Entebbe raid’s unsung hero gets limelight

(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.

“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.

The hijackers demanded a ransom of $US5 million, as well as the release of 53 Palestinian and pro-Palestinian terrorists or they would begin killing hostages on July 1.

On June 30, they released 47 non-Israeli hostages – mainly the elderly and sick, and mothers with children. Cojot’s son, Olivier, was among them. When Israel signalled on July 1 that it was open to negotiations, the hijackers extended the deadline to July 4 and released 100 more non-Israelis and non-Jews.

Throughout, Cojot stepped up as a leader. He translated when Idi Amin came to address the hostages. He negotiated with the hijackers to improve conditions for all the hostages. Although not a military man or a spy, he slyly gleaned information from the hijackers and made notes on the building’s layout, the tarmac, and the surrounding area, as well as on the fighting capabilities of the hijackers and Ugandan soldiers. He took the brave step of having Olivier smuggle the material out in his jeans cuff, but the boy, excited to be home, forgot about passing it to the authorities and let his mother put the pants in the wash.

Cojot was released on July 1, and the Mossad immediately contacted him upon his arrival in Paris. The detailed information he provided made Operation Thunderbolt (the raid’s official military title) possible.

From would-be killer to lifesaver

The twist in Cojot’s story is that he, who helped save so many lives, was ready to take a life only a year earlier. Seeking vengeance for the murder of his father, Joseph Goldberg, in the Holocaust, Cojot had schemed to track down and kill “the Butcher of Lyon”, Klaus Barbie. However, when Cojot, holding a gun, was just metres from Barbie, he couldn’t pull the trigger.

After Entebbe, Cojot went on with his life and hardly ever spoke about his role there. Instead, he worked tirelessly to do what he could to bring Barbie to justice. He wrote articles and lobbied French and international leaders for Barbie to be extradited to France. The extradition finally took place in 1983, and Cojot testified at the ensuing trial. Barbie was sentenced to life in prison.

This interview with Dvir has been edited for length and clarity:

Times of Israel: Tell me about the moment your film subject changed from Michel Bacos to Michel Cojot.

It was when I interviewed Michel Bacos in 2008 or 2009. Halfway through the interview, I realised the premise with which I had come into this interview was completely wrong. It was untrue that he and the rest of the crew had voluntarily stayed. Bacos and the crew were never given the option to leave.

Also, Bacos said that he was given the option to be released with the first group of hostages on June 30 and refused. But that group consisted of the elderly, sick, and mothers with children. That didn’t add up because neither Bacos nor the other crew members qualified.

Ilan Hartuv, the Israeli Foreign Ministry employee, was a hostage with his mother Dora Bloch, who was left behind in the hospital and killed by Ugandan soldiers. He was the leader of the Israeli group and became the [event’s] historian. He said there was never, ever a chance for Bacos and his crew to leave. Hartuv and all the other hostages I interviewed all said Cojot was the real hero.

Once you realised this, what research did you do, and how long did it take?

It took a decade. I had no idea who Cojot was and there wasn’t much online about him. I was scrambling to get more primary research. One of the hostages mentioned Cojot’s son, Olivier, whom I wanted to speak with for sure because he had been in Entebbe. Someone heard I was trying to find Olivier, and he connected me with him. We met in Paris, and everything kind of flowed from there. I personally did all the interviews with the people who appear in the film, except for Michel Cojot himself, who died in 1999. So, for him, I used an interview he gave to the Shoah Foundation, one he gave in Israel, and his testimony from the Klaus Barbie trial.

It took me so long to make the film because, as with all my documentaries, I can’t just use something, even if it’s a credible primary source or an eyewitness. I need it corroborated. In this case, I triple-checked the triangulation because so much of the story seemed so unbelievable.

Explain your decision to incorporate animation.

It was back before a lot of people were using animation. It was very controversial. For me, it was crucial. More than an artistic decision, it was a journalistic and storytelling one. My choices for parts [of the film] without visual representations were reenactments or animation. I felt that reenactments ran counter to the spirit of this film. I take an understated approach: I tell the story as is, ensure it is accurate, and leave plenty of room for viewers to make up their own minds.

Michel Cojot had a complex and contradictory personality. What was it like “living” with him for the many years you were making this film?

Looking back, I recognise that all my protagonists fit a sort of template. They are ordinary, and they live ordinary lives. Then something extraordinary happens, and they’re asked to rise to the occasion. The difference with Cojot is that those key moments that forced him to rise up happened not once, but several times. Each time he has to rise up in a different way, change, and adjust. That’s what makes him even more unique. I think it was always important for Cojot to be courageous. At Entebbe, he finds his voice and insight, and I think he realises that true courage is not taking a life but saving one.

Cojot did not know he was Jewish until his research into his father’s disappearance revealed that he was killed in Auschwitz. How did his and his children’s relationship with Judaism change after Entebbe?

After discovering his Jewish background, Cojot went to Israel to do some pro bono work and see what the country was like.

Then, in Entebbe, it all came together. He realised what it meant to truly be courageous, and he saw that the Jews are really courageous, too. Does that mean he’s perfect after that? No, but he does become as whole as this guy could ever be.

After Entebbe, he moved to Israel and bought a home there. His three children spent summers with him. After a few years, he decided to return to France. Later in life, Cojot’s partner was a Jewish woman, with whom he had a fourth child. All of Cojot’s children identify as Jewish and have embraced their heritage.