Operation Jonathan Medal

25th Anniversary of "Operation Jonathan"
State Medal

On June 27, 1976, an Air France jet was hijacked by Arab and German terrorists, after it took off from Lod Airport in Israel. The terrorists ordered the plane to land in Entebbe, Uganda, after receiving approval from its President Idi Amin, and threatened to execute the Jewish hostages, unless their demands for the release of dozens of jailed terrorists were met. IDF officers led by Chief of Staff Motta Gur, presented a plan to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Minister of Defense Shimon Peres, to release the hostages, using IDF troops. At the head of the operation was General Dan Shomron. Assistant General Jonathan Netanyahu, commander of the IDF commando unit, was given the job to plan out the rule of the unit in the operation – to take control of the old terminal, to kill the terrorists, to release the hostages and bring them safely to Israel. Four Hercules aircrafts took off on July 3 from Sharm el Shekh towards Africa. Exactly at midnight, according to Uganda time, the first aircraft carrying 29 combat soldiers landed at the Entebbe airport. The terrorists were killed. Yoni (Jonathan), however, was mortally wounded by a Kalaznikov bullet and four other hostages were killed. The released hostages were flown to Israel and were met with great emotion. This swept up the entire world in its wake. Yoni Netanyahu was an intellectual and a fighter. His heroic acts became famous overnight and he became a source of inspiration for many in the country and around the world. "Operation Jonathan" became a symbol of Israel's courage and determination not to surrender to terrorism.

Obverse: Portrait of Yoni Netanyahu, the verse from the Lamentation of David: "The bow of Yonatan turned not back," Samuel 2, 1:22. For the first time, the emblem of the Israel Defense Force General Staff appears on a State Medal.

Reverse: Hercules airplanes above the Entebbe terminal and inscription "25th Anniversary of Operation Yonatan"