deep in the strip during broad daylight.

Three brigades participated in the battle (during which mortally injured Zamora was evacuated to the hospital): Brigade 7, Paratroopers, and Kfir with Flotilla 13, along with various special forces.

"The fire plan that was executed was focused but extremely powerful," the IDF added. "The cooperation with Shin Bet and Yamam rose to several levels into a single operational system, under the direction of the Shin Bet chief and the Chief of Staff. Four keys to the operation: deception, surprise, determination, and power."

The element of surprises was paramount in the success of operating Summer Seeds. Leading up to the launch on June 8th, intense secrecy was maintained. No battle plans were leaked to the New York Times. Thousands of soldiers involved in the operation were unaware of the ultimate goal. Only a handful of were exposed on the day of the battle, yesterday, at various levels. These forces were positioned at the correct launch points without revealing any of the key specifics.

https://youtu.be/WrGS2q9f5xA?si=MUq462aVALpkEqgS

[rwpohl]

mivtsa yonatan, menahem golan 1977

[eretzyisrael]

by Joshua Hoffman

Unit 8200, Israel’s elite cyber-intelligence unit, has produced many of the country’s top tech entrepreneurs. Alumni went on to found Waze, Check Point, Wiz, and Mobileye. Some say serving in Unit 8200 is better than an Ivy League degree.

Israel is believed to have carried out more assassinations than any other Western country since World War II. The message is simple: If you harm a Jew, we will hunt you down.

Israel once smuggled Iraqi Jewish children out of Baghdad ... hidden inside suitcases. This was part of Operation Ezra and Nehemiah, which airlifted over 100,000 Iraqi Jews in the early 1950s.

The IDF invented “roof knocking” — a tactic that warns civilians before striking terrorist targets embedded within civilian infrastructure. A small, non-lethal warning is fired at a building to give civilians time to evacuate before a precision strike.

In 1960, the Mossad kidnapped Adolf Eichmann — one of the architects of the Holocaust — in Argentina and brought him to trial in Jerusalem. They tracked him, disguised themselves as airline crew, and sedated him before flying him to Israel.

Israel is the only country in history to have airlifted Africans to safety because they were Jews — Ethiopian Jews in Operations Moses, Joshua, and Solomon.

The Mossad once used a fake diving resort in Sudan as a front to smuggle Ethiopian Jews to Israel. Yes, a real hotel staffed by Mossad agents.This was part of Operation Brothers, which inspired the Netflix film, “The Red Sea Diving Resort.”

In 1976, Israel pulled off the boldest hostage rescue in history — Operation Entebbe. Israeli commandos flew 2,500 miles to Uganda to rescue Jewish hostages held by Palestinian and German terrorists. Over 100 hostages rescued. The only Israeli soldier killed? Yonatan Netanyahu, the brother of Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Mossad has posed as tourists, journalists, diplomats — and in one case, a Canadian birdwatcher — to conduct spy ops. They have even launched fake companies as covers for global missions, such as the ingenious beeper attack against Hezbollah last year. Once, Israel’s intelligence services created a fake psychic hotline to track terrorists. They claimed to be fortune-tellers to trick suspects into revealing info on themselves or their relatives.

Beneath a kibbutz laundry and bakery in Rehovot, a secret underground factory known as the Ayalon Institute produced over 2 million bullets for the Jewish underground — right under the noses of the British. Operated by young Haganah1 members in their teens and twenties, the factory ran in total secrecy from 1945 to 1948, with noise and heat masked by the aboveground bakery machines. Workers sunbathed on the roof to avoid suspicion from looking too pale. Even British soldiers unknowingly dropped off laundry at the site, never realizing they were helping cover up Israel’s first covert munitions operation.

The IDF has a specific soldier role called the “snack sergeant.” During long missions or operations, some units assign a soldier to manage morale ... with Bamba, Bisli, and chocolate.

🗺 Jerusalem of Gold

Jerusalem is over 3,000 years old and has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, captured and recaptured 44 times. And yet, it's still here. Alive. Holy. (And constantly under renovation.)

The Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE and the Romans in 70 CE — both on the same Hebrew date: the 9th of Av. Coincidence? Jews say: not likely.

Jerusalem is mentioned over 600 times in the Hebrew Bible — but not once in the Quran. And yet, it is considered the third holiest city in Islam after Mecca and Medina.

The Old City of Jerusalem is only 1 square kilometer (0.35 square miles), but contains the holiest sites for Judaism (Western Wall), Christianity (Church of the Holy Sepulchre), and Islam (Al-Aqsa Mosque). Basically, it’s the world’s most sacred traffic jam.

Over 1 million notes are placed into the Western Wall each year — and yes, they’re collected and buried respectfully. You can even send one via email or WhatsApp, and a rabbi will stick it in for you.

[1americanconservative]

@CherylWroteIt

On the 27th June, 1976, two “Palestinian” PLO terrorists and two German Neo Nazi militants hijacked an Air France plane in Greece with 248 passengers and air crew. They forced the plane to land in Libya for refueling, and then to Entebbe, Uganda. The hijackers were greeted by the Ugandans and three more Palestinian hijackers joined them in Entebbe. They separated the Israeli passengers from non Israelis, releasing the non Israelis who were flown to France. The Ugandan military was deployed to assist the hijackers and the Ugandan airforce was put on standby to prevent any foreign forces from any potential rescue missions. On July 3rd, 1976, the Israeli government authorized a rescue mission. Yonatan Netanyahu (Benjamin Netanyahu’s older brother) was head of the elite commando unit sent to Uganda to rescue the 106 remaining hostages. Once there, they destroyed most of the Ugandan aircraft, took out all the hijackers, and killed almost 50 Ugandan soldiers who were helping the hijackers. The Israelis were helped by the Kenyan government, and this led to the Ugandan president to order all Kenyans in Uganda to be slaughtered. Over 240 Kenyans were killed and several thousand fled. Only one Israeli commando was killed in the operation… Yonatan Netanyahu. 4 hostages were also killed, one of which wasn’t killed during the operation, but rather by Ugandan soldiers who murdered her at the hospital where she was being treated. This was one of the greatest rescue operations of all time. And who were the most vocal critics that condemned the rescue operation??? None other than the United Nations led by Kurt Waldheim who himself was later found to have been a senior Nazi officer during World War Two. Think about that for a moment. Innocent people were taken hostage by armed bloodthirsty Islamist terrorists and aided by an entire army of Muslim soldiers, and yet it was Israel that was criticized for daring to have the courage and morality of rescuing the innocent hostages who were the ones being condemned. Fast forward 50 years, and absolutely nothing has changed. The “Palestinians” are still the ones killing and kidnapping. The Israelis are still the ones having to stand alone rescuing their people from the terrorists. And the United Nations are still the ones supporting and protecting the terrorists and condemning and vilifying Israel. There is nothing new in 2025. Remember that the next time the media tries to tell you that we’re the bad guys for fighting to save and protect our people

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

By Eli Lake and Danielle Shapiro

Since the October 7 massacre, a small “charity” based in Canada has been ubiquitous on elite college campuses, celebrating the bloodbath at public rallies and seminars. The group is called Samidoun, and it claims to be an NGO advocating on behalf of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.

On Tuesday, the U.S. and Canadian governments put an end to that charade. 

Samidoun is not a charity at all. Rather, it’s a group “that serves as an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization,” according to a press release issued Tuesday by the Treasury Department. The government describes it as a “sham.”

For anyone who has followed the history of Palestinian terrorism, PFLP is a name you’re no doubt familiar with. It was founded in 1967 as a Marxist revolutionary group, and was supported during the Cold War by China and the Soviet Union. In 1976, the PFLP teamed up with West Germany’s Baader-Meinhof group to hijack a flight from Tel Aviv, Israel, to Entebbe, Uganda, separating Jewish and non-Jewish passenger hostages. Eventually, Israeli commandos freed the hostages. The episode was turned into the movie 7 Days in Entebbe.

For most of the 1990s and 2000s, PFLP was largely an afterthought for both Israelis and Palestinians (though it did murder an Israeli tourism minister in 2001). That began to change in 2019, when the PFLP killed a 17-year-old girl in the West Bank with a roadside bomb that also injured her father and brother. Since then, the government of Israel has pressed its allies to designate Samidoun as a terrorist front for the PFLP. The designations from Canada and the U.S. on Tuesday are the culmination of that effort. 

One place where that designation will have an effect is elite campuses, where Samidoun has long established itself as a partner—and funder—for anti-Israel student initiatives. Just in the past year, Samidoun has co-sponsored a divestment rally at Princeton, taught an “Abolish Imperialism” lecture at Harvard Law School and, most infamously,��led a “Palestinian Resistance 101” teach-in at Columbia University that resulted in the suspension of multiple student organizers who used the event to “promote the use of terror or violence.” 

As far back as 2017, Princeton’s Palestine club shared links from Samidoun’s media page and encouraged students to work with the group on initiatives to free a Palestinian activist who had assaulted an Israeli soldier. In 2022, Princeton’s Palestine club again partnered with Samidoun to lead a “Palestinian Prisoner Letter-Writing Session” on campus. This long and close relationship between Princeton students and faculty and Samidoun has been replicated at top universities across the country.

Matthew Levitt, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former FBI analyst and deputy assistant secretary of the Treasury Department, told The Free Press that the U.S. and Canadian governments have debated over the last year about designating Samidoun a terrorist group. Their reservation was due to the fact that Western governments do not sanction organizations based just on violent and hateful speech. “They have been saying horrible and nasty things,” Levitt said. “We don’t designate people for saying nasty things.” 

What turned the tide, according to Levitt, was that Israel had accumulated mounds of evidence that Samidoun was, in effect, a fundraising arm for the PFLP. Some of this information has been available for some time. For example, Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy released a report in 2019 that detailed Samidoun’s role in raising money for the PFLP. That report claims that PFLP operatives transferred money from Lebanon to a man named Khaled Barakat when he was living in Europe. On Tuesday, Barakat was also designated as a foreign terrorist financier. His wife, Charlotte Kates, is Samidoun’s “international coordinator.” 

In 2022, the Netherlands barred Kates and Barakat from entering the country where they had planned to land and then drive to a pro-Palestine march in Belgium. More recently, Germany designated Samidoun as a terrorist organization in November 2023. 

Even though PFLP has not captured the headlines of better-known groups like Hamas or Hezbollah, it remains deadly. Although it was not involved in the original planning for October 7, the terrorist group joined the massacre once it was underway. NGO Monitor has published PFLP statements and Telegram posts that show its participation in the 2023 attack, joining after the first wave of Hamas operatives.

[simply-ivanka]

Blaming Israel for Rescuing Its People

Hamas hid four hostages in a crowded civilian area and fired on rescuers.

Wall Street Journal

By The Editorial Board

It’s rare good news in a grinding war. On Saturday Israeli commandos rescued four hostages from two civilian buildings near the heart of Gaza’s Nuseirat market. It was a high-risk but well-planned and -executed mission that is a morale boost for Israelis.

Arnon Zamora was killed while leading the rescue mission at the head of his force. He will go down in history with Yoni Netanyahu, the fallen leader of Israel’s 1976 raid to free hostages in Entebbe, Uganda.

Noa Argamani, age 26, Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40, were all abducted during the music-festival massacre. A video showed Ms. Argamani begging for her life. Eight months later she heard a knock on the door: “It’s the IDF, we’ve come to rescue you.” She can now visit her terminally ill mother. Mr. Jan was mobbed on his return by friends chanting, “He is one of us, and we will never give him up,” a refrain of sports teammates now given new meaning. Mr. Jan’s father died hours before his son’s return.

The non-surprise is that professional anti-Israel voices, United Nations officials and the European Union foreign-policy chief rushed to attack Israel. Egypt condemned the operation “in the strongest terms.” How dare Israel rescue its own citizens. Didn’t it know there would be casualties? The BBC asked whether Israel gave a warning that the rescue raid was coming. Seriously? A tip-off to terrorists? Perhaps read them Miranda rights too.

“BREAKING: Gaza’s Health Ministry says 274 Palestinians were killed during the Israeli operation,” reports the Associated Press, only 48 hours after it had exposed how the Hamas ministry’s daily death tolls are “at odds with underlying data.” When will the media stop taking the kidnappers at their word?

Haters of Israel will blame it and excuse Hamas every time, and the media are easily manipulated into playing along. The Hamas figure is likely inflated, and it includes the terrorists killed trying to stop the rescue as well as those who hid the hostages.

Hamas started the war with a massacre, took these hostages and hid them in a crowded civilian area. Then, when Israel came to free them, Hamas responded with heavy fire, including RPGs—yet people are condemning Israel. It makes us wonder if the West has lost the moral discernment and instinct for self-preservation needed to defend itself in a world of killers.

Hamas could not survive if not for its enablers around the world.

[greythingy]

Went to the demonstration with the socialists yesterday (even though a deal is presumably on it's way). I want to start wearing my political opinions more. I don't know what else I can do to try and help 😕

People were handing out hats which is good, i bought a sweatshirt which i desperately needed , and donated what I could to the socialists and took the grey shirt.

This book (it's called The Neglecter but it uses a much more harsh word than in english) was lying there. It is hundreds of pages long and is a complete takedown of Bibi, written by ex mossad heads, ex military head commanders, ministers of security, important philosophers, authors, praonal victims of his policy, even the heros of the Entebbe operation where Bibi's brother Yoni was killed. It has an article by Einav Zagauker who is an ex-bibist who's son was kidnapped and is still at Gaza because of bibi's policy. I want to read it all.

[antisemitism-eu]

So much stupidity in so few words.

But I can understand it. In the same way I can understand Nazism.

Progressive antisemites have to "prove" that Israel is the worst place ever for Jews.

Otherwise they'll have to live with the fact that they're not only encouraging genocide against millions of Jews in Israel, but also encouraging genocide against millions of Jews outside of Israel.

So.. Israel "has done literally nothing good for Jewish communities worldwide".

Obviously, OP is not very clear about the meaning of the word "literally".

Because "literally", Jews worldwide owe a debt of gratitude for their very existence to Israel.

The founding of Israel in 1948 gave a shot of Jewish pride to Jewish communities worldwide. Rabbi Soloveitchik thought it saved US Jews.

The Six Day War in 1967 - Israel managing to beat its enemies who wanted to wipe it out - gave another shot of Jewish pride to worldwide Jewry.

In fact, it is the direct cause of the awakening of Jewish identity in the USSR.

More recently - the Entebbe Operation raised Jewish spirits around the world.

And even more recently - Israel's miraculous ability to rise from the ashes, after the most horrible massacre of Jews in recent history - and within less than a year give us all hope for a new Middle East with real peace between Jews, Arabs and Persians.

It's too difficult for the Nazis worldwide.

[girlactionfigure]

onthisdayinjewishistory

July 4, 1976: Entebbe Rescue ⚡️🇮🇱 On 26.6.76, the terror groups, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Red Army Faction (a West German radical leftist group) hijacked an Air France plane flying from Israel to France. They took 248 passengers hostage and released 148 non-Israeli or Jewish hostages after stopping in Athens. After, they flew to Uganda and demanded the release of 47 terrorists or they would shoot the hostages. Lt. Colonel Joshua Shani was tasked in leading the rescue with two days to plan. Working with Lt. Col. Yonatan “Yoni” Netanyahu, they formulated a plan in those two days, improvising for the remaining challenges. They decided to use President Idi Amin’s nightly route to their advantage, driving up in vehicles similar to his convoy to approach the terminal discreetly.  Although the mission hadn’t been approved by the Israeli government, the planes took off #onthisday due to time constraints. Flying low to avoid radar detection, they reached Uganda despite encountering bad weather. The paratroopers dismounted, engaged with security forces, and stormed the terminal.  Simultaneously, the IDF destroyed eight out of twelve Ugandan Air Force planes to prevent pursuit. The hostages were rescued, loaded onto a plane, and flown to Israel. The mission was a success, saving 102 out of the remaining 106 hostages. Lt. Col. Yonatan “Yoni” Netanyahu was killed in action and 3 of the hostages were also lost in the process. Lt. Colonel Joshua Shani and Lt. Col. Yonatan “Yoni” Netanyahu got widespread recognition for their bravery and leadership. They were commended by the Israeli government and received military honors for their role in saving the hostages. Many, including the UN and Uganda itself, condemned the rescue in a similar fashion as some did in the recent Gaza hostage rescue mission last month.  The mission was as a testament to the elite training and capabilities of the IDF in executing complex and high-risk operations. The event also led to a reassessment of airport security measures. This was one of many hijackings from Palestinian terror groups in the 70’s in a backwards attempt to gain international attention.

[sethshead]

The United Nations’ human rights chief, Volker Türk, has criticized the pager attack as a violation of international law and called for those behind it to be held to account. “Simultaneous targeting of thousands of individuals, whether civilians or members of armed groups, without knowledge of who was in possession of the targeted devices, their location and their surroundings at the time of the attack, violates international human rights law,” he said in a statement.

UN Security Council Resolution 1701, released as part of the end of the 2006 Israel-Hizb'allah war, called for the disarming of Hizb'allah and the withdrawal of Lebanese non-governmental armed groups north of the Litani River. UN peacekeepers have done nothing to enforce this agreement, nor to prevent Hizb'allah rocket, artillery, drone, and infiltration attacks on Israel. Israel's only protection is by virtue of Israeli force of arms. Now tens of thousands of Israeli civilians have been displaced for nearly a year as a result of Hizb'allah's unprovoked bombardment. Rather than pressure Hizb'allah to stop or the Lebanese military to step in, the UN instead simply expects Israel to abide this deadly war crime.

Never in the history of counterinsurgency has an operation been so targeted, precise, and proportional as the past two days' campaign against Hizb'allah communications equipment and personnel. The exploding pagers left bystanders mere inches away unharmed. The pagers and walkie-talkies were all ordered and purchased by Hizb'allah to Hizb'allah specifications at the urging of Hassan Nasrallah, for Hizb'allah officers and affiliates. There was nothing indiscriminate to this attack. Civilians by definition did not have access to these devices. There is no physical way with current technology to more effectively single out terrorists who embed themselves among noncombatants.

Yet for the UN even this is not enough. The UN would eliminate every means for Israel, and by extension Jews, to legitimately defend ourselves against enemies dedicated to our ethnic cleansing and genocide. If this masterpiece of limited war does not satisfy Herr Türk, nothing will. But then he works for the organization that condemned Israel for capturing Eichmann and for rescuing hostages at Entebbe, so we already know that the UN will only ever find sympathetic Jews who are already dead. Those of us who fight to live will always be the object of gentile disapproval.

[rwpohl]

mivtsa yonatan, menahem golan 1977

*

beyond the clouds: jonathan livingstone seagull, hall bartlett 1973

[eretzyisrael]

by Aaron Bandler

“The whole idea that they’re using the Gaza ‘Health Ministry,’ that’s synonymous to Hamas,” Romirowsky said. “So basically you’re saying that you’re relying on the Hamas narrative to describe what is happening, which is totally detached from reality. Hamas has its own interests as far as aggrandizing everything … they’re looking to create a sense to put pressure on Israel by aggrandizing the numbers when they themselves are responsible for the devastation in Gaza. It’s all Hamas. Let’s be clear: This is part of the Hamas strategy.”

Editors who contended that the use of “massacre” violated Wikipedia’s neutral point of view (NPOV) policy were outnumbered, and the verdict was consensus to rename the article “Nuseirat rescue and massacre.”

“This is part of a concerted campaign to manipulate the narrative and thus rewrite history,” one Wikipedia editor told me. “The day of the rescue operation — they couldn’t simply let that be the story that four hostages were rescued so they had to rebrand it as a massacre in the refugee camp … and their main focus was butchering as many people as possible. They just happened to rescue four hostages. If Entebbe happened today, it would probably also be called ‘Entebbe airport massacre.’ Their MO is to deny that injustices occurred to us, but then take these said same incidents and repurpose it for themselves and their own narrative.”

An editor who grew disillusioned with Wikipedia after making thousands of edits told me that “even if some high-quality sources said a massacre happened, that still wouldn’t make it the COMMONNAME. Once upon a time, something like this would be called ‘Nuseirat operation’ or something neutral like that, it would describe the rescue and allegations of a massacre. But since experienced editors know very few people read beyond the title and lead, these guys are using their numbers to corrupt them both.”

Another editor told me that “a ‘massacre,’ by definition, is not a scientific classification. There are obviously many cases in which the term may be applied unambiguously, but that is not the situation here, nor in many of these contentious article title debates. All we are witnessing is subjective determination wholly driven by the politics and bias of the invoking party, specifically around what they wish to emphasize and ignore. The two sides doing their best to stack the optics deck with charged language to vilify the other side and win some endless PR war. They know that these article search results populate at the top of Google, and are widely cited and quoted by journalists and on social media. They so desperately want their authorship and preferred terminology to enter into common parlance and usage before everyday people have even had a second to think about whether the designation is true, or even appropriate to talk about it in that way. In the case of Nuseirat, what we know is that there was a rescue operation, as well as a reportedly sizable civilian casualty rate. I’m not sure if calling it ‘Nuseirat rescue and massacre’ is appropriate, and I don’t think most of the people who participated in the RM cared about finding the most appropriate solution as well. What we have now is a weird ‘Frankenstein’ result that only highlights the schism and unhealthy detente between sides with profoundly differing perspectives and agendas.” The editor contended that Wikipedia’s manual of style should be revised so the word “massacre” is “removed from general use in article titles when there is any ambiguity or intractable debate, or subject to far stricter criteria.”

One editor told me that the arguments put forward by those who wanted “massacre” in the title were “a stretch but it almost doesn’t matter because so many people bought it,” as there were “4-5 more supporters than opposers … the supporters of that name were particularly unified in their support — in fact, unusually so, so much so that they even carried a name that wasn’t even the one proposed. Which is possible to do but unusual.” The editor believes that the discussion had “all the hallmarks of canvassing and coordination, which we know they are doing on Discord.”

[fromchaostocosmos]

I am a citizen of the United States of America and that tends to come with a lot of protections even when outside of the USA.

I am Jew.

Ever since I learnt about the hostage crisis that happened in 1970's in Entebbe where Jews and Israelis were held hostage for being Jews and Israelis I've known that reality is if I was ever held hostage for the simple fact that I am a Jew I can have unshaken faith in government that I am not a citizen and citizens of a country I do not belong to, to fight for freedom.

Even at times when I can not say the same of of the government I am citizen of and the fellow country people with whom I share a country.

I learnt about Entebbe and that hostage situation at a fairly young age and from moment in Jewish history who I can truly trust as Jew.

There was just a rescue operation of 4 hostage and people have all sorts of comments on it, many of them really nasty and disgusting ones.

For all I critique the Israeli government I will say a government that rescues it people is something that should be applauded. A government that understands its duty to its people and that said duty means you do not leave them to languish in the hands of those who have kidnapped them is something that should be admired.

An army that successfully brings home hostages is something that is a good thing.

How the government has handled the operation, the logistics, and etc that is something that yes is always open for critique.

But the act itself of saving its citizens that is not what should be condemned.

I do not like Netanyahu, I do not like the Likud party. I think they have done a lot of irreparable harm, I think they are bad at governance, I think they are bad international politics, and many other things.

With that said if I was kidnapped while they are still in charge and I was kidnapped simply because I am Jew for as much as I do not like Bibi and the Likud party, the current ruling party, and do not like doesn't fully encompass the totality of my feelings I still would take comfort in knowing that their government would do something about it, be it a full on rescue or putting pressure on my government to get me rescued.

But you know who I would not trust to care about me if something happened, the red cross, the un, the various feminists and women's groups/movements, the various humanitarian groups because they have all showed the Jewish lives have no worth simply for being a Jewish life.

[1americanconservative]

@HilzFuld

In case you haven’t gotten it yet, you are witnessing what is probably Israel’s most incredible military operation ever!! We’ll only know how successful it was after it’s done but no doubt that tonight will be remembered alongside Entebbe, the beepers, and other historic events in Israel’s history. This might very well be number one!

[georgefairbrother]

On 18th September 1972, BBC News reported that the first 193 Ugandan refugees, fleeing persecution by the country’s military dictatorship, had arrived at Stansted Airport, Essex. Over half of the arrivals had British passports, and housing and immediate needs would be overseen by the Ugandan Resettlement Board.

Uganda’s Asian community, numbering around 55 000, many of whom ran family businesses and small enterprise, were ordered in August 1972 to leave the country within 90 days by President Idi Amin. Amin had publicly denounced Ugandan Asians as ‘bloodsuckers’, threatening that any who had not left by the arbitrary deadline of November 8th would be interned in military detention camps.

Many of the initial flight of refugees had endured frightening experiences prior to their departure from Uganda, at the hands of Amin’s troops. "On the way to the airport the coach was stopped by troops seven times, and we were all held at gun point," one refugee told reporters. Another stated that he had been robbed of personal valuables and Ugandan currency on the way to Entebbe airport.

News reports at the time cited some opposition within the UK over the acceptance of the Ugandan Asians. The Leicester local authority mounted a newspaper campaign urging refugees not to come to their region seeking jobs and housing. The BBC asserted that, in hindsight, the resettlement programme was seen as ‘a success story for British Immigration’.

The loss of the hardworking and successful Ugandan Asian community devastated Uganda’s agriculture, manufacturing and commerce. Idi Amin was deposed in 1979 and died in Jeddah in 2003, having been responsible for the deaths of as many as 300 000 Ugandan civilians during his reign of terror as President. In 1991, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni invited the expelled community to return home to help rebuild the economy.

The Wilson Labour government also had to grapple with a refugee crisis from a former African colony.

In February 1968, BBC news reported;

"…Another 96 Indians and Pakistanis from Kenya have arrived in Britain, the latest in a growing exodus of Kenyan Asians fleeing from laws which prevent them making a living…"

Many Asian people living in Kenya had not taken up Kenyan citizenship following the country’s independence from Britain in 1963, but possessed British passports. Under Kenya’s Africanisation policy, non-citizens required work permits, and were being removed from employment in favour of Kenyan nationals. There was growing public demand for laws to prevent non-citizens from owning businesses or even operating as street and market traders. As a result, British passport holders were leaving Kenya at the rate of 1000 per month, leaving a huge deficit in skills and experience within the business community and civil service.

Fearing a backlash over the large numbers of Asian immigrants, Home Secretary, and future Prime Minister, James Callaghan, rushed through the Commonwealth Immigration Act, which made it a requirement that prospective immigrants must have a 'close connection' with Britain.

This led to disagreement in Cabinet, with Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs, George Thomson (1921-2008) arguing;

"…To pass such legislation would be wrong in principle, clearly discrimination on the grounds of colour, and contrary to everything we stand for…"

In 1971, the Heath government made further legislative changes that would mean that (some) immigrants from Commonwealth countries would be treated no more favourably than those from the rest of the world, and that tightened restrictions on those who stayed by linking work permits to a specific job and location, requiring registration with police, and reapplication to stay in Britain each 12 months.

The Patrial Right of Abode lifted all restrictions on those immigrants with a direct ancestral connection with Britain.

Home Secretary Reginald Maudling (later famous for being smacked in the face by Irish MP Bernadette Devlin, and for having to resign over a corruption scandal linked with disgraced property developer John Poulson) denied that this was, in effect, a 'colour bar', telling the BBC;

"…Of course they are more likely to be white because we have on the whole more whites than coloureds in this country, but there is no colour bar involved…"

Unsurprisingly, not everyone was convinced.

Vishna Sharma, Executive Secretary of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, described the bill to BBC News as, "basically racially discriminatory, repressive and divisive," and added, "It will create divisions amongst the Commonwealth citizens already living in this country on patrial and non-patrial basis. It will create day-to-day bureaucracy and interference on people living in this country. It will create more hardship for people wanting to enter into this country."

(Source; BBC reporting and history.com. Photo Credits; BBC News)