The State Archives at the Prime Minister's Office released tens of thousands of documents related to the 1976 Entebbe operation on June 26, 2026. The documents include minutes from cabinet meetings, the Ministerial Committee on Security Affairs, and the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

The released materials also contain records of telephone conversations, telegrams, and consultations conducted by the special team established by then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Notable among these is a transcript of an exchange where Rabin sought cooperation from newspaper editors in preventing the publication of details that could endanger the lives of the hostages.

Michal Zeft, head of documentation and commemoration at the State Archives, oversaw the project to release these documents. "This was fascinating work, a mosaic of tens of thousands of documents creating a complex picture of an unprecedented historic operation," Zeft said. "You see a human picture of decision makers, moments of hesitation, and long days of uncertainty and tension, which ended in a historic operation."

The disclosure includes audio recordings of 26 telephone calls made by Eli Mizrahi, who served as Rabin's bureau chief, with the Prime Minister, the Director General of the Foreign Ministry, and other senior officials. Additionally, the archives released transcripts of five telephone conversations held by Colonel Baruch Bar Lev with Idi Amin, the ruler of Uganda.

Colonel Bar Lev, who had previously served as an IDF and Defense Ministry attaché in Uganda, attempted to persuade Amin to intervene on behalf of the hostages. "I think you have an opportunity given to you by God to save people and show that what people have said and written about you is not true," Bar Lev stated in one conversation. He also reminded Amin of past advice, asking, "If you remember, I always gave you good advice, never bad advice. Is that correct?"

The Entebbe operation took place after an Air France plane departed Israel for Paris with a stop in Athens on June 27, 1976, and contact with the aircraft was subsequently lost. Rabin reported this to a cabinet meeting, stating his intention to hold the government of France responsible for the fate of Israeli passengers. Non-Israeli hostages were released two days after the hijacking began. The Israeli government announced its willingness to negotiate for the hostages' release on July 1, 1976.

The IDF forces stormed the terminal at Entebbe Airport in the early hours of July 4, 1976. During the operation, Israeli hostages and French pilots were freed. Sayeret Matkal commander Lt.-Col. Yonatan Netanyahu was killed, along with three hostages, while five soldiers and six hostages were wounded. Prime Minister Rabin assessed the operation afterward, stating, "Let us not deceive ourselves. This was an extraordinary operation and achievement. However, the problem is not over. Terrorism continues to operate. What further problems terrorism will place before us and what lessons we must still learn from this matter, it is too early to say. We finished one battle, but the war continues."