November 4, 1995: Yitzhak Rabin Is Assassinated

November 4, 1995: I got home from watching the football team at my Alma Mater, East Brunswick High School, defeat neighboring Sayreville, 36-29, at Jay Doyle Field in East Brunswick, Middlesex County, New Jersey. I turned on the TV, to ABC, and began watching a college football game: Michigan State ended up defeating arch-rival Michigan, then ranked Number 7 in the country, 28-25 in East Lansing.

At around 5:00 PM, U.S. Eastern Time, the game was interrupted by a Special Report from ABC News. There was no music over the announcement. I knew from experience that such a report was not going to be one of good news.

The announcer, Kevin Newman -- apparently, anchor Peter Jennings hadn't yet gotten to the studio -- announced that Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel had been assassinated at a peace rally in Tel Aviv.

Rabin, a 73-year-old native of Jerusalem, was one of the founding fathers of the State of Israel in 1948. He was Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces during the 1967 Six-Day War. Levi Eshkol was Prime Minister, Abba Eban was Foreign Minister, Moshe Dayan was Minister of Defense, and the leading General was Ariel Sharon.

Rabin then served as Israel's Ambassador to the United States, and as Minister of Labor. In 1974, upon the retirement of Golda Meir, he was named to succeed her as Leader of the Labor Party, and thus as Prime Minister, but fell into a corruption scandal, and lost the 1977 election as a result.

Slowly but surely, he returned to influence. He was named Minister of Defense in 1984, serving until 1990, and then became Labor's leader again. In 1992, he led them to victory, and returned to the Premiership. He served as his own Minister of Defense, and negotiated the Oslo Accords with Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat in 1993. The following year, he negotiated a peace treaty with King Hussein I of Jordan, ending an official status of war (though not a continuous shooting) between those nations that had lasted from Israel's independence.

The process of implementing the Oslo Accords was not going well in 1995, so he called the rally in Tel Aviv, hoping to show the nation that the peace process should be supported. But at 9:30 PM -- 2:30 PM, U.S. Eastern Time -- he was shot by Yigal Amir, a 25-year-old extremist who was part of a right-wing movement that considered any concession to the Palestinians, no matter how small, to be treason. He remains in prison 30 years later, serving a life sentence, and both he and the leaders of the movement remain unrepentant.

Israel has never fully recovered. Most of its governments since have been conservative and belligerent. There is some justification for this, but not nearly as much as the conservative parties would have you believe.

*

November 4, 1995 was a Saturday. The baseball season was over. In addition to the Michigan vs. Michigan State game I mentioned, these other noteworthy college football games were played:

* Number 1 Nebraska beat Iowa State, 73-14 at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. They won the Big Eight Conference title -- the last one, before the league took on half the Southwest Conference and became the Big Twelve -- and went on to win their 2nd straight National Championship.

* Number 3 Florida beat Northern Illinois, 58-20 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida. They went on to beat Number 6 Florida State, which had played 2 days before the Rabin assassination, and lost, but still went on to win the Atlantic Coast Conference title. Florida then beat Georgia in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game, rising to Number 2 in the country, but got walloped by Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl, 62-24.

* Number 4 Ohio State beat Minnesota, 49-21 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. But they blew the Big Ten title by losing to Michigan, and then lost the Citrus Bowl to Tennessee..

* Number 6 Northwestern beat Number 12 Penn State, 21-10 at Dyche Stadium (a.k.a. Ryan Field) in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois. Northwestern won their 1st Big Ten title since 1936, and made their 1st Rose Bowl since the 1948 season.

* Number 8 Notre Dame beat Navy, 35-17 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana. They ended up losing to Florida State in the Orange Bowl.

* Number 13 Texas beat Number 23 Texas Tech, 48-7 at Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas. They won the last Southwest Conference title.

* Number 14 USC beat Stanford, 31-30 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. USC went on to win the Pac-10 title, and beat Northwestern in the Rose Bowl.

* Number 16 Alabama beat Louisiana State, 10-3 at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

* Virginia Tech beat Number 20 Syracuse, 31-7 at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia. This got Tech into the Top 20, and they won the Big East Conference Championship, and then beat Texas in the Sugar Bowl.

* Rutgers lost to West Virginia, 59-26 at Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, West Virginia.

* And Princeton beat Penn, 22-9 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. They went on to win the Ivy League title.

There were 10 games played in the NBA that day:

* The New York Knicks beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 84-71 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.

* The Washington Bullets beat the Detroit Pistons, 100-89 at the USAir Arena (formerly the Capital Centre) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Charlotte Hornets beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 119-108 at the Charlotte Coliseum.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Orlando Magic, 124-91 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* The Miami Heat beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 85-71 at the Miami Arena.

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Golden State Warriors, 99-84 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the expansion Toronto Raptors, 97-89 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Boston Celtics, 107-85 at the United Center in Chicago. Michael Jordan only played 21 minutes and scored 15 points, while Scottie Pippen led all scorers with 21.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Denver Nuggets, 116-108 at the McNichols Arena in Denver. Sean Elliott scored 32.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 103-89 at the KeyArena in Seattle.

And there were 9 games played in the NHL:

* The New Jersey Devils beat the Los Angeles Kings, 4-2 at The Forum in Inglewood, California, outside Los Angeles. The Stanley Cup holders got 2 goals from Neal Broten, and 1 each from Mike Peluso and Captain Scott Stevens. Stevens, Martin Brodeur, and the rest of the New Jersey defense held Wayne Gretzky to an assist and no goals.

* The New York Islanders lost to the Washington Capitals, 3-2 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins, 4-1 in one of the last games at the Montreal Forum. Within a few weeks, it was replaced with what's now named the Bell Centre.

* The Hartford Whalers beat the Ottawa Senators, 5-4 at the Corel Centre in Ottawa. (It's now named the Canadian Tire Centre.)

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 7-4 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Dallas Stars, 5-1 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

* The Vancouver Canucks and the Calgary Flames played to a tie, 4-4 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Edmonton Oilers played to a tie, 3-3 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.

* And the San Jose Sharks beat the St. Louis Blues, 7-3 at the San Jose Arena. (It's now named the HP Pavilion at San Jose.)

Also, Arsenal beat Manchester United, 1-0 at Highbury in North London, on an early goal by new signing Dennis Bergkamp.

September 13, 1993: The Oslo Accord

September 13, 1993: The Oslo Accord is signed on the White House lawn, with President Bill Clinton having overseen the negotiations. For the first time, Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat recognized the right of the state of Israel to exist. He and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin shook hands on the deal. For one brief, shining moment, it looked like there might be a chance for genuine peace in the Middle East.

The big handshake on the White House lawn. It got Rabin and Arafat, and also South African leaders Nelson Mandela and Frederik W. deKlerk, named "The Peacemakers" and "Men of the Year" by Time magazine.

We thought this was the start of a new era of peace in the Middle East. At first, it was: In 1994, with Clinton on hand, Rabin shook hands with King Hussein of Jordan, and that peace still holds.

But in 1995, Rabin was assassinated by an Israeli, from a faction that considered any concession, no matter how small, to be tantamount to treason.

In 2000, a new Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, offered Arafat pretty much everything he wanted, including building him a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem (not the Old City). And Arafat refused it, demanding something that he was never going to get, the "right of return": "Palestinians" being allowed to return to the land they had before Israel's independence in 1948. That would lead to a massive influx of Arabs that would overwhelm the Israelis, and end the nation.

That was when we knew he couldn't be trusted. And it was the beginning of "the Second Intifada." And that was also the end of Labor Party government in Israel: Ever since, they’ve trusted the right-wing Likud Party, first with Ariel Sharon, and then with a 2nd go-round for the already-dumped, corrupt, warmongering Benjamin Netanyahu. And we're no closer to a solution than we were in 1993.

In the end, the Accord helped almost nobody -- except maybe Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu, hardliners who would never have been Prime Minister of Israel had the Accord succeeded.

*

September 13, 1993 was a Monday. One Direction singer Niall Horan was born.

And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 3-1 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Jimmy Key outpitched Jaime Navarro. Randy Velarde went 3-for-3 with a walk. Don Mattingly went 0-for-5. Robin Yount, in his final full month as an active player, went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The New York Mets lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-0 at Shea Stadium. Tommy Greene pitched a 6-hit shutout.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-4 at Fenway Park in Boston. Cal Ripken went 1-for-4.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Minnesota Twins, 7-2 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Chicago White Sox, 9-0 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Kevin Appier (2 over 7 innings) and Mark Gubicza (2 over 4) combined on a 4-hit shutout. George Brett, in his final full month as an active player, went 1-for-4.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Cleveland Indians, 12-1 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Both teams were moving into new ballparks the next season.

* The San Diego Padres beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-3 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Phil Plantier hit a home run to win it in the bottom of the 11th inning. Tony Gwynn did not play.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the California Angels, 10-1 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Ken Griffey Jr., Bret Boone and Dave Valle hit home runs for the M's.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-5 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. José Vizcaíno and Rick Wilkins hit home runs. For the Giants, Robby Thompson hit 2 home runs, and Barry Bonds went 2-for-4.

* The Colorado Rockies and the Houston Astros had their game at Mile High Stadium in Denver postponed. Due to snow. In mid-September. The Rocky Mountains. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The Rockies swept, 9-4 and 6-5. Eric Young Sr. singled Nelson Liriano home to win the 2nd game in the 10th inning.

* And the Detroit Tigers, the Toronto Blue Jays, the Atlanta Braves, the Cincinnati Reds, the Florida Marlins, the Montreal Expos, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the St. Louis Cardinals were not scheduled.

And on ABC Monday Night Football, the Cleveland Browns beat the San Francisco 49ers, 23-13 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

July 4, 1976: The Raid On Entebbe

July 4, 1976: Israeli commandos launch a raid on Entebbe International Airport, in Kampala, the capital of the African nation of Uganda. It becomes the stuff of legend.

On June 27, Air France Flight 139, an Airbus A300B4-203, took of from Ben-Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, intending to land at Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris, France. A crew of 12 was flying 246 passengers, most of them Jewish, and most of those citizens of Israel. The plane landed in Athens, Greece, to pick up 58 new passengers. But 4 of them were hijackers.

They took off from Paris at 12:30 PM, and were subsequently hijacked by 2 operatives of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - External Operations (PFLP-EO), and 2 operatives of the Revolutionary Cells, a terrorist group operating out of West Germany. The flight was diverted to Benghazi, in the Palestinian-friendly country of Libya. It was held on the ground for 7 hours, to refuel. At 3:15 PM on June 28, it arrived at Entebbe.

Idi Amin, dictator of Uganda, sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, allowed the plane to land. 

A PFLP-EO hijacker issued a declaration and formulated their demands. In addition to a ransom of US $5 million ($25.7 million in 2022 money) for the release of the airplane, they demanded the release of 53 Palestinian and pro-Palestinian militants, 40 of whom were prisoners in Israel. They threatened that if these demands were not met, they would begin to kill hostages on July 1.

On July 30, the hijackers released most of the non-Jewish hostages, leaving 83 Jews, mostly Israeli citizens, and 20 others who stayed aboard in solidarity with them. Negotiations got underway, not just between Israel and the hijackers, but between Israel and Amin. In contrast with his usual bombastic image, Amin convinced the hijackers to extend the deadline.

Representatives within the Israeli government initially debated over whether to concede or respond by force, as the hijackers had threatened to kill the hostages if the specified prisoners were not released. Acting on intelligence provided by Mossad, the decision was made by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to have the Israeli military undertake a rescue operation. The Israeli plans included preparation for an armed confrontation with Amin's Uganda Army. This extension of the hostage deadline proved crucial to providing Israeli forces enough time to get to Entebbe. Brigadier General Dan Shomron, who presented it, was named its overall commander.

Initiating the operation at nightfall on July 4, Israeli transport planes flew 100 commandos over 2,500 miles to Uganda for the rescue effort. Over the course of 90 minutes, 102 of the hostages were rescued successfully, with 3 having been killed. The Israeli military suffered 5 wounded and 1 killed. His name was Yonatan Netanyahu. He was 30 years old, held the rank of Sgan aluf, equivalent in the U.S. Army to that of Lieutenant Colonel, and commanded a reconnaissance unit named Sayeret Matkal. 

Yonatan was the older brother of Benjamin Netanyahu, who would later become Prime Minister. While "Bibi" was born in Tel Aviv, "Yoni" was born in New York City. They had spent their teenage years in the suburbs of Philadelphia, and went to Cheltenham High School. Yonatan graduated in the Class of 1964, along with baseball legend Reggie Jackson, who recalled having many Jewish friends at the time.

The Israeli commandos killed all of the hijackers and 45 Ugandan soldiers, and 11 of Uganda's Soviet-built MiG-17s and MiG-21s were destroyed. Over the course of the operation in Uganda, Israel received support from neighboring Kenya.

Amin subsequently issued orders for the Ugandan military to kill all Kenyans living in Uganda, leading to the deaths of 245 Kenyan-Ugandans, and the exodus of around 3,000 Kenyans. Since Kenya was still in the British Commonwealth, the United Kingdom broke diplomatic relations with Uganda the following year. Amin declared that he had defeated the British and added "CBE" to his title, for "Conqueror of the British Empire," instead of its usual "Commander of the Order of the British Empire." He also proclaimed himself to be the King of Scotland.

On December 13, 1976, just 5 months after the raid, ABC aired the film Victory at Entebbe, starring Anthony Hopkins, Burt Lancaster, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Dreyfuss, and Julius Harris as Amin. A month later, on January 9, 1977, NBC aired their version, Raid on Entebbe, with Horst Buchholz, Charles Bronson, James Woods, Yaphet Kotto as Amin, and Peter Finch as Rabin. It was Finch's last role: He died 5 days after the premiere, and soon won a posthumous Academy Award for Best Actor, for his role in Network.

But such are the natures of democracy and dictatorship that Rabin lost power through an election, replaced by Menachem Begin in 1977, before Amin lost power through a coup. And Amin outlived Rabin. On the other hand, Rabin did make a comeback, regaining the Premiership in 1992, dying in office through assassination in 1995, while Amin lived out his life in exile, dying in 2003.

*

July 4, 1976 was a Sunday. It was the Bicentennial, the 200th Anniversary, of American independence, and there were celebrations all over the United States. I have a separate entry for that collection of events.

It was the off-season for the NFL, the NBA and the NHL. But a full slate of Major League Baseball games was played, including some of what had been a tradition, the holiday doubleheader: 

* The New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians, 4-3 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Despite giving up 2 home runs to Rico Carty, Dock Ellis was the winning pitcher. The Yankee runs scored on RBI singles by Willie Randolph and Jim Mason in the 2nd inning, and a sacrifice fly by Graig Nettles in the 6th. After giving up Carty's 2nd homer in the bottom of the 9th, Ellis was removed by manager Billy Martin, who brought Sparky Lyle in to slam the door.

* The New York Mets split a doubleheader with the Chicago Cubs at Shea Stadium. The Metropolitans won the opener, 9-4. The Cubbies won the nightcap, 4-2.

* Perhaps oddly, or perhaps wisely, depending on how you look at it, the Philadelphia Phillies were away from home on Bicentennial Day. They split a doubleheader with the Pittsburgh Pirates at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. The Phils won the 1st game 10-5, and the Bucs won the 2nd game 7-1.

* The defending, and soon to be back-to-back, World Champion Cincinnati Reds beat the Houston Astros, 7-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-4 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

* In the day's only extra-inning game, the Chicago White Sox beat the Texas Rangers, 7-6. Before the game, White Sox owner Bill Veeck played the wounded fife player alongside two drummers, re-creating the famous Spirit of '76 painting by Archibald Willard, as they walked around the field at Comiskey Park.

Jorge Orta singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 12th. Right before the next season started, the Yankees, unhappy with the lack of production from shortstops Mason and Fred Stanley, traded for the player who scored the winning run in this game: Bucky Dent.

This was the opener of a doubleheader. In the 2nd game, the Rangers won, 3-2.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 3-1 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Hank Aaron, in his final major league season, did not play for the Brewers.

* A doubleheader was split at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. The California Angels won the opener, 5-3. The Minnesota Twins won the nightcap, 9-5.

* The only team then in the major leagues representing a city outside the United States, the Montreal Expos, was within the United States, beating the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-3 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Kansas City Royals, 6-0 at Royals (now Kauffman) Stadium in Kansas City. Mike Norris pitched a 3-hit shutout.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-2 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.