From the Entebbe airport to the El Al Counter in LA

The news of an Arab terrorist shooting two people to death at the El Al Counter in the Los Angeles International Airport broke in Israel just as the Israel Broadcasting Authority’s TV Channel One was telecasting previously unseen footage of the IDF rescue operation at the Entebbe, Uganda airport exactly 26 years ago to the day, after the Arab terrorists had been holding 109 Israeli Jewish passengers from an Air France flight that had taken off from Tel Aviv a few days before.

As we flipped through internet radio news channels to hear more about what happened in LA, news announcers around the world praised the efficient and professional response of the Israel’s two El Al security guards, one of whom wrestled the Arab terrorist and while the other one shot him to death.

No other airline retains trained armed security personnel

As we followed breaking news in LA, we returned to watch the Entebbe footage of how the IDF executed the PLO hijackers and rescued more than one hundred Jewish hostages from the hands of the PLO, at a price of the commander of that operation, Yonatan Netanyahu and three of the hostages.

Headlines around the world that coincided with America’s two hundredth birthday were filled with adulation and pride for the unprecedented swift and professional IDF response to the hijacking of Jewish passengers to a remote part of the world where they were separated by the PLO from the other passengers in way that Joseph Mengele would have been proud of.

In 1976, no media outlet had any problem describing an armed Arab attack on Jewish passengers as an act of terror.

Yet the FBI official on the scene in Los Angeles was quick to tell CNN that this would only fall into the “Israeli definition of a terror attack, because “a man of Islamic descent killed Jews”.

The FBI official would not comment on the Koranic verses of Jihad that the killer had tacked to his apartment door.

The FBI, in its pretense to be fair and balanced, questions the “terrorism part” of the attack.

To lift the FBI’s intellectual standing and understanding of what terrorism is, the time has come for the US government to appreciate the definition of “terror” and “terrorism”,

According to the authoritative source, “The Oxford Dictionary.” “terror” is defined as…

“Extreme fear: the use of such fear to intimidate people, especially for political reasons: a person or thing that causes extreme fear”

“Terrorism” is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “the use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims.”

FBI officials might want to interview relatives and friends of the victims, to ascertain as to whether their sentiment could be called terror-stricken after the violent death of their loved ones, as well as to debrief the passengers who witnessed the attack

And what is the “Israel connection” to the “spirit of July 4th”?

Just look to the Second Amendment of the American Bill of Rights; “The Right of the People to Keep and Bear Arms Shall Not be Infringed”.

For 1900 years, there had been no Jewish army where Jews could bear arms to defend themselves.

The concept of “turning the other cheek” to a killer may have been coined in Israel.

When the Jewish state was established, “turning the other cheek” was immediately annulled.

On a personal level, my oldest son, Noam, now serving in an IDF combat unit, recently received a letter from one of his American friends, who asked about the “risk” of joining the IDF.

Noam’s response: What about the risk of not defending yourself?

From the IDF rescue at the Entebbe airport on July 4, 1976 to the rapid response of the EL AL security personnel on July 4, 2002, the message is clear: Israel will not take the risk of not defending itself.