Uganda Honours Yoni Netanyahu 50 Years After Entebbe Raid

Uganda Honours the Israeli Commando Who Died at Entebbe — 50 Years Later

By Sasanka De Silva

Uganda has unveiled a monument to Israeli commando Yoni Netanyahu at Entebbe Airport, 50 years after he died leading the 1976 hostage rescue operation.

It is one of the more remarkable twists in the history of the Entebbe hostage crisis.

Fifty years after Israeli commandos stormed Uganda's Entebbe Airport to rescue hostages from a hijacked Air France aircraft, Uganda has erected a memorial monument to the Israeli officer who was killed during the operation.

The officer was Lieutenant Colonel Yonatan “Yoni” Netanyahu, commander of the Israeli Sayeret Matkal special forces unit that led the assault. He was the older brother of Benjamin Netanyahu, who would later become Israel's prime minister.

From hostage crisis to historic monument

On 27 June 1976, Air France Flight 139 was hijacked after leaving Athens while travelling from Tel Aviv to Paris. The hijackers diverted the aircraft first to Libya and subsequently to Entebbe, Uganda.

At Entebbe, Israeli and Jewish passengers were separated from many of the other passengers and held inside the old airport terminal. The hijackers demanded the release of imprisoned militants and threatened the hostages with death.

Uganda was then ruled by President Idi Amin, whose government supported and assisted the hijackers.

Israel eventually decided to attempt a military rescue.

On the night of 3–4 July 1976, Israeli aircraft flew thousands of kilometres to Uganda carrying the rescue force. The commandos landed at Entebbe and launched a rapid assault on the terminal.

The operation succeeded in rescuing the overwhelming majority of the hostages. But it came at a cost.

Yoni Netanyahu was shot and killed during the fighting. He was the only Israeli commando killed in the operation. Several hostages and Ugandan soldiers also died.

The operation subsequently became known as Operation Yonatan, in his memory.

The remarkable change in Uganda

The historical irony is difficult to miss.

In 1976, Israeli forces entered Uganda without the permission of Idi Amin's government, fought Ugandan troops at the airport and destroyed Ugandan military aircraft.

The operation was subsequently criticised by African governments as a violation of Ugandan sovereignty.

Yet five decades later, the Ugandan military itself has chosen to commemorate the Israeli commander who died there.

On 1 August 2026, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Uganda's Chief of Defence Forces, unveiled the monument at the Old Entebbe Terminal, the very location where Netanyahu was killed.

The monument depicts Netanyahu holding an assault rifle.

Why would Uganda honour him?

According to the Uganda People's Defence Forces, the monument is intended to commemorate courage, sacrifice, duty and the protection of innocent lives. Ugandan military leaders also presented it as part of the present-day relationship between Uganda and Israel.

General Kainerugaba also acknowledged the Ugandan soldiers who died during the 1976 confrontation and distinguished today's Uganda from the regime of Idi Amin.

That distinction is important.

The monument does not erase the fact that Ugandan soldiers fought against the Israeli rescue force in 1976. Instead, it reflects how Uganda's official interpretation of that period has evolved over the intervening five decades.

Uganda's military now describes the old terminal as an important historical site and the monument as a reminder of the events and their wider lessons.

More than a monument to one man

The story is therefore bigger than Yoni Netanyahu himself.

The Entebbe operation has remained an important subject in military history because of the extraordinary distance covered by the Israeli forces, the intelligence and planning involved, and the speed of the assault.

For Israel, Yoni Netanyahu became a national symbol after his death.

For Uganda, the old airport terminal represents one of the most difficult episodes in the country's modern history.

Today, however, the same location contains a monument honouring the commander of the force that came to Uganda to rescue the hostages.

That is an extraordinary historical transformation.

A changing relationship

The monument also illustrates how relations between countries can change dramatically over time.

The Uganda of Idi Amin in 1976 and the Uganda of 2026 are separated by half a century of political and historical change.

What was once a battlefield between Ugandan and Israeli forces has now become a place where Uganda officially commemorates an Israeli military officer.

Former hostages have also returned to the old terminal in recent months, revisiting the place where they were held nearly 50 years ago.

The Entebbe terminal therefore remains more than an abandoned airport building.

It has become a physical reminder of a hostage crisis, a military rescue, the death of Yoni Netanyahu, the victims of the crisis, Uganda's turbulent history under Idi Amin, and the subsequent transformation of Uganda-Israel relations.

Fifty years can change the meaning of a place.

In 1976, Entebbe was the scene of a dramatic confrontation.

In 2026, it has become the site of a monument to one of the men who died there.