The [[Entebbe hijacking]] occurred on June 27, 1976, when an [[Air France]] jet flying from [[Tel Aviv]] to [[Paris]] was hijacked by members of the [[Baader-Meinhof Group]]. The plane was diverted to [[Athens]] and then landed at [[Entebbe Airport]] in [[Uganda]]. Non-[[Israel|Israeli]] passengers were released, but [[Israel|Israeli]] and other passengers remained captive.[^1] [[Israel]] decided to mount a commando raid to rescue the passengers. [[Ari Ben-Menashe]] was part of a backup team, flying to [[Nairobi]] in an [[Air Force]] Boeing 707 to serve as a listening post. The raid was successful.[^1] Relations between [[Israel]] and [[Idi Amin]], then president of [[Uganda]], were strained at the time. [[Idi Amin|Amin]] had been installed in a military coup planned by former [[Israel|Israeli]] military attaché Col. Baruch Bar Lev, but relations deteriorated after [[Muammar Qaddafi|Col. Muammar Qaddafi]] of [[Libya]] promised money to black [[Africa|African]] nations if they cut ties with [[Israel]].[^1] ### Footnotes [^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 1992. (Hereafter, "Profits of War")