Fifty Years After Entebbe

“I was thinking about the Holocaust. About Jews being sorted again.”

That is how Gadi Ilan remembers the moment in 1976 when, as a young Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier, he was called to join one of the most daring military operations in Israel’s history.

On the night of July 3, he and his team from Sayeret Matkal (“The Unit”) rode in the famous black Mercedes toward Uganda’s Entebbe Airport with one mission: to free the 106 hostages held on an Air France plane, hijacked by Palestinian terrorists.

Gadi recalls the depth of the responsibility he carried into the operation. “We felt blessed to be entrusted with saving our brothers and sisters,” he says.

Operation Entebbe—a victory marked by the loss of four hostages and the Unit’s commander, Yoni Netanyahu—became a defining expression of Israel’s promise to protect Jewish lives wherever they are in danger. One hundred and two hostages were brought home.

For Gadi, the mission did not end on the runway.

When October 7 unfolded years later, Gadi—whose daughter was in Israel while he was in the United States, watching with horror from afar—recognized something familiar amid the devastation: Israel’s refusal to abandon its people.

In Entebbe and on October 7, he sees that Jew-hatred is never distant. It is immediate and existential, demanding unity between Israelis and American Jews. Today, he is guided by that commitment. As Associate Vice President of Missions on Jewish National Fund-USA’s National Board of Directors, Gadi supports programs that bring American Jews to Israel, deepening their connection to their ancestral homeland.

The methods may have changed, but 50 years later, the mission remains the same: to protect Jewish life, strengthen Jewish unity, and ensure that no generation stands alone.

_{Gadi Ilan, today}

To book Gadi to speak at your next event, contact the Global Speaker’s Bureau at JNFUSASpeakers@jnf.org