The spontaneous response of Western opinion, official as well as individual, to Israel’s Entebbe operation was enthusiastic applause. Even in the Communist and Third World nations there were hints of unofficial enjoyment (Idi Amin himself graciously expressed his professional admiration), but this was quickly blanketed by official denunciation from an almost solid anti-Western front.
What evoked the immediate individual enthusiasm is obvious. In spite of decades of humanitarian tutelage, most human beings just naturally admire a display of combined courage and skill, especially when it involves a sudden reversal in the plot—what Aristotle called peripeteia.
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