Roy Exum
If you are under the age of 43, you won’t remember this but in light of the United States’ decision to be mean and hateful towards Israel in recent weeks, it is a story those of us who are older must never forget. You see, in the late 17th century, Ireland’s Edmund Burke put it quite succinctly when he said, “Those who do not study history will be forced to relive it.”
In 1972 I was 23 years old and already deeply entrenched in the newspaper business. That’s why I vividly remember the days after May 8th, when four members of an evil terrorist group known as “Black September” hijacked a Sabena Air Lines Boeing 707 about 20 minutes after it had departed Vienna-bound for Israel.
When the plane landed, at what was then called Lod Airport (now it is Ben Gurion International), the hijackers – two men and two women -- separated the Jewish passengers from the non-Jews and announced they would blow up the plane and everybody on it unless 315 convicted Palestinian terrorists were released from Israeli prisons and allowed to go free. You could cut the worldwide tension with a knife.
The next day the pilot convinced the Black September thugs that the aircraft badly needed repairs, provisions, and maintenance. At 4 o’clock that afternoon the thugs – thinking the prisoner exchange was underway – allowed a shabby handful of service technicians to tend to the airplane. What they didn’t know was that a real famous guy named Moshe Dayan was Israel’s Security Minister at the time and, brother, he never flinched.
They also didn’t know the 16 ragged-looking mechanics and baggage handlers who were dragging hoses and pulling carts were – in truth -- members of Israel’s much-feared Sayeret Matkal, a group of lethal commandos whose motto is – and I adore this – “Who dares wins.”
The brilliant Dayan, who was the hero of the “Six Day War,” had put together “Operation Isotope” overnight and within just 10 minutes the Sayeret Matkal owned that airplane and everybody on it. The two male terrorists died instantly and only three passengers were wounded, one later dying. The two women terrorists went to Israeli prisons for 10 years and were later released in a prisoner exchange.
Here’s the kicker: Just one commando was shot that day, a non-threatening wound in the shoulder. That guy is today the Prime Minister of Israel after winning the election this week for the fourth straight time. His name is Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu. Incidentally, Ehud Barak, who led the raid that day, was Israel’s Prime Minister from 1999-2001 and later served three terms as Deputy Prime Minister in Bibi’s administration.
Want more? Two summers after “Operation Isotope,” I got a telephone call from a delightful guy who lived a couple of blocks away and he asked if I was busy. Learning I was readily available, he invited me to his house to meet a friend and a new business partner. When I got to Carl Navarre’s house (his daughter Mary and I had been elementary school classmates), we went upstairs to his Florida Room and I got to meet his partner in what would be Coca-Cola of Israel. That was when Moshe Dayan, wearing his famous eye patch, told me about “Operation Isotope” in the broadest of terms but in spell-binding fashion.
I’ve been in awe and envy of Israel ever since. I fear our nation’s administration doesn’t hold the same view, which is why – on Thursday – Florida Senator Marco Rubio delivered a blistering rebuke of President Obama. “Allies have differences, but when allies like Israel, when you have a difference with them and it is public, it emboldens their enemies to launch more rockets out of southern Lebanon and Gaza, to launch more terrorist attacks, to go to international forums and de-legitimize Israel’s right to exist,” exclaimed Rubio, labeling the U.S. response as “a historic and tragic mistake.”
Rubio, a serious contender for the White House, also said – and I readily agree -- “This is outrageous, it is irresponsible, it is dangerous, and it betrays the commitment this nation has made to the right of a Jewish state to exist in peace.”
“If America doesn’t stand with Israel, who would we stand with? If Israel — a democracy, a strong American ally on the international stage — if they are not worthy of our unconditional support, then what ally of ours around the world can feel safe in their alliance with us?”
Freedom House, a group that measures freedom based on individual rights and civil liberties around the world, just came out with its 2015 report. It shows there is just one free nation in the Middle East and that is Israel.
The report, based on a scale of 1-to-7, with “1” being the most free and “7” being the worst, gave Israel a rating of 1.5, after a “1” on political rights and a “2” on civil liberties. The West Bank, under the rule of the Palestinian Authority, is literally “unfree” with a combined rating of 5.5 while the Gaza Strip, where Palestinian Arabs are governed by Hamas, is worse with a 6.5 grade.
Above all, remember this: “Those who do not study history will be forced to relive it.”
royexum@aol.com