As some of you might know, yesterday marked the 30th anniversary Operation Yonaton, the IDF raid of the Entebbe airport in Uganda to free more than 100 hostages. Thinking about how little preparation that soldiers had for this mission (just over two days of planning and one day of exercises) and how successful the mission was (pre-mission estimates were about 20 casualties, according to my book) makes you realize how impressive the event actually was.
One must also think about how great of a risk Israel took by sending in this unit. Not only was Israel sending a group of soldiers thousands of miles away into the heart of Africa in a hostile country, but Israel was sending its best group of soldiers. If this mission did not succeed, it wouldn't only be seen as a military failure. It could have demoralized the entire country, forced the current government to resign, and put the country into a position that it might never have recovered from.
Despite the tremendous success of freeing the hostages, the mission is also famous because the commander of Israel's most elite group of soldiers, Yoni Netanyahu, was killed in the raid. But he was more than just an elite soldier.
In fact, I just finished reading Iddo Netanyahu's (Yoni's brother, also brother of Benjamin Netanyahu) book Yoni's Last Battle, which documents the planning and execution of the mission. Iddo had access to IDF records and interviews with the participants that paint a clear picture of exactly what happended before and during the operation.
In addition to finishing Iddo's book, I have also read Yoni's letters, which portray him as someone who had a passion for Israel, life, family, and knowledge. He was truly a unique individual. On my senior class trip to Israel, I chose his diaries as a book that would I bring because I felt that it would help give me a deeper connection to the land.
Being named Yoni, I feel a connection to Yoni and am proud to share a name with him. He is also on my list of people that I admire the most.
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for those who do not know, Ian's hebrew name was given in memory of Yoni Netanyahu. Also Ian's papa Jules always called him Yoni from day one, and it caught on as many of us call him yoni today .
beautiful blog yoni
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