''Operation Thunderbolt'', known in Israel as ''Mivtza Yonatan'' (, literally "Operation Jonathan"), also called ''Entebbe: Operation Thunderbolt'' in the US, is a 1977 Israeli film directed and co-written by

Menahem Golan Menahem Golan (; May 31, 1929 – August 8, 2014, originally Menachem Globus) was an Israelis, Israeli film producer, screenwriter, and director. He co-owned The Cannon Group with his cousin Yoram Globus. Cannon specialized in producing low-to-mid ...

and starring

Klaus Kinski Klaus Kinski (, born Klaus Günter Karl Nakszynski 18 October 1926 – 23 November 1991) was a German actor. Equally renowned for his intense performance style and notorious for his volatile personality, he appeared in over 130 film roles in a ...

Yehoram Gaon Yehoram Gaon (; born December 28, 1939) is an Israeli singer, actor, director, comedian, producer, TV and radio host, and public figure. He has also written and edited books on Israeli culture. The son of Sephardic Jewish parents—a Bosnian f ...

and

Sybil Danning Sybil Danning (born Sybille Johanna Danninger; May 24, 1952) is an Austrian–American former actress, model, and film producer. She is best known for her frequent appearances in B movies during the 1970s and 1980s. Biography Early life Dannin ...

. The film is based on an actual event – the hijacking of a flight by terrorists and the freeing of Israeli hostages on July 4, 1976. The operation was known as (

Operation Entebbe The Entebbe raid, also known as the Operation Entebbe and officially codenamed Operation Thunderbolt (also retroactively codenamed Operation Yonatan), was a 1976 Israeli counter-terrorist mission in Uganda. It was launched in response to th ...

, military code name: "Operation Thunderbolt") at Entebbe Airport in

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

. ''Operation Thunderbolt'' follows the events following the flight's takeoff until the hostages' return to Israel. The film was nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

Plot

On June 27, 1976, four

terrorists Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

belonging to a

splinter group A schism ( , , or, less commonly, ) is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization, movement, or religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a split in what had previously been a single religious body, suc ...

of the

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP; ) is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist organization founded in 1967 by George Habash. It has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation ...

under the orders of

Wadie Haddad Wadie Haddad (; 1927 – 28 March 1978), also known by the kunya Abu Hani (), was a Palestinian militant and leading figure of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). He organized several hijackings of international civ ...

boarded and hijacked Flight 139, an

Air France Air France (; legally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France, and is headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. The airline is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and is one of the founding members ...

Airbus A300 The Airbus A300 is Airbus' first production aircraft and the world's first Twinjet, twin-engine, double-aisle Wide-body aircraft, (wide-body) airliner. It was developed by ''Airbus Industrie GIE'', now merged into Airbus SE, and manufactured f ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. Two of the terrorists are

West German West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republic after its capital c ...

s named Wilfried Boese and Halima, and the other two are

Palestinians Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenou ...

. After landing to refuel in Libya, the four hijackers force the airliner to take off once again. With President

Idi Amin Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 30 May 192816 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 until Uganda–Tanzania War, his overthrow in 1979. He ruled as a Military dictatorship, ...

's permission, the terrorists divert the airliner and its hostages to Entebbe Airport in Uganda. The hijackers are joined at Entebbe by more Palestinian militants. After identifying Israeli passengers, the non-Jewish passengers are freed while a series of demands are made, including the release of 40 Palestinian militants held in Israel, in exchange for the hostages. The

Cabinet of Israel The Cabinet of Israel (; ) is the cabinet which exercises executive authority in the State of Israel. It consists of ministers who are chosen and led by the prime minister. The composition of the government must be approved by a vote of con ...

, unwilling to give in to terrorist demands, is faced with difficult decisions as their deliberations lead to a top-secret military raid. This commando operation, "Operation Thunderbolt", will be carried out over from home and will take place on the Jewish

Sabbath In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, Ten Commandments, commanded by God to be kept as a Holid ...

. While still negotiating with the terrorists, who now numbered seven individuals, the Israeli military prepared a group of

Lockheed C-130 Hercules The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 w ...

transports for the raid. The transports landed at Entebbe Airport under the cover of darkness. The commandos led by Brigadier General

Dan Shomron Lieutenant General Daniel Shomron (; August 5, 1937 – February 26, 2008) was the 13th Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), from 1987 to 1991. Biography Shomron was the eldest of three children of Tova and Eliyahu Dozorets-Shimr ...

had to contend with a large armed Ugandan military detachment and used a ruse to overcome the defenses. A black Mercedes limousine had been carried on board and was used to fool sentries that it was the official car that President Amin used on an impromptu visit to the airport. Nearly complete surprise was achieved but a firefight resulted, ending with all seven terrorists and 45 Ugandan soldiers killed. The hostages were gathered together and most were quickly put on the idling C-130 aircraft. During the raid, one commando (the breach unit commander

Yonatan Netanyahu Yonatan Netanyahu (; March 13, 1946 – July 4, 1976) was an Israeli military officer who commanded Sayeret Matkal during the Entebbe raid. The raid was launched in response to the 1976 hijacking of an international civilian passenger flight ...

, brother of future Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

), and three of the hostages, died. With 102 hostages aboard and on their way to freedom, a group of Israeli commandos remained behind to destroy the

Ugandan Air Force Uganda People's Defence Force Air Force, more commonly known as the Ugandan Air Force, is a branch of the Uganda People's Defence Force. Its headquarters are located at Entebbe, Uganda. The current air force commander is Charles Lutaaya, while ...

MiG-17 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 (; NATO reporting name: Fresco) is a high-subsonic fighter aircraft produced in the Soviet Union from 1952 and was operated by air forces internationally. The MiG-17 was license-built in China as the Shenyang J-5 an ...

and

MiG-21 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet aircraft, jet fighter aircraft, fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan, Mikoyan-Gurevich OKB, Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Its nicknames in ...

fighters to prevent a retaliation. All the survivors of the attack force then joined in flying to Nairobi for refueling and then back to Israel via

Sharm El Sheikh Sharm El Sheikh (, , literally "bay of the Sheikh"), alternatively rendered Sharm el-Sheikh, Sharm el Sheikh, or Sharm El-Sheikh, is an Egyptian city on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, in South Sinai Governorate, on the coastal strip alo ...

Cast

as Lieutenant Colonel

Wilfried Böse Ernst Wilfried Böse (7February 19494July 1976) was a West German left-wing militant who co-founded the Revolutionäre Zellen. He carried out attacks in West Germany and in 1976 was involved in the hijacking of Air France Flight 139, dying in ...

as Halima *

Gila Almagor Gila Almagor Agmon (; born Gila Alexandrowitz; July 22, 1939) is an Israeli actress, film star, and author. In Israel, she is known as "queen of the Israeli cinema and theatre". Biography Gila Alexandrowitz (Almagor) was born in Petah Tikva to Je ...

as Nurit Aviv *

Assi Dayan Assaf "Assi" Dayan (; 23 November 1945 – 1 May 2014) was an Israeli film director, actor, screenwriter, and producer. Life Dayan was the youngest son of Israeli general and defense minister Moshe Dayan and peace activist Ruth Dayan (née Sch ...

as Shuki (based on Muki Betser) * Arik Lavie as Brigadier General

Shaike Ophir Shaike Ophir (; 4 November 1928 – 17 August 1987) was an Israeli film and theater actor, comedian, playwright, screenwriter, director, and the country's first mime. Early life Yeshayahu (Shaike) Goldstein-Ophir was born in Jerusalem. His famil ...

as Gadi Arnon * as Gabriel *

Shmuel Rodensky Shmuel Rodensky (; 10 December 1902 – 18 July 1989) was a Russian-born Israeli actor whose stage, film, and television career in Israel and West Germany spanned six decades. He immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1924 and studied drama at the E ...

as Dr. Weissberg * as Shlomo Bar David * as Alma Levi * as

Dora Bloch Dora Bloch (; October 1902July 1976) was an Israeli hostage on Air France Flight 139 on 26 June 1976. Taking off from Tel Aviv, Israel, and destined for Paris, France, the plane soon landed in Athens, Greece, for a scheduled stopover and was ...

* Heli Goldenberg as Dalia Cohen * as Mr. Borovitz * as Ida Borovitz * as Ze'ev * as General Benny Peled, Commander of The

Israel Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; , commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial and space warfare branch of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Indep ...

* as Dr. Avner Tal * as Shlomo Bloch * as Yehuda Goldstein * as German Doctor * Uzi Cohen as Israel Soldier Dressed As Idi Amin (uncredited) *

Heinz Bernard Heinz Bernhard Löwenstein, known as Heinz Bernard (22 December 1923 – 18 December 1994) was a British actor and director and theatre manager. Of Polish-Jewish and German-Jewish descent, he lived and worked in Israel from 1971-81. He trained ...

as Mr. Kohan (uncredited) * as Yitzchak Bloch * Arie Gardus as Major General

Yekutiel Adam Yekutiel "Kuti" Adam (; November 3, 1927 – June 10, 1982) was an Israeli general and former Deputy Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces. He was killed by a Palestinian fighter during the early stage of the Lebanon War, a few days before ...

, Overall Operation Commander * Mark Heath as Idi Amin Dada * Henry Czarniak as Michel Bacos * as Dan Zamir, Government Spokesman * as Ram Weissberg (Based on Jean-Jacques Maimoni) * Yitzchak Rabin as Himself *

Shimon Peres Shimon Peres ( ; ; born Szymon Perski, ; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician and statesman who served as the prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the president of Israel from 2007 t ...

as Himself *

Yigal Allon Yigal Allon (; 10 October 1918 – 29 February 1980) was an Israeli military leader and politician. He was a commander of the Palmach and a general in the Israel Defense Forces, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). He was also a leader of the Ahdut HaA ...

as Himself * Gad Yaakobi as Himself

Production

Pre-production on a

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

film began shortly after the actual raid had taken place. With a projected large budget, and efforts to land

Steve McQueen Terrence Stephen McQueen (March 24, 1930November 7, 1980) was an American actor. His antihero persona, emphasized during the height of counterculture of the 1960s, 1960s counterculture, made him a top box office draw for his films of the late ...

in a leading role, the project collapsed. At that point,

as director and co-producer,

Yoram Globus Yoram Globus (; born 7 September 1943) is an Israeli–American film producer, cinema owner, and distributor. He has been involved in over 300 full-length motion pictures and he is most known for his association with The Cannon Group, Inc., an ...

also as co-producer and Ken Globus as screenwriter, took over the aborted project. The Golan/Globus team made a decision to achieve a near-documentary feel to the proposed film. Utilizing a full-scale outdoor set consisting of control tower and terminal, the recreated Entebbe Airport also had a collection of realistic scale models of the Ugandan Air Force MiG-17 and MiG-21 fighters. Three of the four Hercules transports that were flown in the raid are seen in the film. ''Operation Thunderbolt'' was produced with the co-operation of the

Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; , commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial and space warfare branch of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Indep ...

and the

Israeli government The Israeli system of government is based on parliamentary democracy. The Prime Minister of Israel is the head of government and leader of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government (also known as the cabinet). Legislat ...

. The film features original footage of prominent politicians such as

Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; , ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the prime minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977, and from 1992 until Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, his ass ...

and

, although scenes with Peres being briefed by Yonatan Netanyahu's team and a hostage's father talking to Rabin feature a stand-in whose face is not seen. The exterior scenes set in Uganda were photographed near

Eilat Eilat ( , ; ; ) is Israel's southernmost city, with a population of , a busy port of Eilat, port and popular resort at the northern tip of the Red Sea, on what is known in Israel as the Gulf of Eilat and in Jordan as the Gulf of Aqaba. The c ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. Nearly all of the extras portraying Ugandan soldiers were played by

Ethiopian Jew The history of the Jews in Ethiopia dates back millennia. The largest Jewish group in Ethiopia is the Beta Israel. Offshoots of the Beta Israel include the Beta Abraham and the Falash Mura, Ethiopian Jews who were converted to Christianity, some ...

ish immigrants. The scenes featuring the

Knesset The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...

were filmed in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, and the

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

airport sequences were filmed at

Ben Gurion International Airport Ben Gurion International Airport , commonly known by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the main international airport of Israel. Situated on outskirts north of the city of Lod and directly south of the city of Or Yehuda, it is the busies ...

.Barron 2016, pp. 220–221. Originally filmed with all characters speaking in Hebrew, French, German, Arabic, or English per role, ''Operation Thunderbolt'' was shot a second time concurrently in an all-English version for the international market. With permission from the Globus Group, a number of documentaries on the rescue use footage from the film, alongside dramatizations of the events.

Music

Dubi Zeltzer composed the film score. Yehoram Gaon performed the theme song, "Eretz Tzvi" (Land of the Deer) with lyrics by Talma Alyagon Raz. Like the film, "Eretz Tzvi" would become a famous song as well. In 2014, Gaon and Raz collaborated to make a new version of the song, with new lyrics inserted in honor of Roi Klein.

Reception

''Operation Thunderbolt'' was well received in its native Israel and was somewhat successful overseas. Of the three films that appeared in the 1970s (the others were American made-for-TV dramas ''

Victory at Entebbe ''Victory at Entebbe'' is a 1976 American made-for-television action-drama film for broadcast on ABC, directed by Marvin J. Chomsky. The film starred Helmut Berger, Linda Blair, Anthony Hopkins, Burt Lancaster, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Dre ...

'' and '' Raid on Entebbe''), ''Operation Thunderbolt'' was the most accurate with an authentic feel coming from the use of period-accurate uniforms, weapons, aircraft and vehicles. In 1978, the film was released theatrically in the UK, and in the same year, it was nominated for the

."Nominees and Winners (1978)."
''The 50th Academy Awards''(oscars.org). Retrieved: March 10, 2017.

Home media

Although ''Operation Thunderbolt'' had some VHS releases over the years, Israeli video company SISU Home Entertainment released a special 25th anniversary two-disc DVD set of the movie in 2003. The set contains the movie with original multilingual audio and English subtitles on one disc and a 60-minute documentary about the raid on the other, plus a letter by Israeli Prime Minister

on his brother's role in the operation."Operation Thunderbolt (2-set) (DVD) - UPC#: 73713803922-9."
''SISU Home Entertainment, Inc.'', 2017. Retrieved: March 10, 2017.

Influence

Taito is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, Toy, toys, arcade cabinets, and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, Vending machine, vending machines, and Juk ...

's Rail Shooter, by the same name as the film, which serves as the sequel to "

Operation Wolf is a light gun shooter arcade game developed by Taito and released in 1987. It was ported to many home systems. The game was critically and commercially successful, becoming one of the highest-grossing arcade games of 1988 and winning the Gold ...

", has a similar plot which is loosely based on the film itself.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Barron, Colin N. ''Planes on Film: Ten Favourite Aviation Films''. Stirling, UK: Extremis Publishing, 2016. .

External links

* * {{Israeli submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film 1977 films Docudrama films 1970s action thriller films Films about aviation Cultural depictions of Idi Amin 1970s English-language films English-language Israeli films Films about the Israel Defense Forces Films about aircraft hijackings Films about terrorism in Africa Films directed by Menahem Golan Films set in 1976 Films set in Athens Films set in Uganda Films set in airports Films set on airplanes Films shot in Israel Golan-Globus films 1970s Hebrew-language films Operation Entebbe Films about battles and military operations Films produced by Menahem Golan Films with screenplays by Menahem Golan Films produced by Yoram Globus 1977 multilingual films Israeli multilingual films Films scored by Dov Seltzer English-language action thriller films Arabic-language Israeli films French-language Israeli films