Entebbe officer shares story with Flaxmere crowd

Rami Sherman shared his story about Operation Entebbe to the Flaxmere community last night at the Flaxmere Christian Fellowship. Photo/ Duncan Brown.

A hero of one of Israel's proudest military moments captivated audiences at the Flaxmere Christian Fellowship last night.

Rami Sherman, who grew up in northern Israel, was just 20 when he served as operations officer under Yoni Netanyahu and embarked on Operation Yonathan, commonly known as Operation Entebbe in 1976.

"I don't want to hide and forget about what happened, it is a story that needs to come out and I now understand that a lot of people are interested in it."

A plane bound for Paris was hijacked and rerouted to Entebbe where passengers, including New Zealanders, were kept as hostages in Entebbe International Airport.

On the third day the terrorists let all of the passengers go except the Israeli and Jewish passengers who were kept in the airport as hostages.

Mr Sherman was responsible for vehicles and cover fire and said the most powerful thing was the moment he walked with these passengers out from the terminal to the Hercules plane.

He was the son of a holocaust survivor and said that one moment getting the Jews to freedom was something he could never forget.

"It took us 52 minutes from when the first Hercules plane touched the ground to when the last Hercules plane left."

Mr Sherman said he was afraid but it was his duty to free these hostages and get them home.

"I am so proud that my country took part in saving the lives of not only the Israeli but the Jews, it was a very emotional moment."

The captain of the Air France plane Michel Bacos had refused to leave his Jewish and Israeli passengers behind despite not knowing what would happen the next day.

Mr Sherman described Mr Bacos as the most honest man involved in the operation.

"He could have left but chose to stay as he made the decision to choose the values that were not only good for him as a person but for others. He saw what humanity, solidarity and responsibility was about."

A celebration was held last year at Entebbe to mark 40 years since the operation and it was then when a group of officers decided to share their story.

"We can just be proud about ourselves and what we did and it is amazing the world are proud of it too."

Since then Mr Sherman has been travelling around the world speaking to a variety of groups in a variety of countries.

At the end of the day Mr Sherman said it wasn't the outcome he expected but knew he could only try his best as a young officer and luckily they made a breakthrough.

"I had to concentrate on the operation and hope we could succeed somehow."

Mr Sherman's officer Yoni Netanyahu, the brother of Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was killed in the operation.

Mr Sherman said we should have two duties to remember, first to be a light to ourselves and a light to the world and then to connect with each other.

"We can't stop terror unless people bring up the values of life and see the beauty of togetherness."

Mr Sherman is a strong advocate for the Jews and has since played a part in the "March of the Living" as a son of a holocaust survivor, Jew rescuer and liberator.