ByJACOB LAZNIK
Updated:

Uganda will soon build a statue honoring Lt.-Col. Yonatan “Yoni” Netanyahu at Entebbe International Airport, Uganda’s Chief of Defence Forces, Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, said in a Thursday post on X, at what he described as the exact spot where Netanyahu was killed during the 1976 hostage rescue operation.

Kainerugaba, the son of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, framed the proposed monument as a symbol of ties between Uganda and Israel. He did not provide a date for an unveiling, and no formal Ugandan government announcement was immediately available.

Netanyahu, the older brother of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was the only Israeli soldier killed in the raid, which freed Jewish hostages held at Entebbe after the hijacking of an Air France flight in 1976.

In Israel, the Entebbe operation remains a defining moment in national memory, and Yoni Netanyahu’s role and sacrifice to ensure the mission's success are an integral part of the story.

Israeli officials have previously marked Entebbe anniversaries in Uganda, including Prime Minister Netanyahu’s 2016 visit to a memorial ceremony at the airport and his public remarks there.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu his wife Sara, family and friends attend a memorial ceremony for Netanyahu's brother, Yoni Netanyahu, at the Mount Herzl Military Cemetery, in Jerusalem, on June 16, 2021.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu his wife Sara, family and friends attend a memorial ceremony for Netanyahu's brother, Yoni Netanyahu, at the Mount Herzl Military Cemetery, in Jerusalem, on June 16, 2021. (credit: OLIVIER FITOUSSI/FLASH90)

The proposed statue, if advanced, would come against that backdrop of longstanding Israeli commemoration of the raid and periodic diplomatic engagement with Uganda around the anniversary.

The 1976 Entebbe Hijacking

Air France Flight 139, the plane at the center of the 1976 Entebbe hijacking, was seized by four hijackers, two Palestinians affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, External Operations (PFLP-EO), and two Germans from the Revolutionary Cells. The attackers are widely identified as Wilfried Böse and Brigitte Kuhlmann of the Revolutionary Cells, along with Fayez Abdul-Rahim al-Jaber and Jayel (also reported as Jael or Jalil) al-Arja from the PFLP-EO.

There, the hijackers separated roughly 100 Jewish and Israeli hostages from other passengers and demanded the release of dozens of prisoners, before Israeli forces launched the long-range rescue on July 4, flying about 4,000 km to Entebbe and freeing almost all the hostages in a raid that lasted less than 90 minutes.