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COMMENTARY
ISRAEL STRIKESA BLOW
AGAINST TERRORISM
by
Stan ley R. Rader
The author accompanies
Plain
Truth
Editor-in-Chief Herbert
W.
Armstrong on his frequent
visits with heads of state and
other leading international
dignitaries.
ROME, July 4, 1976:
1have just
completed a most rewarding tele–
phone call wi th my wi fe in Califor–
nia. She was very excited . She
had just heard a news flash on
Saturday evening television in Los
Angeles that Israelí commandos
had successfully rescued the hos–
tages at the ai rport in Entebbe,
Uganda, and at that very moment
the plane carrying the passengers
was only one hour from touch–
down in Israel.
lt is difficult to express how
happy we both were and how
elated we fel t at the fortunate turn
of events. Only a few days befare 1
had called Jerusalem to speak
with Mayor Teddy Kollek . Mr.
Herbert Armstrong and 1 were
supposed to arrive in Jerusalem
for a dedication of Liberty Bell
Garden, which we and the Am–
bassador lnternational Cultural
Foundation (AICF) are proud to be
supporting.
Circumstances prevented Mr.
Herbert Armstrong and me from
participat ing in the ceremonies as
we had planned, but our message
was read to the assembled guests
by the consul general of the
United States, Mr. Michael Newlin,
and the announcement of our gift
- a children 's playground for the
use of children of all races and
creeds within Liberty Bell Garden
- was received with much enthu–
siasm, according to Mayor Kol –
lek 's later report.
1then placed another call to an–
other Israelí - a member of the
Israelí cabinet- who was also an–
t ici pating our arrival for di s–
cussions concerning other AICF
projects. His secretary, another
long-time friend, was in tears at
the sound of my voice. Her niece,
sixteen years of age, was one of
the hostages being held at the
Ugandan airport .
You can understand my con–
cern and how brutally stark the
realities of such a tragic affair be–
come when someone that you
know is in one way or another
directly involved.
By the time you have read this
article, all of the details of the
amazing rescue mission will have
been made known . lt is easy to
predict that motion pictu res or
television dramas centering on the
Entebbe operation will be forth–
comi ng and books of one kind or
another will undoubtedly be writ–
ten about the event. There wil l cer–
tainly be debates in the United
Nations, editorials in all the news–
papers, and everyone, for a rea–
sonable period of time, will relate
very strongly to the events of the
entire week preceding the rescue
and the general problem of inter–
nat ional terrorism as well.
Unfortunately, it is also reason–
ably easy to predict that within a
short period of time most of us wi ll
again become blasé and uncen–
cerned about internationallawless–
ness and terrori sm, as well as
al l the other conditions afflicting
this so-called civilized world - a
world which man has been at–
tempti ng to build by his own
means and according to his own
laws and precepts for sorne six
thousand years.
But we sho ul d look more
closely at ou r world today, a world
where the old values are dis–
appearing - a world that has set
individual against individual , class
against class, nation against na–
tion - a world where war, murder,
famine, poverty , and disease have
become more, rather than less,
evident. lt is a world in which man ,
seeking
his own
happiness, has
exploited his neighbor and fellow–
man and has lied, betrayed , and
cheated, as well as murdered and
destroyed , just for the purpose of
obtaining material benefits which
he has thought wou.ld be the way
to his own fulfillment and personal
gratificati on .
Later today there wi ll be a big
celebration here in Rome, and
many of us who are Ame'ricans
wil l participate in the activities
which will commemorate here, as
wel l as almost everywhere else in
the free world, the 200th anniver–
sary of the birth of the United
States.
1 can hardly wait to give Mr.
Armstrong the good news of the
Israelí rescue mission , because 1
am certain that he will not have
been informed, since he has been
airborne throughout the night and
no papers here will carry the story
until Monday morning.
Again, it is interesting to note
that the advance reports indicate
that the Israelí aircraft refueled in
Nairobi , Kenya. Mr. Armstrong
and 1will be in Nai robi during the
first week in August , where we wil l
participate in a ground-breaking
ceremony for a secondary school
a few miles from Nairobi where
Prestdent Kenyatta was born and
sti ll resides. This school project
wi ll be another AICF undertaking,
and it wil l be designed, as are all
such projects, to help people to
help themselves .
Afterwards at about the time
you read this article, we shall pro–
c eed t o Is rael to see what
progress has been made in the
Liberty Bell Garden project. We
also intend to spend s.ome time
with a contingent of Ambassador
College students
~ho
will have
completed their summer at the
Temple Mount excavations in Je–
rusalem, as have their predeces–
sors each year for the past eight
years.
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The
PLAI N TRUTH September 1976
41