The first in the door at the old terminal building, Amir charged into a hail
of gunfire from a German terrorist lying on the floor. They fired at each other
a mere ten yards apart; the terrorist-kidnapper missed, incredibly; Amir did
not.
“When the gunfire started, many of the hostages were throwing blankets
and rugs over themselves and their children, thinking they were being executed.
Of course, a rug can’t stop a bullet, but they were reacting instinctively.”
The actions of people like Amir Ofer don’t appeal to the deep thinkers on the
Left, critics of military action, some of whom compare terror victims to Nazis.
But those critics are cowards. If they have any conscience, they are aware that
if they found themselves at the other end of a gun, they’d pray for Amir to
emerge from the darkness, throw the rug off them and fly them to freedom.
Surin Hershko came to Israel from Romania with his family when he was 12,
escaping the Jew-hater Ceausescu. Nine years later, he shared a spot in the
C-130 that carried the rescue force to Entebbe. Surin’s team was given the task
of securing the new terminal building, a mile from the old terminal. Running up
a flight of steps, Surin was met by a Ugandan, who fired and hit the young
paratrooper in the neck. The bullet altered Surin’s life, leaving him paralyzed.
But…but. Today, Surin Hershko has a lovely home in a quiet Tel Aviv
neighborhood and the computer programmer has clients abroad, and a rich social
life. Arab terror was not able to defeat him. The aura of a hero is all around
him. He is still a soldier.
People like this make the critics of Israel seem so small, one has to squint
to see them.
Kofi Annan visits Yad Vashem, but urges Israel to show restraint in the
terror war launched by the Palestinian Authority and its thoroughly trained foot
soldiers in Jenin, Nablus, and Tulkarm. The new and efficiently moderate
Palestinian chieftain, Abu Mazen, doesn’t really condemn the murder and maiming
of Israelis. Instead, he prattles on about violence harming Palestinian
aspirations. That is not moral clarity; it’s unacceptable crap.
Mainline church officials decry Israel’s security fence. Left-wing
journalists slant the news to turn the Jewish state into Shylock. Meanwhile,
Palestinians keep murdering Jews and get a free pass for their efforts. The
critics of the courageous Israelis are lesser people, morally, and Entebbe keeps
echoing this, through the decades.
We really owe Surin Hershko a great debt of thanks. When I asked him about
his thoughts on the flight to Uganda so many years ago, he looked me in the eye
and said that his only fear then was that the cabinet wouldn’t approve the
operation. That kind of determination and willingness to sacrifice comes from a
place I guess most people just don’t possess. The desire to confront evil
is exceedingly rare and in fact keeps the rest of us alive. See Afghanistan and
Iraq, and everywhere else American troops confront Al-Qaida.
One of the reasons Surin was shot was because the Israelis were so conscious
of civilian casualties, they put themselves in harm’s way. Surin knew he might
encounter civilians, so his weapon wasn’t at the ready. He can’t walk across his
living room, but Israel’s critics chatter on about IDF brutality. I invite them
to visit the military cemetery at Jerusalem’s Mt. Herzl. There they can see 22
graves from 2002’s Operation Defensive Shield. Israel sent its finest into
Jenin’s terrorist snakepit. Had the Israelis flattened the place from the air,
Mt. Herzl wouldn’t be so crowded. Still the critics chatter on.
It isn’t idle speculation to say that the total defeat of the terrorists on 4
July 1976 saved American lives. There is a direct corollary, because if the smug
thugs holding AK-47s over women and children had gotten their way, airline
hijackings would have become more popular than disco. Instead, thank God, the
men who flew to Entebbe didn’t just hold terrorism at bay, they utterly defeated
it. They had a choice, even if it was a desperate one, and they took it eagerly.
Amir and Surin are flesh-and-blood symbols of an ancient link stretching back
to Joshua and beyond. They affirm a few things. First, may I say, that the Jews
exist by the will of God, but they also exist by their own tenacity and the
nobility of the collective Jewish spirit.
Traveling through Israel reminded me that I like seeing Jews with guns. It
means they can and will defend themselves. They aren’t going to the ovens again.
Everywhere, I hear people wonder if Israel will survive. I don’t have
above-average analytical powers; I have only my time spent with two magnificent
people who reinforced an insoluble truth:
The Jews aren’t going anywhere. Israel is here to stay. The Triumph of the
Will.
Jim Fletcher is editor-in-chief of Balfour Books, which in 2003 published
Entebbe: The Jonathan Netanyahu Story, by Iddo Netanyahu.
New Leaf Press->
