| |
Since 1976 the 4th of July marked two significant events in the free world, one ensured the dominance of Western thought throughout the world and the other taught us how to keep civilization alive. The American Revolution, as a seminal event, needs no embellishment here, however the other event might. Twenty-seven years ago, on July 4th, elite Israeli Special Forces rescued 105 Jewish and Israeli hostages from the hands of Arab Palestinian terrorists at the Entebbe airport in Uganda.
The fact that twenty-seven years have passed since the otherwise left-oriented government of Israel took dramatic efforts to destroy the murderous purposes of terrorists won’t be marked with great fanfare. There won’t be television specials, in-depth analysis in the newspapers, nor will pundits around the United States opine on the rescue at Entebbe. For shame, on the contrary, we should all be stirred to righteous determination while the heroics of Entebbe are retold once again. It comes as no surprise, however, that Entebbe will again be forgotten. There is no sorrow over the fact that the great courage of the IDF is ignored, but rather what is so very distasteful is that the lessons of Entebbe have been lost. Following the evil terror actions of 9/11, Entebbe should have been America’s blueprint for the War on Terror. And for a brief moment in time it actually appeared that it was. But alas, “The Road Map” is upon us.
And that is a tragedy, because this summer, with the imposition of “The Road Map” to peace and the outrageous notion of terrorist “cease fires,” it is very instructional to review just how Israelis and the western world used to respond to terror. The action of Entebbe not only saved lives, but also produced new facts on the ground and important policy commitments.
The years of the mid-1970s were among the worst for Israel in the arena of international relations. In the aftermath of Israel’s nearly disastrous Yom Kippur War, the United Nations had turned sharply and most viciously against Israel. Yassir Arafat was permitted to address the UN General Assembly. The UN General Assembly ultimately passed the infamous “Zionism is Racism” resolution. The PLO’s terrorists were being hailed by Europeans as well as America’s new left as freedom fighters. In Africa and Asia, communist guerillas hailed the terrorists as comrades in arms.
Domestically, Israel was not fairing any better. Israel’s economy was on the decline and unemployment and inflation were on the rise. A retired general, Yitzhak Rabin, led a government mired in controversy, partisan political infighting and scandal. The nation’s morale had sunk to unprecedented depths. In 1977, an Israeli electorate grown weary of the Israeli left’s incompetence and stagnation voted in Menachem Begin. He and the heirs of the Jabotinsky Zionist tradition had won leadership for the first time in Zionist history.
In the midst of these troubled times, the PFLP (the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) with the aid of German terrorists hijacked an Air France jetliner filled with Israeli and Jewish passengers and flew them to Entebbe, Uganda. The ordeal of the hostages in Entebbe, and the flamboyant antics of Uganda’s Muslim dictator, Idi Amin, drew the attention of the world away from the American bicentennial celebration. As the terrorist threat to randomly murder a Jewish or Israeli hostage every hour until their demands were met, more attention was drawn to the drama.
The Israeli response to the terrorists was simple and direct: “Israel does not negotiate with terrorists!” The success of the rescue operation, launched after Israel used the subterfuge of a compromise, was spectacular. Over ninety hostages were rescued, with just a few hostage casualties; the one fatality among the Israeli commandos was Col. Yoni Netanyahu, whose younger brother Benjamin would later be elected Israel’s prime minister.
Israel was seen by world opinion as having triumphed over international terrorism. The morale of the Israeli people was lifted. The Israeli army regained its reputation earned in the stunning victories of the Six Day War and its self-confidence was restored.
The PLO and other terrorist groups would start a long decline in the aftermath of Entebbe and especially after Camp David and the retreat of the PLO from Beirut during Israel’s Peace for Galilee campaign in Lebanon and remain irrelevant to Middle East current events until after the launch of the first intifada uprising in 1987.
The lessons to learn from Entebbe are simple and yet profound. When the victim of terror stands tall with conviction and moral clarity. Further, when instead of cowering, the victim unapologetically faces down evil, when its does not retreat from its responsibilities to its citizens and it perceives that it is right and its enemies are wrong – the world can see that its cause is just.
When the United States and most importantly, Israel, follows the lessons learned from Entebbe, they will regain power and prestige and its enemy’s retreat and decline. Appeasing the enemy never works. And on this 227th anniversary of American Independence, let us remember that the British were not driven from American soil through appeasement but by a triumph of arms. So too, will the terrorists be defeated by strength, perseverance and moral vision. If President George Bush has lost his bearing, it must be Israel and American Jewry that redirects this administration’s direction. Celebrate and honor the 27th Anniversary of Entebbe.
Arno Weinstein is the Executive Vice President and National Director of the American Friends of Israel’s National Union (www.TheNationalUnion.com). The National Union is Israel’s largest politically conservative voting bloc and holds two cabinet posts and seven Knesset seats.
“During the three-day conference meeting that took place in the city of Bethlehem the speakers emphasized that Zionist Christianity is not connected to Christianity in any way.
During their speeches at the conference, Archbishop Munib Yunan, Dr. Manuel Chassasian, and Father Marun Laham agreed unanimously that those involved with Zionist Christianity should be expunged, by establishing committees from the local and Middle Eastern Churches, for the purpose of conducting conferences in America, where there are around fifty million of them [Christian Zionists]. The speakers stated that they [Christian Zionists] are opposed to the Road Map and are against the Palestinian rights.
Conference President Doctor Jarris Khouri’s lecture included a link between the return of Messiah from Egypt to Palestine, a return that bears a meaning of the return of peace, rights, justice and freedom, and the return of the [Palestinian] refugees that bears the same meaning and consequences. Khouri stressed that without this there will not be a just peace.” |
