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Operation Thunderbolt: Flight 139 and the Raid on Entebbe Airport, the Most Audacious Hostage Rescue Mission in History, by Saul David
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The definitive account of one of the greatest Special Forces missions ever, the Raid of Entebbe, by acclaimed military historian Saul David.
On June 27, 1976, an Air France flight from Tel Aviv to Paris was hijacked by a group of Arab and German terrorists who demanded the release of 53 terrorists. The plane was forced to divert to Entebbe, in Uganda--ruled by the murderous despot Idi Amin, who had no interest in intervening.
Days later, Israeli commandos disguised as Ugandan soldiers assaulted the airport terminal, killed all the terrorists, and rescued all the hostages but three who were killed in the crossfire. The assault force suffered just one fatality: its commander, Yoni Netanyahu (brother of Israel's current Prime Minister.) Three of the country's greatest leaders: Ehud Barak, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin planned and pulled off one of the most astonishing military operations in history.
- Sales Rank: #39875 in Books
- Published on: 2015-12-01
- Released on: 2015-12-01
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.63" h x 1.50" w x 6.25" l, .0 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 464 pages
Review
USA Today "New and Noteworthy"
Vanity Fair "Hot Type" pick
"Book of the Year": The Spectator Magazine, BBC History Magazine, The Mail on Sunday
"Best History Books of 2015": Amazon UK
"What will most likely be the definitive work on the subject.... This is the achievement of a masterly, first-rate historian."―Alan Furst, New York Times Book Review
"Saul David has nimbly woven a breathless romp across Europe, the Middle East and Africa...a suspenseful read. 3.5 stars out of 4."
―USA Today
This gripping tale has already been told in numerous books, feature films and documentaries...But David's version, which cuts back and forth between the key players and reads like a film script, should prove definitive."
―The Boston Globe
"Thrilling....Dozens of books and movies have tried to capture the menace and the romance of the operation....In Operation Thunderbolt, British historian Saul David relies on extensive interviews with the captors, kidnapped and rescuers to retell the story in a tick-tock trek from Tel Aviv bunkers to the airport in Entebbe. The effect is heart-racing."
―Jordan Handler Hirsch, Wall Street Journal
"He brings thrilling detail to one of the most dramatic rescue missions in recent history--and highlights the key roles played by Israeli leaders Ehud Barak, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin."―Jane Ciabattari, BBC.com
"[The story] has been told many times on page and screen. But never better than British historian Saul David does in this meticulously researched, vivid account. He has a knack for making the reader feel he is right there."
―Martin Rubin, Washington Times
"This book is an enthralling, minute-by-minute retelling of the hijack and the dramatic rescue using new sources and material."―Max Hastings, author of Inferno
"David, who has authored a number of books on wars in the 19th and 20th centuries, brings his excellent skill as a professor of war studies at the University of Buckingham to this story.... Operation Thunderbolt is written in an informed and colorful fast-paced way."
―Jerusalem Post
"Totally thrilling, totally poignant. Bringing the greatest special forces operation of modern times blazingly to life, David's book, full of new revelations, written with the excitement of an action movie, the authority of a historian, is great drama, superb storytelling--and yet tells us much about the Middle East today."―Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Jerusalem
"David paces the narrative effectively, cutting back and forth among Entebbe, Tel Aviv, and Israeli military establishments with occasional looks at events in other world capitals. With high tension and as many plot twists as any fictional thriller, this book is hard to put down."―Kirkus
"An excellent account of the planning and execution of a successful high-risk operation."―Publishers Weekly
"David, author of numerous military histories such as Churchill's Sacrifice of the Highland Division, provides a minute-by-minute account of the entire event, focusing on the political maneuvering and the purely military operation, in excruciating detail...A definitive history of the Entebbe operation, likely to be popular among readers of military and terrorism works."―Library Journal
"Will introduce a new generation to an extraordinary story...Brilliantly told."―Jewish Chronicle
"A brilliant, breathless account that reads like the plot of an action movie, switching between events in parts of the world as the drama unfolds... David's book is a good reminder that our own War on Terror has deep roots."―The Sunday Telegraph
"It's a brilliantly orchestrated book, wonderfully rich in detail, but at the same time roaring along at a heart-thumping pace... I embarked on this book as someone not particularly interested in the Middle East, or in adventure tales of soldiers in action; I finished it in a state of high tension, buzzing through the pages in the need to know what happened next."―Mail On Sunday
"For the first time in my reading life I felt physically thrilled by a book... Wonderful."―Literary Review
"In 1976, Palestinian Arabs from a splinter group of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and German far leftists from the Revolutionare Zellen hijacked an Air France Airbus with nearly 250 passengers on a flight from Athens to Paris... At the time this remarkable ation enthralled people the world over and the military historian, Saul David, now tells the story once more in a well-researched and highly readable account."
―Times Literary Supplement
"Almost indecently exciting."
―Craig Brown, The Mail on Sunday
"In Operation Thunderbolt: Flight 139 and the Raid on Entebbe, acclaimed military historian Saul David provides readers with a definitive account of what he calls one of the greatest Special Forces mission ever. The Entebbe story presented on the pages of this book reads almost like a thriller. Tension builds minute by minute with a narrative told from many angles - the hostages, the soldiers, the politicians, and even the terrorists themselves."―Ellis Shuman, The Times of Israel
About the Author
Saul David is a military historian and broadcaster. He is the author of The Indian Mutiny, which was shortlisted for the Duke of Westminster's Medal for Military Literature, Military Blunders, Zulu: the Heroism and Tragedy of the Zulu War of 1879 (a Waterstone's Military History Book of the Year) and Victoria's Wars.
Most helpful customer reviews
22 of 24 people found the following review helpful.
Brutality, fear, terror, barbarism from the first page to the last. Heroics too, of course.
By Charles A. Krohn
Do I have your attention? The headline is only half as shocking as the real story. I found myself in the same high-jacked Air France plane, in the same old airport at Entebbe as the hostages, virtually making me believe I was there as the horrible events unfolded. I read a great deal, but this is the first time I ever felt part of the action, wondering what would happen next, expecting to be killed because all the hostages were separated into two groups--Jews and others. When they were rescued, I was rescued.
I was at first reluctant to take this book home from the library, because I remember the basic outline. Yet, it was a total surprise, mostly because of the attention to detail, especially the machinations of the Israeli government that agreed to the terrorist demands at first, then realizing a military solution might be possible after all. The outcome was always uncertain and the risks very high. This book is a minute-by-minute account. It gripped me from the first page and didn't let go until I was exhausted emotionally and, in a way, physically.
It is the best book I've read in a long time. If the Bible is ever amended, this tale will be told again without embellishment
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
Don’t miss this compelling account that reads like a political thriller yet tells a true story
By Bookreporter
Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin are names many know today only for their leadership in the State of Israel. Each man served terms as Prime Minister, as well as in the Israeli military and various political positions. But in 1976, they faced a terrifying emergency: the hijacking of Air France Flight 139 by Arab and German terrorists, who demanded the release of imprisoned terrorists in exchange for the safe return of the plane’s passengers and crew.
Air travel in 1976 was dramatically different from what it is today. Security, while present, varied in effectiveness from country to country. In Greece it was notoriously slack, while in Israel it was the strictest in the entire world. During this era, hijackings were much more common, reaching a height of 82 in the single year of 1969. These hijackings were often focused on the takeovers of Israeli airplanes by pro-Palestinian terror groups, following Israel’s defeat of Jordan, Syria and Egypt in the Six-Day War. In response, Israel tightened its airport security and became the safest country in the world to fly from, with thorough examinations of every single passenger (and accompanying baggage) boarding flights departing Israel.
On June 27, 1976, over 200 passengers boarded Air France Flight 139 at Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport. Many were alarmed to learn upon check-in that the plane would be making an unplanned stop in Athens, Greece; one child on the flight, Olivier Cojot, remarked to his father, “Hey Dad, if I were a terrorist I would get on at the stopover.” Ellinikon International Airport was known, apparently even to children, as the easiest place for a terrorist to board a plane, along with weapons. Several of the passengers attempted to change to El Al flights in response to this, yet were unable to secure seats elsewhere.
Flight 139 took off on a beautiful sunny morning and headed without incident to Athens, where 38 passengers left the plane and 56 boarded it. Unknown to the plane’s crew and Ellinikon’s security, among the travelers were four PLFP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) hijackers. (It must be noted that the metal detector for all actually entering the terminal from Athens was quite effective on that day, yet scrutiny of those transferring from one plane to another was barely monitored, as they were assumed to have been examined already.)
The four, along with their large bags of arms, were transferring from a Bahrain flight. Two Germans and two Arabs, members of the PLFP (which was known as a particularly dangerous segment of the Palestine Liberation Organization, as well as the originator of hijackings of Israeli planes), took control of Flight 139 only eight minutes after takeoff. They further secured control by separating the mothers and children from the men, placing them in first class while the rest were left in the economy section. And now, the plane changed course from a Paris route to Benghazi, Libya, a safe place for Palestinian terrorists. Eventually, Flight 139 would head to Entebbe, Uganda, where President Idi Amin actually colluded with the hijackers by providing food, an old airport terminal to house the passengers, and additional Ugandan soldiers for guard duty.
Back in Israel, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin held his regular mid-week meeting with his Cabinet members, when he was handed a note informing him of the Air France hijacking. Having recently experienced the disaster with Palestinian terrorists’ hostage-taking of the Ma’alot elementary school (in which Israeli soldiers attempted to take over the school, yet the terrorists killed dozens of schoolchildren), Rabin was hesitant to plan a military rescue. His feeling was that no Jew should die when a peaceful option was possible. Yet his Minister of Defense, Shimon Peres, believed that Israel must not give in to blackmail; if they met the terrorists’ demands, then any terrorist anywhere would believe that Israel would give in.
Nevertheless, the greatest Israeli rescue mission --- which would become known as Operation Thunderbolt --- would soon be planned. When the demands became known (the release of 53 imprisoned fellow terrorists), members of Israeli Special Forces (including Benjamin Netanyahu’s older brother, Yoni) developed a plan of attack. Would the hostages be rescued in time before the deadline set by the terrorists?
Saul David has crafted a meticulously researched account of Operation Thunderbolt. With interviews included from members of the Special Forces team, passengers and the terrorists themselves, readers will feel that they are on the sidelines watching one of the most momentous rescues in the history of the State of Israel. Don’t miss this compelling account that reads like a political thriller yet tells a true story.
Reviewed by Melanie Reynolds
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful.
Pamwe Chete
By Keith A. Comess
In military annals, few countries have achieved as many accomplishments in special warfare and intelligence-craft as has Israel. The Israelis have pulled off some stunning coups in the few decades of its existence and - of those - few have garnered more attention than the 1976 Entebbe hostage rescue. Saul David's "Operation Thunderbolt" is a compelling recounting of the event, adding considerable details of planning and execution to the existing record.
As is universally known, Israel has been locked in struggle with its numerous adversaries since the May, 1948 declaration of statehood. Of course, hostilities long preceded that event, but the nascent Israel Defense Forces (IDF) were able to preserve the state. The 1949 armistice lines de facto established its borders for many years. In 1964, disorganized and disparate irregular warfare groups were gathered under the aegis of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), this in an effort to improve military prospects against the highly accomplished IDF.
The PLO and various splinter factions eventually recognized that isolated armed action was only a component of a successful campaign: novelty and publicity were needed. To achieve that end, airline hijacking became a favored tactic in service of the larger goal of "defeating" Israel (however that may be defined). One sub-splinter group acting under the authority of Wadie Hadad acted in concert with a German extremist faction, the "Revolutionary Cells" and together, members of both groups hijacked an Air France jet and eventually landed it in Entebbe, Uganda. On the ground, they were warmly received by Idi Amin Dada, "Field Marshall" and state leader who actively collaborated in the affair from its inception.
Confronted with a determined terrorist group sheltered and abetted in a distant, hostile country, the Israelis reacted to the threatened murder of a significant subset of passengers (namely, the Jewish/Israeli component plus the air crew) by planning negotiations for a hostage exchange: there was no other reasonable option. Yet, almost alone, Defense Minister Shimon Peres thought otherwise. Peres, even though not a professional soldier, advocated strongly for military action. He did this against the concerted, hostile opposition of Prime Minister Rabin, a man with military background. The conflicts between these two men, played out over the very short timeline until the hijackers' ultimatum expired, comprises a significant portion of David's book.
Elements of the IDF, devised several plans. These were vetted and abandoned for various reasons, all carefully explained in "Thunderbolt". Only one option seemed reasonable: a flight of transport planes carrying a small number of commandos would attack the Old Terminal at Entebbe in a surprise raid. Fortunately, much intelligence on the Entebbe airport was available to the Israelis. Idi Amin was a former Israeli ally, one who proudly wore IAF paratrooper wings, despite not having earned them. Old architectural plans for the Israeli-built terminal were updated with current intelligence as conveyed by released hostages and limited air photography. Based on limited data and Peres' relentless advocacy, the Israeli cabinet approved the operation. As is well known, it was a success: two hostages died (at least one by "friendly fire") and one commando was killed (Yoni Netanyahu, brother of the current Israeli Prime Minister).
The book reads quickly, especially the operational sections. It is well supplemented with maps and attack plans. The logistical, intelligence, planning and deliberative details are all clearly and compellingly explained.
The major shortcoming of the book is the extensive "imagined dialogue". For example, Yoni Netanyahu's interior monologue added the too detailed recitation of trivial recollections and irrelevant stories from inconsequential captives detract from the main story. The concluding chapter contains interesting interview information from a surviving member of the Revolutionary Cells and provides contextual detail on the collaboration. A particularly interesting section on the disillusionment of many German extreme leftists (extracted from Paul Berman's book) with the entire "anti-Zionist" enterprise.
Of course, the struggle goes on. The anti-Israeli terrorism palette no longer includes airline hijackings and the terrorists are no longer secular Marxist-Leninists. Nowadays, they are Islamists and generally disregard whatever moral constraints their predecessors exercised with respect to civilian mass casualties. Nonetheless, and as David notes, the Entebbe raid set a paradigm most countries attempt to follow: special forces raids to free hostages, destroy terrorist targets and deter by that tactic. Whether or not that approach works as part of a larger strategy is debatable, and it's not part of this book. The reference standard remains the Israeli approach and, as might be said in the Shona dialect, "Pamwe Chete": all together, at least as pertains to Western special forces and terrorists and Israel commandos lead the way.
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