Entebbe raid’s unsung hero gets limelight
In a new documentary, filmmaker Boaz Dvir makes the case that the rescue operation would not have been possible without key role played by French-Jewish hostage Michel Cojot.
(TIMES OF ISRAEL) If you ask people who the hero of the Entebbe Raid of 1976 was, Israeli commando Yoni Netanyahu or Air France Pilot Michel Bacos will likely be mentioned. Very few, if any, would name passenger Michel Cojot, even though without him, the IDF special forces operation that saved 103 hostages would probably never have succeeded.
A new documentary by Boaz Dvir, To Kill a Nazi, narrated by Jewish actor Jason Alexander, celebrates this unsung hero.
“I was nine years old and growing up in Israel when Entebbe happened,” filmmaker and journalism professor Dvir said. “Air France captain Michel Bacos became a big hero for me. Here was this non-Jewish French guy who was given the chance to leave but chose to stay with his Israeli and Jewish passengers.
Photo: Courtesy
“Fast forward years later, and I decided to make a short documentary on him … and I was shocked to discover that although there was a hero named Michel among the hostages, it was not Michel Bacos! It was Michel Cojot.”
On June 27, 1976, French business consultant Cojot and his 12-year-old son, Olivier, were passengers aboard Air France flight 139 from Tel Aviv to Paris when it was hijacked by four terrorists. The plane was diverted to Benghazi, Libya, for refuelling, and then on to Entebbe, Uganda, where it was welcomed by dictatorial president Idi Amin. Amin lent troops to assist the hijackers, mainly in guarding the abandoned airport terminal where the 250 passengers and 12 crew members were being held hostage.
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