Entebbe rescued, rescuers celebrate 43rd anniversary

JAFFA, Israel (Press Release) — On the 43rd anniversary of Operation Entebbe, the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation was honoured to present to the public rare notes written by Defense Minister Shimon Peres during the preparation of the daring rescue mission, one of them addressed to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

The ceremony was attended by the “children of Entebbe” and fighters of the Sayeret Matkal unit. Chemi Peres, Chairman of the Board of the Peres Center and son of Shimon Peres, invited the kidnapped children who were rescued in the operation together with the fighters of the Sayeret Matkal commando unit, who stormed the terminal in a black Mercedes to save the hostages.

The children of Entebbe and Sayeret Matkal soldiers who took part in the raid unveiled the notes, which will be displayed at the Israeli Innovation Center for hundreds of thousands of visitors from Israel and abroad to learn about the historic event.

The meeting took place at the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, which will display these notes to the public side by side with Israeli inventions that changed the world, such as the USB flash drive, Mobileye, drip-irrigation technology, and more. Operation Entebbe is presented as an example of Israel’s boldness, audacity, and creativity in security and military operations.

During the ceremony, an exciting exhibition of Operation Entebbe, including video and rare photographs, was inaugurated on the floor that displays the history of Israeli innovation. The original handwritten notes of Defense Minister Shimon Peres give a rare and raw glimpse into the critical hours of the preparation of the operation as a highlight of the exhibition.

Chemi Peres gave each of the children of Entebbe a unique gift from the Peres Center – a copy of the original handwritten notes of Operation Entebbe: “I am sure my father would be delighted to give you, the courageous children of Entebbe and the courageous fighters of Sayeret Matkal, these notes, which are a living testament to the magnitude of the courage, creativity, and success of the operation.

My father always used to say: ‘If you have to make a decision and there are only two options, and both are not good enough, you have to immediately find a third option that is good,’ and that’s exactly what Operation Entebbe was all about.”

Pinchas Buchris, a member of the Sayeret Matkal commando unit who broke through to the terminal with the black Mercedes, said during the ceremony: “Operation Entebbe is the ultimate Israeli realization of the saying that ‘he who dares, wins’. Operation Entebbe was one of the boldest military operations in the world. As a young soldier, I still remember the fear, landing at the airport in Uganda, and the feeling of pride in the success of the operation. I carried and still carry these two feelings, fear and pride, with me to this day, and they accompanied me even when I was commander of military unit 8200 and the Director General of the Ministry of Defense.”

Benny Davidson, who was a small boy when he was a hostage in Entebbe, thanked the fighters of the Sayeret Matkal unit and said, “When we lifted our eyes after the shooting, we saw you in the white hats you were wearing and my mother told me, ‘The good angels came to rescue us from the sky, from the state of Israel!’

It is important that the heroic story of Operation Entebbe stands at the forefront of the Israeli story of innovation and courage. I am very excited to know that hundreds of thousands of visitors from Israel will always be made aware of this daring rescue operation and will pay tribute to the fighters who lost their lives over the years, first and foremost Yoni Netanyahu.”