By New York Post (World News) | Created at 2026-08-15 23:20:49 | Updated at 2026-08-16 00:45:22
1 hour ago
This is monumentally awkward.
A new bronze statue of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fallen commando brother was unveiled earlier this month in Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s native Uganda — cementing the lovefest between the African country and the stridently pro-Palestine mayor’s favorite foe.
The monument to Yonatan “Yoni” Netanyahu, marked 50 years since the famed “Raid on Entebbe,” or Operation Thunderbolt, Israel’s daring rescue of hostages aboard an Air France plane hijacked on June 27, 1976 by Islamic terrorists at Entebbe Airport.
The hijackers diverted the Paris-bound flight from Tel Aviv with 246 passengers to Uganda, then headed by Israel-hating dictator Idi Amin. The hijackers demanded $5 million and the release of dozens of Palestinian terrorists.
Israel’s bold mission – which was made into a Hollywood movie in 1977 – was led by Bibi’s older brother, a lieutenant colonel, and saved 102 out of 106 hostages.
The only one military loss was Yoni, who was shot and killed by a Ugandan sniper on July 4, 1976.
The statue of Yoni was unveiled Aug. 1 at the Old Entebbe Terminal during a ceremony attended by several Ugandan military bigwigs, “framing the occasion as a testament to the enduring security partnership, mutual trust, and diplomatic reconciliation between Uganda and Israel,” according to The Kampala Post.
Mamdani, who was born in the eastern African nation, holds dual US and Ugandan citizenship, and moved to the US at age 7 after being raised in South Africa.
He’s come under fire for his repeated vow to arrest the Israeli PM when he’s in New York, and issued a reckless video vilifying Netanyahu and calling him a “war criminal.”
“The Mamdani family must be plotzing,” joked one “X” user.
“I think we call it poetic justice. I have no doubt this makes the mayor lose sleep, and he hates every moment of it. Too bad,” quipped Dov Hikind, former Brooklyn Democratic assemblyman and founder of Americans Against Antisemitism, who, like many in Israel and the diaspora, named his own son Yoni after the fallen commando.
“It’s very personal for me – he was a hero of the Jewish people and was ultimately dealing with what Israel is dealing with today: terrorism.”
Uganda — if not the Mamdanis — has come a long way since the country’s antipathy towards Jews and Israel under the thumb of Amin.
In his new book, “Slow Poison: Idi Amin, Yoweri Museveni and the Making of the Ugandan State,” released in February, the mayor’s Israel-bashing Columbia professor father, Mahmood Mamdani, painted the cruel, unhinged dictator Amin as a product of Israeli machinations.
“Despite accusing Israel of Idi Amin’s rise to power, Mamdani ignores how Amin allowed, and even supported, the hijacking and attack on Jewish and Israeli passengers on Air France Flight 139,” wrote reviewer Jonathan Beloff.
But the African country — where the mayor owns four acres in Jinja — has transformed since Zo was a kid, beginning with restored diplomatic relations in 1994 and strengthening the ties in the subsequent decades – into a steadfast ally of the Jewish state.
General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Chief of Defence Forces in Uganda, kvelled on Twitter about the two countries’ deep bond.
“In order to strengthen our close blood relations with Israel, we shall soon unveil a statue to Yoni Netanyahu at the exact spot he was killed at Entebbe Airport,” wrote the general. “Yoni was the big brother of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. God bless Uganda and Israel.”
The mayor was roasted last week when a resurfaced interview clip revealed an embarrassing “fake” Ugandan accent, with the mayor accused of being a “fraud.”
Hikind noted that history proves how today’s leaders can become a mere footnote.
“Look at how things changed: Amin, who supported the terrorists and enemies of Israel, and Mamdani, are very similar,” he said. “No young person today knows who Amin is. The same will happen to Mamdani.”
