Forty years ago this summer (this week marks 40 years), an airline hijacking played-out before the world.

PLO and German terrorists took control of Air France Flight 139, after a refueling stop in Athens. What they decided to do next made history.

Rather than land at a nearby airport and make a list of demands, the hijackers ordered the plane flown to a remote airport in Uganda, at a place called Entebbe.

The terrorists kept 105 Jewish hostages and demanded that more than 50 other terrorists held in prison be released. They meant business, claiming that they would kill all the hostages if the demands weren’t met.

Israel’s dilemma was the fact that events were unfolding so far away. It was one thing to foil a hijacking at Lod; it was quite another to launch a rescue so far from home.

Joshua Shani, in a terrific interview with Israel Hayom, flew the lead Hercules that carried the actual rescue force—30 members of Israel’s elite counter-terrorism unit, Sayeret Matkal. Shani describes the enormity of the undertaking:

“I believed we would escape by the skin of our teeth and have more casualties, but I also believed that our sheer audacity — flying 180 soldiers, aboard four aircraft, 4,000 kilometers [2,485 miles], when no one else in the world had ever attempted anything that crazy — that alone meant that in all likelihood, it would be a total surprise. Thwarting this operation would have been so easy without the element of surprise. All they had to do is place some trucks on the runway and that’s it, no more rescue operation. Either I would see them and avoid landing, or I wouldn’t see them and would crash.”

They didn’t crash, of course, and on the morning of July 4, 1976, the IDF stormed the terminal building at Entebbe and eliminated the terrorists in quick fashion. They then loaded the stunned passengers onto planes for the long ride to freedom.

The Entebbe operation, later named “Operation Jonathan” to commemorate the fallen commander of Sayeret Matkal, Jonathan Netanyahu, is the most famous hostage rescue in history.

The men who planned and executed that mission deserve our respect and admiration.

Think about them Monday, as America celebrates another Fourth of July.