MOSHE HILL OPINION COLUMNS JUNE 12 2024
On June 27, 1976, an Air France flight en route from Tel Aviv to Paris was hijacked by Palestinian terrorists. The hijackers diverted the plane to Entebbe, Uganda, where they were joined by additional terrorists and received support from Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. After several attempts at a diplomatic release of hostages, Israel decided that a more direct approach was necessary. This led to the Raid on Entebbe, a daring rescue mission by Israeli commandos on July 4, 1976, which has gone down in history as a stunning example of military precision and bravery.
In the wake of this heroic feat, then-UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim issued a response truly worthy of the United Nations and its moral depravity. Waldheim, adhering to the organization’s notorious anti-Israel bias, described the Israeli commando operation as “a flagrant violation of Ugandan sovereignty,” conveniently glossing over the terror and danger faced by innocent civilians. His response epitomized the UN’s despicable tendency to censure Israel, even in the face of its legitimate actions to protect its citizens from terrorism.
Forty-eight years later, Palestinian terrorists are still taking Israeli hostages, Israel goes on a rescue mission to save them, and the world still reacts as if Israel is the evil force in this scenario. According to the international cadre of intelligentsia (otherwise known as people who are too stupid to exist in the real world), Hamas is not responsible for anything. They have no agency. Everything they have done and will do is justifiable because Israel is the only one who can make choices.
Francesca Albanese, whose bio reads that she’s an International Lawyer, Scholar, and Former UN Official, exemplifies this mentality. “Israel has used hostages to legitimize killing, injuring, maiming, starving, and traumatizing Palestinians in Gaza,” she wrote in response to the rescue. “Israel could have freed all hostages, alive and intact, eight months ago when the first ceasefire and hostage exchange was put on the table. Yet, Israel refused in order to continue to destroy Gaza and the Palestinians as a people.” Hamas is not responsible for the hostages being there in the first place; the only one who is responsible for everything is Israel
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter Terrorism, Professor Ben Saul, immediately accused Israel of war crimes. This is no surprise, as he did so in an op-ed back on October 15, barely a week after the October 7 attack, and claimed that there was “no military solution” that Israel can take. Basically, this UN official immediately demanded that Hamas stay in place back in October. So now he’s upset that Israel rescued hostages that have been in Gaza for over 250 days. “Israel’s rescue of four hostages in Gaza: (1) may have been illegally launched in anticipation that civilian casualties would be excessive, and (2) reportedly involved the additional war crime of perfidy – disguising some forces as protected civilians,” he posted. So now, for the first time in this war, he thinks it’s bad for combatants to wear civilian clothing. He has nothing to say when Hamas hides behind civilians, dresses as civilians, steals aid from civilians. Plenty of commentary on Israel.
It would take too long to go through all the despicable reactions to this heroic rescue, but here’s a quick rundown. Columnist and pundit Assal Rad called it a “dehumanization of Palestinians.” CodePink founder and noted anti-Zionist Ariel Gold called it “racist.” Actor Amr Waked claimed that these were “prisoners of war” and were “all alive and in good health,” so a rescue wasn’t necessary. Former UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter claims that Israel shouldn’t have conducted this mission because of “proportionality.” You can’t rescue your own citizens if too many terrorists are in the way.
This can go on and on. None of the people who are accusing Israel of the same things they’ve spent eight months accusing Israel of have a word to say about the captors who held these hostages and are holding even more. It was revealed that an Al Jazeera journalist was holding three of the hostages. This journalist was writing articles about what Israel is doing to Gaza while holding the very hostages that justified Israel’s actions! None of that matters. The only one who can commit evil acts is Israel, according to these people.
Which all means that Israel, and everyone who supports Israel and wants to see more hostages released, must ignore all the supposed backlash they are receiving for doing what every nation on Earth would do in this situation. These ghouls want nothing less than the complete and utter capitulation of Israel itself, with the entirety of the Jewish state destroyed. Don’t even try to appease them or concede any territory, both real and verbal. They want everything. They cannot have it.
