Operation Thunderbolt: Flight 139 and the Raid on Entebbe Airport, the Most Audacious Hostage Rescue Mission in History

by Saul David

Overview

The definitive account of one of the greatest Special Forces missions ever, the Raid of Entebbe, by acclaimed military historian Saul David.

On June 27, 1976, an Air France flight from Tel Aviv to Paris was hijacked by a group of Arab and German terrorists who demanded the release of 53 terrorists. The plane was forced to divert to Entebbe, in Uganda — ruled by the murderous despot Idi Amin, who had no interest in intervening.

Days later, Israeli commandos disguised as Ugandan soldiers assaulted the airport terminal, killed all the terrorists, and rescued all the hostages but three who were killed in the crossfire. The assault force suffered just one fatality: its commander, Yoni Netanyahu (brother of Israel's Prime Minister.) Three of the country's greatest leaders — Ehud Barak, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin — planned and pulled off one of the most astonishing military operations in history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316245418
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	12/01/2015
Pages:	464
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.80(d)

About the Author

Saul David is a military historian and broadcaster. He is the author of The Indian Mutiny, which was shortlisted for the Duke of Westminster's Medal for Military Literature, Military Blunders, Zulu: the Heroism and Tragedy of the Zulu War of 1879 (a Waterstone's Military History Book of the Year), Victoria's Wars, and Operation Thunderbolt: Flight 139 and the Raid on Entebbe Airport, the Most Audacious Hostage Rescue Mission in History, an Amazon History Book of the Year. He lives outside of Bath, England, where he is a professor of military history at the University of Buckingham.

Editorial Reviews

This is a minute-by-minute narrative…by a scrupulous and thorough historian, who has written what will most likely be the definitive work on the subject and produced a tense and riveting account of what has come to be known as the Entebbe raid. By means of extraordinarily deep research, David essentially lets the characters speak for themselves. And what characters they are…[David] is especially adept at explaining the decision-making process that takes place as a complex military operation is considered, planned and executed…[His] exploration of the various conflicts generates a high level of drama and tension for the reader, even though the outcome is known. This is the achievement of a masterly, first-rate historian…The great value of a work like Operation Thunderbolt is that it relights the dim corners of past events.

The New York Times Book Review - Alan Furst

10/05/2015
Military historian David (Military Blunders) tackles the weeklong drama of the July 1976 hijacking of an Air France flight from Israel and destined for Paris by two Palestinians and two Germans, considering it largely from the perspectives of the hijackers—who had diverted the plane to Entebbe, Uganda—and Israeli leaders in charge of the rescue operation. David conclusively demonstrates that Ugandan dictator Idi Amin cooperated with the hijackers and, in reprisal for the Israeli raid, had an elderly Israeli-British hostage abducted from a Ugandan hospital and murdered, while also ordering the deaths of the Entebbe air traffic controllers and hundreds of ethnic Kenyans in his country (Kenya had provided landing rights to the Israeli commandos’ transit planes). Of note is David’s account of the tug-of-war between Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres—Israel’s prime minister and defense minister, respectively—over whether to conduct the raid mission. David profiles other Israeli principals involved—including Yoni Netanyahu, brother of Benjamin Netanyahu and the only one of the 91 commandos involved who was killed—and captures the largely ineffectual and peripheral activities of a number of British, French, and American diplomats. David’s book lacks insight on the hijackers’ backgrounds and motivations, but is otherwise an excellent account of the planning and execution of a successful high-risk operation. Agent: Jason Bartholomew, Hodder & Stoughton (U.K.). (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

★ 11/01/2015
In June 1976, a splinter group of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacked an Air France plane with more than 230 passengers, nearly half of them from Israel. They directed the plane first to Benghazi, Libya, and then to Uganda, where Ugandan President Idi Amin welcomed them and placed the hostages in a disused terminal at Entebbe Airport, guarded by local soldiers. Diplomatic pressure by France and other countries resulted in the release of the non-Israeli passengers, leaving about 100 hostages. Meanwhile, the terrorists demanded the release of 53 imprisoned terrorists in Israeli and European jails. A week later, a force of Israeli commandos disguised as Ugandan soldiers landed at Entebbe, assaulted the airport, killed the hijackers, and rescued all but three hostages who were killed in the assault. The lone fatality in the assault force was Yonatan Netanyahu, brother of the current prime minister of Israel. David, author of numerous military histories such as Churchill's Sacrifice of the Highland Division, provides a minute-by-minute account of the entire event, focusing on the political maneuvering and the purely military operation, in excruciating detail. VERDICT A definitive history of the Entebbe operation, likely to be popular among readers of military and terrorism works.—Edwin Burgess, U.S. Army Combined Arms Research Lib., Fort Leavenworth, KS

Library Journal

★ 2015-09-21
A step-by-step history of the Israeli army's 1976 rescue of hostages at Entebbe airport in Uganda. David (Military History/Univ. of Buckingham; 100 Days to Victory: How the Great War Was Fought and Won, 2013, etc.) draws on a wide range of sources to give a detailed picture of the hijacking and the top-secret operation that returned almost all the hostages to safety. The drama began with Air France Flight 139 departing Tel Aviv for Paris. At a stopover in Athens, four terrorists boarded the plane, seized control, and diverted it to Uganda. They demanded the release of prisoners, mostly Palestinians, held by Israel and several other countries. David shows the hostages' ordeal, the meetings of the Israeli cabinet and military leaders, and the international response to the event, spread out over eight tense days. His sources include interviews with the hostages and their rescuers, official documents, memoirs by several of those involved, and declassified government communications. The narrative gains interest by the roles of several international figures, including Israeli leaders Yitzhak Rabin, Menachem Begin, and the sinister Ugandan president Idi Amin, who is as much the villain of the story as the hijackers. The rescue wasn't perfect by any means; the plan broke down shortly after Israeli forces landed at the airport. Their commander, Yoni Netanyahu (the current prime minister's brother), was killed almost immediately. His troops killed the terrorists and a number of Ugandan soldiers. Three hostages died of friendly fire; a fourth, taken to a local hospital before the raid, was later murdered by Amin's thugs. David paces the narrative effectively, cutting back and forth among Entebbe, Tel Aviv, and Israeli military establishments with occasional looks at events in other world capitals. While the "good guys" and "bad guys" are obvious from the beginning, the author resists the temptation to paint too simple a picture. With high tension and as many plot twists as any fictional thriller, this book is hard to put down.

Kirkus Reviews

USA Today "New and Noteworthy"
Vanity Fair "Hot Type" pick
"Book of the Year": The Spectator Magazine, BBC History Magazine, The Mail on Sunday
"Best History Books of 2015": Amazon UK


"What will most likely be the definitive work on the subject.... This is the achievement of a masterly, first-rate historian."
—Alan Furst, New York Times Book Review

"David paces the narrative effectively, cutting back and forth among Entebbe, Tel Aviv, and Israeli military establishments with occasional looks at events in other world capitals. With high tension and as many plot twists as any fictional thriller, this book is hard to put down."—Kirkus (starred review)

This gripping tale has already been told in numerous books, feature films and documentaries...But David's version, which cuts back and forth between the key players and reads like a film script, should prove definitive."
—The Boston Globe

"An excellent account of the planning and execution of a successful high-risk operation."—Publisher's Weekly

"David, author of numerous military histories such as Churchill's Sacrifice of the Highland Division, provides a minute-by-minute account of the entire event, focusing on the political maneuvering and the purely military operation, in excruciating detail... A definitive history of the Entebbe operation, likely to be popular among readers of military and terrorism works."—Library Journal

"Saul David has nimbly woven a breathless romp across Europe, the Middle East and Africa...a suspenseful read. 3.5 stars out of 4."
—USA Today

"Thrilling....Dozens of books and movies have tried to capture the menace and the romance of the operation....In Operation Thunderbolt, British historian Saul David relies on extensive interviews with the captors, kidnapped and rescuers to retell the story in a tick-tock trek from Tel Aviv bunkers to the airport in Entebbe. The effect is heart-racing."
—Jordan Handler Hirsch, Wall Street Journal

"He brings thrilling detail to one of the most dramatic rescue missions in recent history—and highlights the key roles played by Israeli leaders Ehud Barak, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin."
—Jane Ciabattari, BBC.com

"[The story] has been told many times on page and screen. But never better than British historian Saul David does in this meticulously researched, vivid account. He has a knack for making the reader feel he is right there."
—Martin Rubin, Washington Times

"In 1976, Palestinian Arabs from a splinter group of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and German far leftists from the Revolutionare Zellen hijacked an Air France Airbus with nearly 250 passengers on a flight from Athens to Paris... At the time this remarkable ation enthralled people the world over and the military historian, Saul David, now tells the story once more in a well-researched and highly readable account."
—Times Literary Supplement

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