Remembering the Raid on Entebbe on its 30th Anniversary
With the recent success of U.S. intelligence and Special Forces of elliminating Abu Musab Al Zarkawi It is appropriate to remember one of the most daring and successful special forces operations ever. It doesn't hurt that this July 4th will mark the 30'th anniversary of the "Raid on Entebbe".
For a quick background:
The raid on Entebbe, also called Operation Entebbe and Operation Jonathan, (renamed after the operation for Lt. Colonel Jonathan Netanyahu, who was killed in the operation.) was an Israeli Defense Force rescue operation into Entebbe, Uganda where 10 terrorists were holding 103 hostages. The Raid on Entebbe has been made into several movies, two made in Hollywood and one made in Israel.
Flight 139 Air France flight 139 was bound for Paris from Tel Aviv, Israel through Athens, Greece on June 27, 1976. Onboard the plane were 246 passengers. The plane was piloted by Captain Michel Bacos. After departure from Athens, the terrorists wasted no time in taking control of the plane and diverting it to Benghazi, Libya. In Benghazi, the plane was refueled.
One passenger, who had feigned pregnancy, was allowed to get off the plane in Benghazi. The plane took off the evening of the 27th and headed south. It landed some six hours later at the Entebbe Airport in Uganda. Uganda at the time was controlled by Idi Amin, a ruthless dictator who was sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. Read The Rest
It is through the sacrifice of heroes like Yoni Netanyahu that the State of Israel exsists today. It is important that we remember them and are inspired by their sacrifice to have pride and love for the State of Israel. Lt. Colonel Netanyahu's actions that day directly led to saving the lives of over 100 hundred Israeli hostages but perhaps just as importantly to demoralizing the enemy and potentially saving additional lives in the future.
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EDITORIAL by Prof. Paul Eidelberg: “KILL FOR PEACE!”
I don’t know if Entebbe’s fallen hero, Yonaton Netanyahu, read Sun Tzu, one of the greatest masters of war, but he understood one of Sun Tsu’s basic principles, “Know your enemy.” His letters agree with my conclusions about Israel’s ruling elites: they don’t know Israel’s enemy. They never have, else they would never have negotiated with Arab despots. Consider the despots of the Palestinian Authority. They have been waging war against Israel for 13 years, have murdered and wounded more than 6,000 Jews—mostly civilians. Yet Israel’s rulers timidly refrain from declaring and waging serious war against these cruelest of enemies. This is the ultimate reason why Cpl. Gilad Shalit is in the hands of the enemy.
Notice he is called “kidnapped” when in truth he was “captured” by the enemy. Can you imagine an American soldier reported as “kidnapped” by German soldiers in World War II? No wonder fools in Israel and around the world are demonstrating against Israel’s incursion into Gaza. Israel is at war with a genocidal enemy but the world prefers to believe that Israel should be making peace with this barbaric enemy.
If Roosevelt and Churchill thought and acted like Ehud Olmert and his predecessors, Europe would have been completely overrun by Nazi Germany. The Allies were not deterred by collateral damage because the distinction between combatants and non-combatants is meaningless when an entire population is at war—an Arab population that supports a murderous ideology.
This is why the Allies pursued a policy of “unconditional surrender.” Had they pursued Sharon’s policy of targeted killings there would have been no Normandy invasion, Europe today would be enslaved, Israel would not exist, and fools would not be demonstrating against this non-existent country. Roosevelt and Churchill did not play the infantile game of looking for Nazi moderates as “peace partners.”
Israel’s rulers refuse to face the fact that the goal of Arab despots does not differ from the goal of the Nazis: given the weapons, they would exterminate the Jews with a good conscience. This is why the Palestinian Authority, consistent with the Koran, has a taught a generation of Arab children to become Jew-killers.
Israeli prime ministers nonetheless provide the enemy with arms in violation of the laws of treason; and they send soldiers into combat and impose rules of engagement that increase Jewish casualties. Israel plays by rules, some encoded in its own laws or in international laws, others in long-established customs, which are part of the West’s collective consciousness. But Israel’s enemy doesn’t give a damn about our laws and customs. To fully grasp the nature of Israel’s enemy, it’s enough to say that even the Nazis didn’t use their children as human bombs.
Contrary to Yossi Beilin, who should be in a mental institution other than the Knesset, signed agreements mean nothing to the enemy. While Israeli politicians are talk-oriented—or full of hot air—Israel’s enemy is action-oriented. Commentators who say Israel’s ruling elites live in denial should be more frank: these elites simply lack the mental capacity or moral courage to face the ugly truth about Israel’s bloody enemy.
Even the term used to describe the enemy—“terrorists”—is misleading, has become banal, and hinders the political and military echelons from developing an appropriate strategy against the enemy. American military theorist Ralph Peters calls Arab or Muslim terrorists “warriors,” the better to take them seriously.
Islamic or Arab warriors are trained to kill and butcher their victims. They do not play by the rules of the Geneva convention; they do not respect human life. Negotiation with Islamic warriors is sheer folly. Israel should not negotiate with them until they surrender. Until then, they must be killed.
Israeli rulers belong to a peace cult, and believe all conflicts can be resolved through compromise. But Islamic warriors have no stake in peace, would lose honor making peace with infidels, and regard compromise as prostitution. Know the enemy:
● Hamas, Fatah, Hezbullah, etc. enjoy killing Jews.
● They regard Israeli peace overtures as a sign of weakness.
● Their contempt for human life inevitably leads them to commit atrocities.
● Since many Islamic warriors love death, the only deterrent is to kill them in sufficient numbers before they kill us.
What Must Be Done
The Allied policy of unconditional surrender vis-à-vis the Nazis is the only rational policy that can be employed against the successors of the Nazis. This means “Kill for Peace”—a harsh policy, but one that would actually reduce Arab as well as Jewish casualties. The rationality and effectiveness of this policy are substantiated by the greatest military theorists in history: Carl von Clausewitz and Sun Tzu.
The thinking of these military geniuses is also supported by basic principles of statecraft. I shall enumerate ten principles of statecraft and rules of warfare required for the policy “Kill for Peace.” Of course, such a policy requires a prime minister who is a statesman, not a hack politician.
● First Principle: In this age of publicity the first concern of government is to see that everything is called by its right name. The prime minister must not preach “peaceful coexistence,” which deceives Jews about the nature of the enemy. He must declare and wage war, and in war there is no substitute for victory.
● Second Principle: The prime minister must pursue a clear military goal: Eliminate the enemy’s leadership and destroy his entire military infrastructure. So long as the enemy remains armed, he will wait for a more favorable moment for action.
● Third Principle: The prime minister must make this goal clear both in the eyes of the cabinet and in the eyes of the public. He must not be deterred by world opinion or the threat of sanctions. Israel has the means of withstanding such pressures.
● Fourth Principle: There is no compromising with an enemy that regards compromise as a sign of weakness.
● Fifth Principle: Know that any strategy conceived in moderate terms will fail because the circumstances confronting Israel are extreme—its very existence is at stake. Therefore, where each of the possible lines of action involves difficulty, the strongest line is the best.
● Sixth Principle: Tell the people of Israel that in waging war Arab civilian casualties are inevitable as were German civilian casualties in WWII. Most of these Arab civilians are not innocent: they allow Islamic warriors to use them as human shields. Emphasize that the overwhelming majority of the Arab inhabitants of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza support suicide bombers and reject Israel’s existence.
● Seventh Principle: Impose rules of engagement that favor the IDF. Bomb the havens of Arab warriors from the air, rather than endanger Jewish soldiers by house-to-house combat.
● Eighth Principle: Operate offensively, never passively or defensively, and operate continuously. Give the enemy no rest. Hence, no cease fires, for they allow the enemy to regroup, obtain more weapons, and prepare for deadlier attacks.
● Ninth Principle: Sun Tzu, who hated war, warns that “to kill the enemy, men must be roused to anger.” This leads me to a tenth principle, for which I turn to King David.
● Tenth Principle: The prime minister must arouse hatred of Israel’s enemies. King David said, “I hate them, O God, that hate you” (Psalm 129:21). The haters of God mean those who hate the God of Israel, hence of God’s people. Hatred, however, is futile if it does not issue in action. Therefore King David writes: “I pursued my enemies and overtook them, and returned not until they were destroyed. I crushed them so that they are not able to rise …” (Psalm 18:38-43). This is what must be done to Israel’s enemy.
I therefore propose the untried but rational and ultimately humane policy of “Kill for Peace” to replace the irrational, cowardly and suicidal policy surrendering Jewish land to Islamo-Nazis. Obviously this is beyond the capacity of the Olmert government. Hence it must be replaced by a very different kind of government before the enemy, with the help of Iran, obtains weapons of mass destruction.
__________________________
*Edited transcript of the Eidelberg Report,” Israel National Radio, July 3, 2006. The author is a former officer in the United States Air Force. He received a doctorate in political science at the University of Chicago.
PRAYERS FOR CORP. GILAD SHALIT
BY: FERN SIDMAN
As the tension mounts between Israel and the plethora of Arab terrorist organizations that claim responsibility for the kidnapping of IDF Corp. Gilad Shalit, we sit glued to news reports of any developments. Our hearts go out to the family of Corp. Shalit and we lift our voices to Heaven and beseech the Almighty G-d of Israel to return Corp. Shalit, alive and well to his family and to his nation.
We offer prayers and supplications to Hashem for his speedy release and we ask Hashem to provide comfort and strength to Corp. Shalit's family and friends.
As "Operation Summer Rains" continue in Gaza, israelinsider.com reports that, "Israeli aircraft sent missiles tearing through the office of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Sunday, in an unmistakable message to his ruling Hamas group to free an Israeli soldier.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the military was ordered to do "everything" within its power to return the captured 19-year-old corporal, and cautioned that arrests of senior Hamas officials could spread to Gaza, the Islamic militant group's power base, a confidant said.
Defense Minister Amir Peretz, meanwhile, said Israel would go after "higher-caliber targets" in the future -- a reference to senior Hamas officials inside and outside of the Palestinian territories, a political ally said.
Israeli aircraft, tanks and naval gunboats have been pounding Gaza for the past week in an effort to win the freedom of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, seized in a cross-border raid. Thousands of troops were also sent into the coastal strip for Israel's first ground invasion since quitting Gaza nine months ago."
In addition, the Arab terrorists have issued news demands for the release of Corp. Shalit. According to further news reports from israelinsider.com, "Palestinian militants holding an Israeli soldier issued a new set of demands Saturday, calling for the release of 1,000 prisoners and a halt to Israel's military offensive in Gaza. But Israel rejected the demands.
The militants called for the release of 1,000 prisoners, including non-Palestinian Muslims and Arabs held by Israel. The gesture appeared to be aimed at boosting support in the broader Arab world.
The statement repeated a demand made earlier this week for the release of all Palestinian women and minors held in Israeli prisons -- an estimated 500 people -- in exchange for information about Shalit. "
The Jerusalem Post (07/02/06) reported that, "Hamas's armed wing, Izaddin al-Kassam, on Sunday threatened to attack infrastructure facilities inside Israel, including schools, hospitals and universities. The threat, the first of its kind since Hamas won the parliamentary election last January, was issued in response to continued Israeli military strikes in the Gaza Strip.
"If they continue with these attacks, we will strike at targets in Zionist territory that we have not struck until now," said the organization's spokesman.
According to a report by Fox News (07/02/06), an anti-Israel and anti-American demonstration was held in Sidon, Lebanon by Palestinians protesting the Israeli attacks in Gaza. "About 2,000 Palestinians protesting the Israeli military offensive in Gaza set fire to an Israeli flag and shouted "Death to Israel" Sunday as they marched in Lebanon's largest refugee camp.
Children, some in military uniforms, women and men took part in the protest in Ein el-Hilweh, Lebanon's largest refugee camp and home to some 70,000 Palestinians in the southern port city of Sidon.
The 90-minute protest was organized by the Fatah faction of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Protesters trampled and tore Israeli flags and later set one aflame amid shouts of "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great), "Death to Israel," "Where are Arab rulers?" Intermittent cries of "Death to America" punctuated the march.
America is the source of this killing, destruction and racism," said Sheik Mahmoud Jishi, a moderate Islamic cleric. He called on people in Arab and Islamic countries to rise up "to defend the Palestinians ... and stand united in the face of the Zionist aggression that is supported by the American forces of terror and evil."
Col. Khaled Aref, Fatah leader in Sidon and Ein El-Hilweh, argued that the best way for Palestinians to confront the attacks was to close ranks behind Abbas. "As we face this Zionist onslaught, we say that national unity breaks this conspiracy."
Palestinian Islamic militant groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad and other smaller factions did not join the protest. Speakers said nothing about the kidnapping of the Israeli soldier by militants, but focused on Palestinians' plight as a result of the military offensive on Gaza, which Israel said it launched to force the release of the soldier."
It has also been reported by CNN that, "In the midst of the standoff over Shalit, Israel opened two routes into Gaza on Sunday to allow for humanitarian aid to flow into the Palestinian territory, an Israeli army official said.
The Karni crossing in northern Gaza and a nearby fuel terminal at Nahal Oz were opened at midday to allow for the passage of food, medicine and fuel.
Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said the Karni crossing would be open four days so trucks could carry humanitarian supplies into Gaza."
As we stand at the precipice of a potentially explosive war between Israel and her Arab enemies, it is appropriate at this juncture in time to pray not only for the welfare of Corp. Gilad Shalit, but we must pray that the leaders of the government of Israel do not accede to the demands of Hamas. We must pray that Hashem give the leaders of the government of Israel enough strength, courage and wisdom to understand that releasing Arab terrorists will not be a deterrent to further kidnappings of Israeli soldiers and civilians. Quite to the contrary, it will only embolden the Arab enemy and strengthen him in his quest to destroy the entire nation of Israel.
We must ask Hashem to guide our leaders in a fearless path of unremitting non-compromise with the Arab enemy. We must ask G-d to give the leaders of the government of Israel the strength to resist the pressures from the UN and internal groups such as Yesh Gvul which has demanded that the Olmert government release Arab terrorists from their prisons.
We must stand together in strength, faith and above all, trust in the Almighty G-d of Israel, for the survival and preservation of the nation of Israel is at stake. Let us remember and utter the words of the sweet singer of Israel, King David who said (Psalms, chapter 18), "I will love you Hashem, my Strength. Hashem is my Rock, my Fortress and my Rescuer, my G-d, my Rock in Whom I take shelter, my Shield, and the Horn of my Salvation, my Stronghold. With praises I call unto Hashem, and from my enemies I am saved."
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