Editing Entebbe raid (section)

=== Diplomatic efforts ===
In the week before the raid, Israel tried using political avenues to obtain the release of the hostages. Many sources indicate that the [[Cabinet of Israel|Israeli cabinet]] was prepared to release Palestinian prisoners if a military solution seemed unlikely to succeed. A retired IDF officer, Baruch "Burka" Bar-Lev, had known Idi Amin for many years and was considered to have a strong personal relationship with him. At the request of the cabinet, he spoke with Amin on the phone many times, trying to gain the release of the hostages, without success.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070930121748/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,914380,00.html "Vindication for the Israelis"]. ''Time''. 26 July 1976.</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071016182522/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,914382,00.html "War of Words over a Tense Border"]. ''Time''. 26 July 1976.</ref> The Israeli government also approached the United States government to deliver a message to Egyptian president [[Anwar Sadat]], asking him to request that Amin release the hostages.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://foia.state.gov/searchapp/DOCUMENTS%5Ckissinger%5C0000C08F.pdf |title=Conversation between Henry Kissinger and Israeli Ambassador Simch Dinitz, 30 June 1976 |access-date=24 July 2011 |archive-date=13 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190913032323/https://foia.state.gov/searchapp/DOCUMENTS%5Ckissinger%5C0000C08F.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Prime minister [[Yitzhak Rabin]] and defence minister [[Shimon Peres]] spent one week disagreeing on whether to give in to the hijackers' demands (Rabin's position) or not, to prevent more terrorism (Peres' position).<ref name="Telegraph_David">{{cite news |author=David |first=Saul |author-link=Saul David |date=27 June 2015 |title=Israel's raid on Entebbe was almost a disaster |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/11701064/Israels-raid-on-Entebbe-was-almost-a-disaster.html |access-date=9 February 2018 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]}}</ref>

At the 1 July deadline<ref>Grimes, Paul. [https://www.nytimes.com/1976/07/30/archives/rescuing-the-entebbe-hostages.html "Rescuing the Entebbe Hostages"]. ''The New York Times''. Friday, 30 July 1976. (The Weekend, p. 51).</ref> the Israeli cabinet offered to negotiate with the hijackers to extend the deadline to 4 July. Amin also asked them to extend the deadline until that date. This meant he could take a diplomatic trip to [[Port Louis]], Mauritius, to officially hand over chairmanship of the [[Organisation of African Unity]] to [[Seewoosagur Ramgoolam]].<ref>Lipkin-Shakhak, Tali. [http://www.historama.com/online-resources/articles/israel/dan_shomron_on_1976_entebbe_raid.html "The Forgotten Hero of Entebbe"]. Historama. 16 June 2006.</ref> This extension of the hostage deadline proved crucial to providing Israeli forces enough time to get to Entebbe.<ref name="General Dan Shomron" />

On 3 July at 18:30, the Israeli cabinet approved a rescue mission,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/07/04/archives/hostages-freed-as-israelis-raid-uganda-airport-commandos-in-3.html|title=Hostages Freed as Israelis Raid Uganda Airport |last=Terence|first=Smith | work=The New York Times | date=4 July 1976 | access-date=20 May 2010}}</ref> presented by [[Aluf|Major General]] [[Yekutiel Adam]] and Brigadier General [[Dan Shomron]]. Shomron was appointed as the operation commander.<ref name=ediary>{{cite web|url=http://dover.idf.il/IDF/console/article_page.aspx?doc_id=23016&lang=english|title=Israel Defense Forces&nbsp;– Entebbe Diary|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081209010738/http://dover.idf.il/IDF/console/article_page.aspx?doc_id=23016&lang=english|archive-date=9 December 2008}}</ref>