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On the 53rd anniversary of the Sabena Flight 571 hijacking, Israel’s fifth Brigade was out flexing its muscle in ground force drills, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself showing up to soak in the action.
This wasn’t just a photo-op; it was a nod to a gut-punch moment in history when Israel showed terrorists what happens when you mess with the wrong folks.
Back on May 8, 1972, four Black September terrorists thought they’d hit the jackpot by storming the cockpit of Sabena Flight 571, en route from Vienna to Lod. Their big plan? Demand Israel cough up over 300 Palestinian prisoners. Spoiler: it didn’t end well for them.
Netanyahu, then a young Matkal unit operator, was in the thick of the rescue that saved 90 hostages. He took a hit but lived to tell the tale.
“Today we mark the 53rd anniversary of the operation to free the hostages on the Sabena plane,”
Netanyahu said Thursday, standing tall like a guy who’s seen it all. “I was there, I was injured there.” He looked out at the troops and saw the same fire in their eyes that fueled his unit back in ’72.
Then he dropped a line that should make Hamas sweat: “The rules are about to change.”
Netanyahu wasn’t just reminiscing; he was laying out a roadmap. The spirit he saw in those drills? Same as the one that carried his team through that hijacking. It’s the kind of resolve that’s got one mission: crush Hamas, free the hostages, and reshape the Middle East while they’re at it. “The spirit has not changed—it is exactly the same spirit that I see here that pulsates among the soldiers and commanders, and unites the ranks with one goal—to achieve a great victory,” he said.
And don’t think this is just about Gaza. Netanyahu’s got bigger fish to fry. “This victory goes beyond that. It radiates throughout the entire region. To this day, we have changed the face of the Middle East. We brought Hezbollah to its knees, Hamas—below the knees, the Assad regime fell. Iran also felt the strength of our arm,” he declared, practically daring anyone to test Israel’s resolve. “We still face challenges, but we have a strong spirit, and that spirit is carried by our army.”
Then came the mic-drop moment for Hamas: “The rules are about to change very soon—thanks to you.” Translation? You poked the bear, and now you’re gonna regret it.
So, what went down with Sabena Flight 571?
Picture this: four terrorists hijack the plane, thinking they’re in control. Captain Reginald Levy, cool as ice, sends distress signals to Israel, which get patched through to the Defense Ministry. The plane limps into an emergency landing at Lod airport, and while Moshe Dayan’s playing diplomat with the terrorists, he’s secretly cooking up a rescue op for the 90 passengers.
Israeli agents pull a ninja move, sabotaging the plane to make it look like a mechanical failure. The terrorists, not the sharpest tools on the Christmas tree, send Levy to negotiate at the terminal. Big mistake. “He somehow persuaded the hijackers to let him go over to the terminal to talk to the Israelis. Before he left, they gave him a piece of the plastic explosive to show that they meant business in their threat to blow up the plane,” Levy’s daughter Linda Lipschitz told the New York Post. Levy spills every detail, including the fact that the terrorists left the emergency exits unguarded. Amateur hour.
Dayan plays along, promising to send Palestinian prisoners and “technicians” to fix the plane. Enter Ehud Barak, leading 16 Sayeret Matkal commandos disguised as mechanics. They storm the plane, take out the two male hijackers, nab the two female ones, and get all 90 passengers out alive. Game over.
That’s the kind of history lesson that doesn’t just sit in a textbook—it’s a reminder that Israel doesn’t mess around. And if Netanyahu’s words are any indication, Hamas is about to learn that the hard way.
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