(1 x 1-hour special)
Bound from Tel Aviv to Paris, Air France Flight 139 was hijacked on June 27, 1976, by a group of Palestinian and German terrorists and flown to Entebbe, Uganda. There were 246 passengers and a dozen crew on board – more than half of them Israeli citizens. After several days all non-Jewish passengers were released but the 102 remaining hostages were in grave danger. The Israeli Defense Forces mounted one of the most complicated – and risky – missions ever conceived.
While much of the Entebbe hostage rescue mission has been reported and dramatized, the details and many personal and heroic stories of the operation remained classified until now. Even the internal IDF report on “Operation Thunderbolt” was not completed until 2004. With gripping re-enactments and never-before heard first-person accounts with commandos, pilots, strategists and covert intelligence gatherers, Assault and Rescue: Operation Thunderbolt goes inside the situation rooms, assault staging areas and deadly firefights that allowed the seemingly impossible happen.
Original broadcaster: Discovery Channel Canada
Distributor: Syndicado
