Newly released state archives protocols from June 1976 show Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Defense Minister Shimon Peres in a sharp debate: Peres argued that yielding to hijackers would fuel future terror, while Rabin said the public would not forgive the state for refusing to trade prisoners for living hostages, as it does for bodies, according to the documents published by N12.
This morning, N12 published additional declassified state archive documents from June 1976 — the period leading up to the Entebbe hostage crisis — that expose a fundamental policy disagreement between Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Defense Minister Shimon Peres. According to the transcripts, Peres argued forcefully against negotiating with hijackers, warning that capitulation would encourage more hostage-taking. Rabin countered that the public could not accept a policy that released prisoners for fallen soldiers' bodies but refused to do so to save living hostages.
As The Zioneer reported earlier this morning (06:32 Jerusalem), earlier declassified Entebbe-era protocols focused on the rescue mission's survival odds. These new documents go deeper into the moral and strategic trade-off — prisoners for lives versus prisoners for bodies — which remains a live political fault line in Israeli hostage policy today. The source is a single publication by N12 from state archives; no other channels have independently confirmed or commented on these specific documents yet.
3 developments
- DevelopingState Archive releases full protocols from Operation Entebbe, 50 years on
- DevelopingSecurity cabinet ministers clash with PM and defense chief over Lebanon ceasefire risks to troops
- DevelopingM.K. Porush urges PM to stop arresting Haredi draft evaders, citing lack of prison space
- DevelopingBen Gvir to Netanyahu: History does not remember those who flee decision
Source and signal
A single-sourced dispatch is never rated Confirmed or Strong. Its Signal strengthens only when a second, independent source corroborates it.
- Internal intake