Nostalgia Sunday – July 4th 1976

July 5, 2009 - 9:06 PM by

The Bicentennial Celebration of 1976 was a very big event and the entire USA was decked out in red, white and blue. We — my father sisters and I — instead got a plane on July 3rd and flew to Israel. It had been a rough year, with my mother’s death in early November, and somehow coming to Israel to be with family and friends was a comfort. Israel being Israel, we arrived to the latest national crisis: the hostage situation in Entebbe.

The next morning, we were awakened to the news that the hostages had been rescued. Israel’s reaction was euphoric — not since 1967 had there been so stunning a win! — although everyone knew that the victory was bittersweet. Four hostages and IDF Commander Yonatan Netanyahu were killed. Nonetheless, the raid was a tour de force of Israeli think-on-your-feet strategy and bravado in the face of the cartoonishly evil dictator Idi Amin Dada.

That same morning, I went down to Jerusalem’s Ben-Yehuda Street with my dad and he bought this T-shirt for me.
idi_amin_t-shirt
The text balloon says, “Kol ha-kavod le-Zahal” or “All respect due to the IDF” — probably the last thing Amin was thinking of saying at that moment. The shirt was doubly humorous for having made new use of the most hackneyed of Israeli cliches about the military. As far as we were concerned, it was “Kol ha-Kavod to Lord Kitsch” which had somehow managed to speedily produce the T-shirts in a matter of hours.

And then, the next day, Miss Israel, Rina (Messinger) Mor, was crowned Miss Universe!

rina-mor1

It was a double-coup for the Jewish State and its people were ecstatic. We were riding a wave of popularity on the international scene, it was felt. This was only reinforced by Israel’s Eurovision wins in 1977 and 1978. Surely we were becoming a nation like all others, with beauty queens and pop stars, a nation able to vanquish its enemies to the approval of the international community and, like anybody else, glorify those victories in made-for-TV movies. It seemed possible. But those were more innocent times.

entebbe_movies

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , • Category: General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Nostalgia Sunday, Pop Culture, War 

Comments

5 Comments on Nostalgia Sunday – July 4th 1976

  1. Jessica on Mon, Jul 6th 2009 9:22 AM

    2. given how Raid on Entebbe — the movie — was such a pivotal part of my summers, as it was the movie we always watched on Tisha B’Av, I was thrilled when as part of my first job out of college, working for a NYC comics publisher, I was asked to write the script for a Raid on Entebbe graphic novel. It was part of the Two-Fisted Tales series by the famed Harvey Kurtzman, and it was a complete blast for me at the time.

  2. David-Joe on Mon, Jul 6th 2009 12:09 PM

    3. I remember that day well. I recall how the world decided that there was nothing Israel could do but give in.

    There is an excellent book by the brother of Yonni and Bibi – Iddo Netanyahu entitled “Entebbe”.

    The better movie is the one starring Yehoram Gaon – the above two American movies are too “Hollywood”.

  3. varda on Thu, Jul 9th 2009 9:07 AM

    4. thanks for the post. definitely evokes memories of the spirit of those more innocent times. it sure was nice feeling proud and popular.

  4. Susan Medina on Sun, Jul 12th 2009 4:48 PM

    5. I wasn’t worried for one minute. I slept like a babe!!
    I knew Israel would come up with a miracle then -because each and every Jew is near and dear after the devastation of the holocaust.

  5. Foto Friday – T-Market Tel Aviv 2012 | ISRAELITY on Thu, Apr 12th 2012 5:51 PM

    6. [...] willing to fill the echoing gap and Israel has long been a part of that trend (check out my Entebbe Raid tee from 1976). Over the past few years, however, there has been an explosion in underground manufacturers using [...]

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