Israel declassifies secret Entebbe files after 50 years

Israel's State Archives have made public an extensive trove of previously classified documents marking the 50th anniversary of Operation Entebbe, offering the first comprehensive look at how the Israeli government navigated one of its most consequential security crises.

The release, published Friday by the Prime Minister's Office archives, comprises thousands of pages, including full transcripts of cabinet sessions, ministerial security committee meetings, and the deliberations of a special security team established by then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on the day of the hijacking. The materials shed new light on the decision-making process that ultimately led to the July 4, 1976 rescue operation at Entebbe Airport in Uganda.

Among the newly disclosed items are 26 audio-recorded telephone calls conducted by Rabin's bureau chief Eli Mizrahi with senior officials throughout the crisis week, as well as transcripts of five conversations between Colonel Baruch Bar-Lev — a former Israeli defense attaché in Uganda — and Ugandan leader Idi Amin, in an effort to leverage their prior relationship toward resolving the standoff.

The archive documents reveal Rabin interrupting a cabinet session to announce that contact had been lost with an Air France aircraft after a stopover in Athens. "It appears the plane has been hijacked," he told ministers, adding that he intended to hold the French government directly accountable for the fate of Israeli passengers aboard the flight. When Mizrahi suggested ministers check in with the cabinet secretary later that day, Rabin replied, "There is no need for that. My intention is to place the French government as the party responsible for the fate of Israelis flying on Air France and not to release the French government from that responsibility."

The files document how Israel's position shifted under pressure. After non-Israeli hostages were separated and released — a move that drew troubling comparisons to wartime selection for at least one Holocaust survivor among the captives — the Israeli government, which had publicly maintained a policy of not negotiating with terrorists, announced on July 1 its willingness to enter negotiations. Those talks continued almost until the moment Israeli forces stormed the terminal.

The archive also releases for the first time an interview with Yitzhak David, one of the hostages wounded during the rescue. As a Holocaust survivor, David described the separation of Israeli from non-Israeli hostages as having evoked deeply painful memories, offering a rare firsthand perspective from inside the terminal amid an archive that is otherwise largely centered on government deliberations.

The collection additionally includes foreign ministry correspondence with France and other countries whose nationals were aboard the hijacked flight, diplomatic cables related to subsequent UN Security Council debates, hundreds of letters sent to Rabin's office from world leaders and private citizens following the operation's success, and files related to the commemoration of Lieutenant Colonel Yonatan Netanyahu, the Sayeret Matkal commander killed during the raid. Photographs whose copyright restrictions have now lapsed are also included in the release.