Interview with former IDF General, Matan Vilnai, one of the heroes who led the IDF to Uganda to tell us about his role in the rescue and what it was like to participate in the greatest hostage rescue in history.

Interview with Matan Vilnai, Former General in the IDF; On the Entebbe rescue, he was the Commander of the Paratroopers Brigade and led the first force that  landed at  the Entebbe airport and the second in command of the entire operation.

General Vilnai also served as a member of the Labor Party, as Minister of Science, Culture and sports, Deputy Defense Minister and Minister of Defense of the Home Front.

Currently, he has become the president of the first China University in Israel for Business and Economics.

Most people can’t remember what they did last week, let alone 45 years ago. It was July 4, 1976, while most Americans were celebrating Independence
Day with fireworks and BBQ’s, the IDF was returning from Entebbe Airport with 102 rescued hostages. For a brief review; On June 27, Palestinian terrorists hijacked a plane
that had left Israel, bound for Paris, with a stopover in Athens where the hijackers boarded. After refueling in Libya, the plane flew to Uganda in Africa. Soon after landing in Uganda, the hijackers released the non-Israeli passengers, but held the Israeli’s for the ransom to release 53 Arab terrorists being held in Israel and European prisons. While Israel was considering its options, the terrorists extended their deadline to July 4. This extra time allowed for the IDF to devise a rescue operation titled, Operation Thunderbolt, later renamed Operation Yonathan, after
its leader Yoni Netanyahu.

The miracles included that the release of the non-Israeli hostages which allowed the Mossad to interview them to get a precise detail of the hostage takers and airport. The fact that an Israeli architect still had the Entebbe airport blueprints gave the IDF much needed information.
That the IDF had to fly 8000 miles in specialized Hercules planes, one of which was 40,000 pounds overweight and almost couldn’t take off due to extreme dry weather. These were just some of the miracles.

Today’s guest is former IDF General, Matan Vilnai,  was one of the heroes who led the IDF to Uganda to tell us about his role in the rescue and what it was like to participate in the greatest hostage rescue in history.

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