Israelis were exhilarated when two hostages held by Hamas in Gaza since Oct. 7 were rescued this month in a daring raid by the Israeli military.
It wasn’t just the thrill of seeing the hostages alive in their families’ arms.
The rescue reminded many of Israel’s stunning hostage rescue in Entebbe, Uganda, in 1976, when more than 100 hostages from an airplane hijacked by militant Palestinians and Germans were freed.
But the myth of invincibility Entebbe engendered was always flawed: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s own brother was killed in the raid.
Today, there is no such military option for liberating hostages on a large scale, and the negotiation effort to release Israeli hostages from Hamas’s grip is not at all exhilarating.
Persons:
Benjamin Netanyahu’s, “
Organizations:
Hamas, Israel’s Defense Ministry
Locations:
Gaza, Entebbe, Uganda, Israel