Uganda unveiled a memorial to Lt. Col. Yonatan 'Yoni' Netanyahu at the Old Entebbe Terminal over the weekend, 50 years after the 1976 Operation Entebbe hostage rescue. Uganda's military chief Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba called the memorial a tribute to Yoni's courage and commitment to protecting innocent lives, while praising Uganda's longstanding ties with Israel.
Uganda's military chief, Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, presided over the unveiling of a memorial to Lt. Col. Yonatan 'Yoni' Netanyahu at the Old Entebbe Terminal over the weekend, calling the monument a tribute to his courage and commitment to protecting innocent lives. The ceremony, which took place on Saturday at the historic site of the 1976 Operation Entebbe hostage rescue, also saw the general praise the longstanding ties between Uganda and Israel.
As The Zioneer reported Saturday afternoon, the memorial was officially unveiled at Entebbe Airport, with Gen. Kainerugaba releasing footage of the ceremony later that day. The event marked the culmination of a series of 50th anniversary commemorations that began earlier this summer. In June, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at a memorial for his brother Yoni, linking the legacy of Entebbe to Israel's ongoing security challenges and vowing to maintain the IDF's presence in the southern Lebanon buffer zone.
The Old Entebbe Terminal is the site where Israeli commandos rescued over 100 hostages held by Palestinian and German terrorists. Yoni Netanyahu, the commander of the assault team, was the only Israeli soldier killed in the operation. The Zioneer has previously reported on newly declassified documents that shed light on the Israeli government's deliberation before authorizing the raid, reflecting the immense weight of the decision.
While the ceremony underscores the renewed security partnership between Uganda and Israel, no further details have emerged regarding future joint initiatives or additional commemorative events.
3 developments
- StrongIsrael marks 50 years since the Entebbe rescue, as Yoni Netanyahu's legacy is commemorated
- DevelopingNaftali Bennett honors Yoni Netanyahu on 50th anniversary of his death
- DevelopingMoshe Phillips revisits Yoni Netanyahu's legacy beyond Entebbe
- DevelopingNoa Argamani embraces YAMAM commando who rescued her, at Entebbe anniversary ceremony
Source and signal
- Open-source intake