History of Terrorism: The Lessons From the Entebbe Raid Still Relevant 40 years Later

July 4, 1976, was a special day for America, Israel and international terrorism.

In America, it was the bicentennial, the two hundredth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. For Israel, it was a day of redemption, after its commandos had rescued 102 hostages from pro-Palestinian hijackers at Entebbe airport, Uganda.

Alas for terrorists, July 4 was a black day. Now it was their turn to be terrorized. Every time they hijacked a plane, they would have to ask themselves: was there a commando team lurking in the darkness, waiting to storm the aircraft in a blaze of gunfire?

But on that Fourth of July in 1976, there was nothing for the terrorists to fear. Looking back forty years, it’s depressing how little things have changed. Today it is suicide bombers, but in the 1970s, the terror spectaculars were airliner hijackings. Wikipedia lists forty-four hijackings during that decade, committed by an assortment of Palestinians, European and Japanese radicals, African-American militants, Croatians, Kashmiris, Lithuanians, criminals, lunatics, and anyone else with a grievance, gun or grenade. Some hijackers surrendered; others found sanctuary in places like Cuba and Algeria. But rarely did police or soldiers attempt to storm the aircraft and rescue the hostages.

So when four terrorists—two Palestinians and two German leftists—hijacked Air France Flight 139 as it departed Athens on June 27, 1976, they had every reason to feel the odds were in their favor. First, they successfully took over the Airbus A300, which carried 246 passengers, many of them Israeli and non-Israeli Jews. The aircraft first landed in Libya, and then flew to to Entebbe airport in Uganda.

Better news awaited them there. Ugandan president Idi Amin—a living example of why syphilis and statesmanship don’t mix—allowed three more terrorists to join their comrades. He also deployed his troops around the airport to protect the terrorists rather than the hostages.

A planeful of Jewish passengers held hostage thousands of miles from Israel, and guarded by armed soldiers as well? What more could a terrorist ask for?

In the end, the terrorists didn’t get what they asked for, which was the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. But they got what they deserved. A hundred-strong Israeli rescue force, flying aboard four C-130 transports, flew 2,500 miles to Entebbe. They landed on the runway, neutralized the Ugandan soldiers, killed the terrorists, rescued the hostages and blew up Idi Amin’s MiG fighters so they couldn’t shoot down the unescorted C-130s. The cost was three hostages accidentally killed by Israeli fire (a seventy-five-year-old woman was later murdered by a vengeful Amin). The one Israeli soldier killed was Yoni Netanyahu (elder brother of the current Israeli prime minister), shot by a Ugandan guard. Tragic losses, to be sure, but the toll could have been much worse.

Entebbe is one of those textbook military operations that will be studied until the end of time. Not only has the rescue been the subject of multiple movies and books, but American planners kept Entebbe in mind when they devised the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in May 2011.

Brilliant endeavors always look easy in hindsight. Detractors would later say that the Israelis were lucky to be fighting Ugandans led by a buffoon who fancied himself a king of Scotland and blamed his defeat on Israeli “nuclear hand grenades.” It is true that the Ugandan army wasn’t Hezbollah. It is also true that some of the rescue operations that Entebbe spawned haven’t worked out, notably America’s disastrous 1980 Iran hostage rescue, and a bloody Egyptian attempt to storm a hijacked airliner in Cyprus in 1978. Had the Israeli operation failed, it would have gone down as one of history’s most harebrained ideas.

I believe there are three big lessons from Entebbe. The first is that that brains are just as important as technology, something that the Pentagon (and today’s Israeli military) would do well to remember. Entebbe was a remarkably low-tech operation. No drones, GPS or soldiers dressed like Iron Man. The C-130s, jeeps and Uzi submachine guns had more in common with World War II–era equipment than digital twenty-first-century gear.

The second is that chutzpah pays. Israel in 1976 had a reputation for military skill, but it was not the high-tech military power it is today. Had the United States mounted such an operation, there might have been aircraft carriers and B-52s in support. If the Israeli operation went wrong—if a C-130 had crashed, or the commandos been pinned down by enemy fire—they would have been stranded in the African jungles 2,500 miles and an eternity away from help. Who would have expected little Israel to dare attempt such a coup?

But the biggest lesson involves fear. Terrorism is all about creating fear, or more accurately, helplessness. The message of terrorists is that they can strike us at our airports and supermarkets and concert halls, and there is nothing we can do about it. Therefore we must submit to their demands or submit, like a dog that has been kicked too much.

I think that Entebbe has been immortalized not just for its military brilliance, but also because it speaks to something more visceral. It reassures us that we’re not powerless.

Not that counterterror commando raids are the total solution: America, Israel, Britain, France and other nations have killed plenty of terrorists, and still the bombs go off.

And as today’s world reels under massacres in Paris, Orlando and Istanbul, it is too easy to feel helpless. Too easy succumb to the despair that suicide bombers and murderous gunmen, just like airplane hijackers in the 1970s, are a fact of life, to be accepted like the weather.

Entebbe is a reminder that the only people who can make us feel helpless are ourselves.

Read the Original Article at National Interest

Israel Watch: Shin Bet Bust Jewish Terror Network in the West Bank

Right Wing Jewish “Terrorist” Groups that have sprung up in  response to the onslaught of Iranian backed Palestinian terror attacks are something you do not hear a lot about in the news, but are a phenomenon that is nothing new in Israel’s history.-SF

Shin Bet busts Jewish terror ring in the West Bank

2 minors and a soldier among suspects arrested over a series of attacks, including firebombings aimed at sleeping Palestinian families

The Shin Bet security service uncovered and arrested members of a Jewish terror network suspected of several attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, including the firebombing of buildings that had people inside, the service said in a statement on Wednesday.

Among the suspects arrested were two minors and an IDF soldier.

“During the latter half of 2015, there were a number of terror attacks and violent incidents against Palestinians in the Gush Talmonim region,” the Shin Bet said. “Two notable attacks were against buildings that had Palestinians inside.”

The Shin Bet listed the principal activists, among whom were two minors, one born in 1999 and the other in 2000; an IDF soldier, 19; Itamar Ben Aharon, 20; and Michal Kaplan, 20, all from the settlement of Nahliel, along with Pinhas Shandorfi, 22, a resident of the settlement of Kiryat Arba.

Due their ages the minors were not named in the report, while a military court banned publication of the soldier’s name.

Some of the members of the network were issued administrative restraining orders even before the end of their investigation with the aim of neutralizing the danger they posed. Indictments are set to be filed against the suspects in the coming days, the Shin Bet said.

An initial probe into the attacks gathered information that pointed to the existence of an organized Jewish terror network behind the incidents, it said.

At the beginning of April last year the Shin Bet, together with police, began investigating suspects for being part of a Jewish terror organization. During their interrogation at the Shin Bet, the suspects admitted to “extensive terror activities” by the network, including attempted attacks against Palestinians inside buildings, attacks on other minorities, arson and vandalism of Palestinian cars, rock attacks from passing cars at Palestinian vehicles, and more.

“Reenactments in the field and the confessions of the suspects revealed a violent and extremist network, which systematically attacked Palestinians and their property while fully aware of the possibility of killing someone, even after the results of the arson in Duma, and were even inspired by it,” the Shin Bet said. It was referring to a July 2015 arson attack on the Dawabsha home in Duma that killed three members of the Palestinian family and seriously injured a fourth. In the months after the attack the Shin Bet launched a wide-scale investigation, rounding up dozens of suspected Jewish extremists. In January, prosecutors filed indictments against two suspects, 21-year old Amiram Ben-Uliel of Jerusalem and an unnamed minor, over the firebombing in Duma.

According to the Shin Bet, the group was behind a June 20, 2015, attack on a Palestinian agriculture worker who was beaten with sticks and subjected to tear gas.

On the night of November 20 of that year the suspects allegedly threw Molotov cocktails into a house in the village of al-Mazra’a al-Qibliya while a Palestinian family was sleeping inside. One of the firebombs bounced off the window of the home, and so a disaster was averted. On the walls of the home they sprayed “Revenge,” “Death to the Arabs,” and “Jews wake up,” the Shin Bet said.

A month later, on the night of December 22, the members of the gang threw IDF-issued tear gas grenades into an occupied house in Beitillu as revenge for the arrests of Jewish activists during the investigation into the Duma attack. The father, who was woken up by the sound of the attack and had difficulty breathing, immediately evacuated his family including a baby son from the home. On the walls of a house nearby the attackers sprayed “Revenge, regards from the prisoners of Zion.”

In addition, a number of car arson attacks in the past few years including the torching of a car in Beitillu on October 2, 2015, and the torching of a car at the beginning of July 2014 were attributed to members of the network.

“The interception of the network blocked many attacks that could have caused much more serious outcomes or even cost peoples’ lives,” the Shin Bet said. “This development is another stage in the continuing effort to thwart Jewish terror infrastructure in the last year that has brought a significant drop in the scope of Jewish terrorism activities.”

The Shin Bet noted that the investigation established connections between the network of Jewish terrorists and that of the extremist Revolt group, which has carried out attacks throughout Israel in recent years, and that there were ties between some of the members of the groups.

Read the Original Article at Times of Israel

 

Espionage Files: Ex-Mossad Chief Meir Dagan and The Limits of Power

On March 17, former Mossad chief Meir Dagan passed away at the age of 71. An examination of Dagan’s career illuminates how creative thinking and bold approaches can enable intelligence organizations to adjust to changing environments, while at the same time demonstrating that the use of power has its own limitations. It also sheds light on several key issues regarding the relationship between policymakers and senior intelligence officers and how politics is always a part of the equation.

Dagan began his military career in Israel’s Paratroopers Brigade and participated in the Six-Day War. In 1970 he was directed to establish the controversial “Rimon,” a special operations commando unit that focused on fighting terrorists in the Gaza Strip. Dagan continued climbing up the military ladder; among his various roles, he was one of the founders of the South Lebanon Army, a militia which operated in southern Lebanon with Israeli support. After 33 years of active service, he retired and began working closely with several prime ministers — including Yitzhak Rabin, Benjamin Netanyahu and Ariel Sharon. The latter appointed him as head of Mossad in 2002, and his term was extended both by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and later by Netanyahu. In 2011, he retired after serving almost 50 years in the Israeli security world.

Dagan was one of the most courageous, resourceful and successful heads of Mossad. During his eight years at the helm, he brought about deep changes in the structure and operations of the agency. He adjusted the Mossad to a new set of challenges: new types of sophisticated terror, arms smuggling, the cyber domain, and (above all) the attempts to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear capabilities. During his term, the Mossad focused primarily on the operational aspect of intelligence work — i.e., covert (though sometimes loud) operations.

Read the Remainder at War on the Rocks

Learning from Terrorist Tactics: Spotting Suicide Bombers

When I decided on this subject, I initially was prepared to do a ton of research and fact checking, but then it hit me one day:  I really have to look no further than Israel and their Counter-Terrorism Networks to get the “scoop” on this subject! After all, they have been dealing with and neutralizing this type of threat for 30 plus years, unlike America, whose Counter-Terrorism experience (not Knowledge) is virtually zero, so far in dealing with actual terrorist cells within their own borders.

Israel is and has been so successful in defending themselves against those who would do her harm by the fact the ENTIRE COUNTRY is involved in its defense, from the 18-year-old on up.  Much like Ancient Greece, the “citizen soldier” is on call 24/7, ready to fight, ready to serve their country. This “martial mentality” has served Israel well since its inception in 1948 to today, as everyday citizens are trained to know what to look for and to report the slightest suspicious terroristic activity.

It also helps that Israels Internal Intelligence Service, the Shin Bet, is one of the worlds best in gathering useful, actionable intelligence by utilizing a combination of HUMINT (Human Intelligence or Deep Cover Operatives and Informants) and SIGINT/COMINT and ELINT (Signal/Communications and Electronic Intelligence) so that terrorist plans can be stopped BEFORE they are ACTED UPON.

Although in the past the target of most suicide bombers has always been places where large numbers of people congregate, such as mass transit (bus, plane, train) shopping malls, sporting events, religious sites (Synagogues and Churches), Terrorist are at their core, opportunistic, and look for any opportunity to do harm if possible.

Also know that these Terrorist frequently “scout” out an area before an attack.

Recently, in Moore, Oklahoma (a town only 16 minutes from Oklahoma City, where a woman was beheaded by a militant muslim connected to ISIS at her workplace) an unidentified man walked into a high school without permission.He was seen by teachers and students casually strolling around, examining the schools interior. Police later found the man and noted during questioning that he was of “middle eastern descent with a very thick accent.” Police said he was cooperative and faced no criminal charges. Read that story HERE.

Bottom Line guys, regardless what Law Enforcement does or does not do, know that this kind of red flag behavior is not normal and should not be tolerated in your community! In order to stop future Acts of Terror in this country, we, like Israel, are going to have to get Pro-Active, and that means ALL OF US, not just Law Enforcement. One of the reasons Israel has been so successful in stopping Terrorism is that the entire citizenry have took it upon themselves to be the first line of defense against terrorism. Add to this the fact that they have made up their minds to go HANDS-ON if the situation calls for it in addressing suspected threats. As Americans, we have to adopt the same mentality if we expect to survive another decade.

Here is the “BOLO” List or “BE ON THE LOOKOUT” for Suicide Bombers:

• Wears loose clothing giving the impression that the body is disproportionately larger than the head or feet.
• Wears heavy clothing, no matter what the season (out so season dress)
• Has unusual gait, a “robotic” walk. Stiff movements, lack of mobility of lower torso or decreased flexibility (from wearing bomb device – however backpacks are increasingly common.
• Display of tunnel vision. The bomber often will be fixated on the target and appear nervous, preoccupied, or have a blank stare.
• He or she appears to be focused and vigilant and may be fervently praying to him/herself – giving the appearance of whispering to someone.
• Displays no response to authoritative voice or direct salutation.
• Behavior which may be consistent with no future – unconcerned about receiving purchases or change.
• Walk with deliberation – but not running – towards a visible objective.
• Demonstrates forceful actions (to reach a desired target by pushing their way through a crowd or into a restricted area)
• Displays signs of drug use – including, for example, enlarged pupils, fixed stare, and erratic behavior.
• Carries bags or backpacks (used to carry explosives, nails, and other shrapnel). The bomber generally holds his or her bag or backpack tightly. Wires or switches sticking out of the bag.
• Has a fresh shave – a male with a fresh shave and lighter skin on his lower face. May also have shaved his or her head or have a short haircut (This may be done to disguise appearance or to be better groomed when going to paradise).
• May smell of unusual herbal/flower water (in order to smell better when going to paradise).
• Has a hand in the pocket or tightly gripping something like a triggering device.
• Shows evasive movements
• Most are males aged 16-30

CO’s, It is PAST TIME TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT THIS!

They have already started beheading people, and irregardless if the Govt. wants to call it “Workplace Violence” or “Terrorism”, all that matters is WHAT YOU DO FROM HERE ON OUT TO PROTECT YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY!

Stay Alert, Stay Armed and Stay Dangerous!