Fifty years after Operation Entebbe, Israel rightly remembers the raid as one of the defining moments in its national story. It was an act of courage, intelligence, and operational daring that embodied the promise that the Jewish state would go to extraordinary lengths to bring its citizens home. Few events have done more to shape Israel’s image of itself.
But anniversaries also invite a wider reckoning. Entebbe was not only an Israeli story. It was also an African one. The operation unfolded in Uganda, depended on Kenya’s quiet assistance, and took place against the backdrop of Africa’s post-colonial transformation and Israel’s changing relations with the continent.
Recognizing that broader context does not diminish the rescue’s moral clarity; Israel had both the right and the duty to save its hostages. Rather, it underscores that military triumphs do not conclude when the last aircraft touches down. They reshape regional dynamics, expose the strength – or fragility – of diplomatic partnerships, and leave strategic lessons that endure long after the tactical victory has entered the history books.
For Israel, Entebbe should remain a story of extraordinary courage. Fifty years later, it should also become a lesson in partnership.
A broken partnership
Long before Entebbe, Uganda had been one of Israel’s closest partners in Africa. After gaining independence in 1962, it joined many newly sovereign African states seeking practical partners for nation-building. Israel responded with agricultural expertise, technical assistance, military training, and development programs designed to build local capacity rather than dependency.
Among the Ugandan officers trained by Israel was Idi Amin. Few imagined that he would become one of Africa’s most brutal dictators – or one of Israel’s fiercest enemies.
The relationship began to unravel after the 1967 Six Day War, as Arab governments intensified diplomatic pressure across Africa. The 1973 Yom Kippur War accelerated the trend, with many African states severing relations with Israel under the combined weight of political pressure, financial incentives, and the oil embargo.
Courted by Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi and other Arab leaders, Amin expelled Israeli advisers, aligned Uganda with Israel’s adversaries, and transformed one of Israel’s greatest diplomatic successes into one of its most painful reversals.
The lesson extended well beyond Uganda. Partnerships built primarily around political leaders or short-term interests can disappear quickly when geopolitical circumstances change. Durable relationships require deeper foundations.
The hidden cost
The rescue itself scarcely needs retelling. On July 4, 1976, Israeli commandos flew nearly 4,000 km. to rescue more than 100 hostages held at Entebbe Airport after the hijacking of Air France Flight 139. Yonatan Netanyahu was killed leading the assault, while hostage Dora Bloch, left behind in a Kampala hospital, was later murdered on Amin’s orders.
For most Israelis, that is where the story ends.
For East Africa, another chapter was only beginning.
Operation Entebbe could not have succeeded without Kenya’s quiet cooperation. Israeli aircraft refueled in Nairobi before beginning the long journey home, a decision president Jomo Kenyatta understood could carry serious consequences.
Those consequences came swiftly. Unable to retaliate directly against Israel, Amin turned on those within reach. Hundreds of Kenyans living in Uganda were reportedly killed, thousands fled the country, and families with no involvement in the operation paid a terrible price.
The violence culminated two years later in the assassination of Bruce MacKenzie, Kenya’s minister of agriculture and one of the key figures who had facilitated Kenya’s assistance to Israel. His aircraft was destroyed by a bomb widely attributed to agents acting on Amin’s orders.
Israel bears no responsibility for Amin’s crimes. But partnership carries obligations of memory as well as strategy. MacKenzie deserves a place alongside the better-known names of Entebbe’s story because his sacrifice reminds us that allies sometimes pay a price for standing with Israel.
An African perspective
Entebbe also entered African memory differently than it entered Israel’s.
Many African leaders despised Amin and privately welcomed his humiliation. Yet most had achieved independence only a decade or two earlier, after long struggles against colonial rule. For them, the principle that foreign militaries should not operate on African soil without consent carried profound significance.
That tension helps explain why the Organization of African Unity condemned the raid despite widespread revulsion toward Amin himself.
Understanding that perspective does not weaken Israel’s case. It simply reminds us that even the most justified military actions are viewed through different historical experiences.
Diplomatic lessons
Fifty years later, Entebbe offers lessons that extend far beyond military history.
The first is that partnerships must outlive governments.
Uganda demonstrated the danger of relying too heavily on personal relationships with political leaders. The same lesson applies today. Israel cannot build strategic relationships by speaking only to presidents.
Uganda itself offers perhaps the clearest lesson. Countries change. Governments change. New generations bring new leaders and new priorities. If Israel wants partnership that endures, it cannot investonly in the government of the day. It has to know the country, engage its institutions, work with business and academica, and build relationships across society.
Rebuilding trust
The second lesson is that capacity building is not charity; it is strategy.
Israel’s greatest contribution to Africa has never been financial assistance. It has been the transfer of knowledge and practical experience born of its own national story: transforming scarcity into innovation, making deserts productive, managing water shortages, strengthening public health, building resilient institutions, and fostering entrepreneurship.
These remain areas where Israel offers genuine comparative advantages. But goodwill accumulated during the 1950s and 1960s cannot simply be assumed to survive. A new generation of African leaders, entrepreneurs, and professionals has little direct memory of that earlier partnership. Trust must be rebuilt through sustained engagement, humility and long-term cooperation.
That is the real lesson of Entebbe.
The first 50 years after the operation were rightly devoted to celebrating one of Israel’s greatest military achievements. The next 50 should also remember the African partners who made that success possible and the broader lesson they leave behind: enduring partnerships are built patiently, rooted in institutions rather than individuals, strengthened through practical cooperation, and sustained long after the headlines fade.
Uganda’s recent decision to unveil a memorial to Yonatan Netanyahu at Entebbe Airport is a reminder that history is never static and that even difficult relationshiips can evolve.
That, too, is the other legacy of Entebbe.■
Shiri Fein Grossman is CEO of the Israel-Africa Relations Institute and former Head of Regional Affairs (Middle East and Africa Directorate) at Israel’s National Security Council.