Entebbe raid: 40 years onA legend is born

The civilized world owes the Government and armed forces of Israel a permanent debt of gratitude for the courageously conceived and brilliantly executed rescue of more than 100 hostages from pro‐Palestinian terrorists at Entebbe airport in Uganda early in the morning of—appropriately enough—America’s Independence Day.

By this unprecedented action, the Israelis have demonstrated that the criminal terrorist practice of holding the lives of innocent civilians for ransom to achieve political ends can be successfully thwarted by application of sufficient amounts of resourcefulness, determination—and guts. The extraordinary raid 2,500 miles into unfriendly territory, to snatch the hostages out of the hands of captors supported by the petty tyrant who rules Uganda, was an effective declaration of independence from international blackmail, to which the ordinary rules of international law simply cannot apply. The question involved in the Israeli raid was less a matter of violating national sovereignty than responding to an act of international piracy.

Terrorism of this type will, unfortunately, not ended by this remarkable Israeli military operation; but the Israeli example proves to the world that it can ultimately be defeated, as it must be. Prime Minister Rabin rightly stated that the airborne operation had an almost legendary quality about it: “It will be written about the annals of the nation.”

It will also serve as an inspiration to other countries that, when the occasion demands and if they have the steadfastness and the will, they can do as much.

“Editorial,” New York Times, 6 July 1976