'Entebbe' Evokes Ecstatic Euphoria (July 4 1976)

There are moments in a person's life where one is filled with feelings of Ecstacy and Euphoria. I list below several of these (not all were experienced first-hand), hoping my readers can add their own in the comments section.

1947-48. First and foremost is the UN's vote to give a piece of Eretz Yisroel to the Jewish People, which resulted in the creation of the State of Israel. I can imagine the feelings of those who were involved in the process, especially those who were Holocaust survivors and fought in the fledgling militias that eventually forced the British troops off the holy soil.

1967. The Six Day War. Enemies from all sides threatened to annihilate the Jewish State. In less than a week, the Israeli Army decimated their Air Forces and resolve. Yerushalayim was reunited and the Kotel was Biyadeinu once again after thousands of years of absence.

1969. USA Man on the Moon. Mankind was able to project some of their own through outer space and place their footprints on the Moon. A superior technology achievement, one which was all the more euphoric, as the USSR was poised to accomplish this feat first. The USA was able to get their feet there first.

1976. Israeli commandos commandeered huge planes to streak across the sky, land in the deserted desert country of Uganda, and spirit away their citizens who were hijacked to Entebbe by the PFLP. A supreme blow to terrorists everywhere, and a Euphoric birthday present to America, champion of Freedom, on their bicentennial.

1977. Menachem Begin wrested control from the Labor Party and became Prime Minister of Israel.

1981. Israeli bombing of Osirak, the Nuclear devolpment site of the Iraqi's. Not appreciated fully by the West until the Gulf War, a decade later. Although the UN cried about the "agression", many Western leaders (and secretly many Eastern ones) silently applauded the action. "Boys will be boys", is what then President Ronald Reagan is alleged to have said when learning of the attack.

1993. Rudy Guiliani winning the Mayorship of New York over David Dinkins. NYC was getting more and more decadent, as David Dinkins allowed the rioters in Crown Heights to "let of a little steam". RG brought pride back to NYC, implementing his sucessful "Quality of Life" program which removed petty lawbreakers from the streets before they became major lawbreakers.

Marriage. Birth of children. Celebrating milestones with family.

First blog. First blog post. First blog comment (Thanks Bray!).