Modern Media and Entebbe

One of the defining moments in Israel’s history is the raid on Entebbe. Many people view operation as a quintessential Israeli action that could be replicated if the need arose. Entebbe took place in 1976 in a very different world. With the changes in international politics and the media, here’s how I imagine a similar situation to Entebbe happening in 2013.

Rumours begin to emerge on the twitterverse. A Scandinavian Airlines airplane has been hijacked and taken to North Korea. The media is out in full force and everyone is captivated by the moving story. Millions of facebook posts are shared all with the same sentiment – those poor innocent Swedes ♥.

News release from the BBC – calm down everyone, it was just a plane going to Israel filled with Jews. In the article, Israel is blamed for the Swedish civilian’s onboard suffering by provoking the hijacking of the airplane with their settlement policies. 96% of the report is focused on Israeli settlements accompanied by pictures of Palestinian children suffering.

Sweden negotiates an agreement to release all of the non-Jewish prisoners in return for severing diplomatic relations with Israel. As far as the world is concerned, this event is over and has now been dealt with.

The Guardian writes an editorial saying how thankful Sweden should be to have this opportunity and excuse to sever ties with Israel. This is followed by saying that many other moral nations wish to follow their lead but fear being labeled anti-Semitic by the Jewish controlled media.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a press conference where he announces that Israel will not negotiate with terrorists.

John Kerry holds a press conference announcing that Israel must negotiate with terrorists or risk suffering a third intifada.

John Mearsheimer goes on television saying that America is alienating itself from its Arab allies by getting involved in this conflict but is only doing so because of the Jewish lobby. When the host tells him he accidentally said Jewish lobby instead of Israel lobby, he calls her a new Afrikaner, perhaps even worse than the Nazi Abe Foxman. Mearsheimer adds in that he is definitely not anti-Semitic because he is friends with plenty of “righteous Jews” like Gilad Atzmon.

The Terrorists publish a video on Aljazeera America offering to free all of the hostages in exchange for Israel releasing Marwan Barghouti. John Kerry thinks this is a bad offer and instead, offers on Israel’s behalf the evacuation of Elon Moreh, Itamar, Yitzhar and Beit She’an.

Prime Minister Netanyahu sends a diplomatic cable to the Whitehouse telling them that Beit She’an is inside the Greenline.  In response, J Street and the Jewish Voice for Peace condemn Netanyahu for interfering with American internal politics and being a warmonger whom hates diplomacy.

Jeffrey Goldberg reports that Barack Obama told him behind close doors that evening: “I only ignore the elected Israeli government because I care so much about the concept of a Jewish democracy, why cant those stupid Likudniks understand this”.

Israel starts planning a raid of North Korea to rescue the hostages. Before the mission can take place, the Whitehouse leaks the plans to the New York Times ruining the entire element of surprise. The United Nations Human Rights Council preemptively votes on 323424234 resolutions condemning Israel for their ethnic censing of the all terrorists onboard the plane.

Israel launches a raid on North Korea in order to get the hostages back. As there were lifejackets and 14 fast relief liquid Advil’s on the airplane, Israel is seen as attacking an aid vessel. This is dubbed the flytilla prompting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to announce a national holiday to demonstrate solidarity with their fellow North Korean activist comrades.

The operation is a complete success, no Israeli’s die and everyone on board is rescued.

Tom Friedman writes an op-ed about the events. He believe it is unfortunate that the captured Israeli’s could not just accept their fait and live out the rest of their lives in North Korea. The rescue mission deprived the Israelis and the North Koreans an opportunity to have a cultural exchange that could allow more people to enjoy the fruits of globalization and possibly even the opportunity of sharing a taxicab with the brilliant Mr. Friedman.

2 years later, England issues an arrest warrant when planner of the operation Muki Betser arrives at Heathrow to witness the birth of his granddaughter. Roger Waters praises the British government and decides to host a celebratory concert. When he finds out that the warrant was revoked, he urges all people who have ever listened to Pink Floyd to boycott England.