KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Uganda’s military unveiled a monument to an older brother of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who was killed during a hostage rescue operation in the East African country in 1976.
The statue of Yonatan Netanyahu holding an assault rifle was unveiled on Saturday by Ugandan military chief Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who said he commissioned the monument to pay tribute to the soldier’s courage. Among those attending the ceremony
were Israelis including Barak Orland, a businessman in Uganda.
Kainerugaba is the eldest child of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and his presumed heir apparent.
The statue is outside the airport terminal in the town of Entebbe where Lt. Col. Yonatan Netanyahu was struck by a bullet as he led Israeli commandos in a mission to rescue 106 passengers who had been taken hostage on an Air France flight. He was the only Israeli commando killed in the mission.
“Today, this memorial stands not only in remembrance of a distinguished soldier, but also as a tribute to the enduring values he embodied: courage in the face of danger, unwavering commitment to protecting innocent lives, and steadfast devotion to duty,” Kainerugaba said at the ceremony.
The hijackers, two Palestinians and two Germans, separated dozens of Jewish and Israeli passengers from the rest and threatened to kill them if Israel did not free dozens of Palestinian prisoners.
A week of negotiations followed as Israel planned the rescue operation. The commandos broke into the airport on July 3, 1976 and saved all but three hostages killed in the crossfire. Dozens of Ugandan soldiers were killed in the operation that lasted less than an hour.
Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, who had severed ties with Israel, was a supporter of the Palestinian independence cause.
Israel’s success humiliated and enraged Amin. The operation was criticized by the Organization of African Unity — the African Union’s predecessor organization — which saw the raid as a violation of Uganda’s sovereignty.
The rescue is a seminal event in Israeli history, widely seen as one of the country’s greatest military successes, and the Israeli prime minister has previously said his brother's death in the raid “changed the course” of his life.
Ties between Uganda and Israel are cordial.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has said he supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
