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Netanyahu to visit Uganda in hostage commemoration

Xinhua, April 12, 2016 Adjust font size:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Uganda in July to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the hostage taking, Uganda's ministry of foreign affairs said Monday.

James Mugume, permanent secretary of Uganda's ministry of foreign affairs said Israel has formally written requesting for the visit.

On July 4, 1976, a group of Israeli commandos covertly raided Uganda's Entebbe International Airport on a rescue mission of 248 passengers aboard an Air France passenger plane that had been hijacked a week earlier by Islamist outfits of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

The hijackers separated the 102 Israeli hostages from the rest of the group and moved them to a building at the airport.

Netanyahu's visit will coincide with his country's commandos rescue of 102 Israeli hostages in which his brother Yonatan Netanyahu was killed.

In the 90-minute night operation executed by commandos, the 102 Israeli hostages were rescued, but unfortunately Netanyahu's brother was killed in the mission.

Netanyahu's visit also comes on the backdrop of claims of a deal between Israel and select African countries to relocate African immigrants especially Eritreans from Israel. Endit