Yosef Zeira

Yosef Zeira was a colonel and department commander in Unit 8200, Israel's military signals intelligence organization, during the mid-1970s. He figures in the account of Ari Ben-Menashe, who served under him, as the officer responsible for compartmentalizing intelligence personnel during sensitive operations.

Role in the Entebbe Operation

In July 1976, following the hijacking of Air France Flight 139 by Palestinian and German militants and the diversion of the aircraft to Entebbe Airport in Uganda under Idi Amin's government, Israeli military and intelligence organizations coordinated the rescue operation that was executed on July 4, 1976.

According to Ben-Menashe's account, Zeira briefed a small team of Unit 8200 officers, including Ben-Menashe, about the rescue operation in advance of its execution. After briefing the team on the operation's parameters, Zeira ordered them to go into complete isolation - breaking off all contact with their families and any outside communications - for the full duration of the operation. The isolation order was a standard compartmentalization measure intended to prevent any intelligence leakage that could compromise the surprise attack.¹

The rescue operation, code-named Operation Thunderbolt (sometimes called Operation Entebbe or Operation Jonathan after Lieutenant Colonel Yonatan Netanyahu, who was killed in the operation), successfully freed 102 of the 106 hostages. Zeira's role as described by Ben-Menashe was one of intelligence coordination and personnel management in the lead-up period.