The Entebbe raid, however, did more than just fill the heart of every Jew with pride – or, to use the saying after the 1967 Six-Day War, “make every Jew an inch taller.” It also highlighted the sensitivity embedded in the relationship between Israel and world Jewry.
When enemies of Israel are incapable of hurting the Jewish state, they pick more vulnerable targets – Jewish targets abroad. Indeed, in 1994, after an Israeli attack in Lebanon, the Hizbullah terrorist group – likely with the assistance of Iranian intelligence services -took its revenge on the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, killing 85 people in a bombing.
In other words, all of us Jews are in this together.
The Entebbe raid also set a high moral standard, and reminded us that military means should be used first and foremost for saving lives. Now that Jews are armed again, they should be very cautious in using their power. The means should never become ends in themselves.
Finally, the planes returning the freed hostages from Entebbe to safety carried a sad message as well: Liberty can’t be won without paying a price. In one of the aircraft lay the body of Lt. Col. Jonathan (Yoni) Netanyahu, commander of the elite unit, who was killed in the raid.
The best of us go while serving the Jewish cause: Yoni Netanyahu during the Entebbe raid; my friend Moshe Naveh 30 years later.