The Outlook Podcast Archive - My part in a historic hostage rescue

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In June 1976, an Air France flight from Tel Aviv to Paris was hijacked by militants. The plane and its 248 passengers were flown to Entebbe airport in Uganda, where all the Israeli and Jewish passengers on board were held hostage in an old terminal building. The hostage takers were members, or allies, of a Palestinian armed group, and the hijacking was tied to the on going Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Back in Israel, Rami Sherman, who was an officer in an elite military unit, started making plans to get the hostages back. The situation was challenging, and they knew they needed the element of surprise to pull off a rescue. The idea they came up with involved a low altitude flight across East Africa, and a fake presidential motorcade.

Picture: Commando team in aftermath of Entebbe raid
Credit: Getty Images, Keystone, Stringer

Published on Tuesday, 2nd June 2020.

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