Heroic Air France pilot during Entebbe hijack dies at 95
Michel Bacos, the French pilot who chose to remain with the passengers on his plane during the 1976 Entebbe hijack, passed away at 95 years of age:
A French pilot hailed for bravery during a hijacking drama targeting Jews on an Air France flight in 1976 has died aged 95, his son told AFP on Wednesday.As the article also notes, the prime minister's older brother was murdered during the rescue mission:
Michel Bacos (pictured above, right) died in the southern city of Nice, where he had been living since 2006, their son Eric told AFP.
Bacos was flying from Tel Aviv to Paris on June 27, 1976, when Palestinian and German radicals hijacked the aircraft, which was flown to Entebbe in Uganda.
The former French Resistance fighter earned France’s highest award, the Legion d’Honneur, for refusing to leave the plane and ordering his crew to remain with Jewish passengers who were separated from non-Jews.
“By courageously refusing to give into anti-Semitism and barbarism he honoured France,” Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi wrote in a tribute, hailing Bacos as “a hero” and sending condolences to his widow Rosemary and their three sons.
The only Israeli soldier killed in Operation Thunderbolt was Yonatan Netanyahu, the elder brother of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Both he and Bacos should be remembered well for their contributions to sanity and justice.
Labels: Africa, anti-semitism, France, germany, islam, Israel, jihad, military, misogyny, racism, terrorism, war on terror
