Operation Thunderbolt

Flight 139 and the Raid on Entebbe Airport, the Most Audacious Hostage Rescue Mission in History

By: Saul David

Narrated by: Peter Ganim

The definitive account of one of the greatest Special Forces missions ever, the Raid of Entebbe, by acclaimed military historian Saul David.

On June 27, 1976, an Air France flight from Tel Aviv to Paris was hijacked by a group of Arab and German terrorists who demanded the release of 53 terrorists. The plane was forced to divert to Entebbe, in Uganda -- ruled by the murderous despot Idi Amin, who had no interest in intervening.

Days later, Israeli commandos disguised as Ugandan soldiers assaulted the airport terminal, killed all the terrorists, and rescued all the hostages but three who were killed in the crossfire. The assault force suffered just one fatality: its commander, Yoni Netanyahu (brother of Israel's Prime Minister.) Three of the country's greatest leaders -- Ehud Barak, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin -- planned and pulled off one of the most astonishing military operations in history.

Critic reviews

"This book is an enthralling, minute-by-minute retelling of the hijack and the dramatic resucue using new sources and material."—Max Hastings, author of Inferno

"Totally thrilling, totally poignant. Bringing the greatest special forces operation of modern times blazingly to life, David's book, full of new revelations, written with the excitement of an action movie, the authority of a historian, is great drama, superb storytelling--and yet tells us much about the Middle East today."—Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Jerusalem

One of the best audiobooks I’ve purchased

This was a difficult audiobook to turn off. The Jewish people deserve to be proud of these heroes! Especially, Yoni Netanyahu!

A great historical sharing of a critical event!

The author provides compelling details of one of the most important events regarding the war on terror!

great true story

The author definitely did his research. I have read other books or stories on the raid, but none discuss the political build up or aftermath like this one. The reader is a bit monotone for my taste, but did an over all good job.

Kudos to author not to narrator

Extraordinary amount of research, journalistic verisimilitude. Kept us on edge throughout. Narrator mispronounced Hebrew badly

Wow; chilling!

Couldn't stop listening; ignored all chores, 'reading' right through. Story, narration both awesome. Again, wow.