Israel History Trivia

1. On June 27, 1976, Air France Flight 139 left Tel Aviv for Paris. During a stopover in which city that is considered the birthplace of democracy, did the terrorists board the plane?

From Quiz Night Raid - Operation Entebbe

Answer: Athens

There was nothing unusual about Air France Flight 139 as it left Tel Aviv but the stopover in Athens changed everything. Among the passengers waiting to board in Athens were the four hijackers. The armed hijackers were able to walk right past the metal detectors in Athens because no one was manning them. Although it is unclear whether they had prior knowledge that this would be the case, it is a sensible conclusion. What is also clear is that the hijackers would have had no chance of getting past security in Tel Aviv but found a weak link in Athens.

From Quiz Masada

Answer: fortress

The word Masada comes from the Hebrew "Metzada", meaning fortress. Built on top of a flat rock plateau at the western end of the Judean Desert, the fortress overlooks the Dead Sea. Approximately 1800 x 900 feet in size, the top of the plateau could be reached in ancient times by climbing one of three difficult paths. This is where the Jews made their last stand against the Romans during the Jewish Revolt of 66-73.

From Quiz The Entebbe Rescue

Answer: The bicentennial of the United States

The Air France airliner was hijacked on June 29, 1976, and the hostages rescued five days later, on July 4, 1976. This date, of course, corresponded to the United States bicentennial celebrations. Many journalists, writing at the time, drew a parallel between the Fourth of July, which celebrates American freedom, and the freeing of the hijacked passengers from Entebbe.

From Quiz And Then There Was Israel

Answer: Herzl & Theodor Herzl & Theodore Herzl

Theodor Herzl was a journalist, whose early career did not focus much on Jewish affairs. Covering the Dreyfus affair, however, moved him to believe that it was impossible to combat anti-Semitism, and that the only solution was the establishment of a Jewish state. By 1897, Herzl organized the first Zionist Congress in Basel. He devoted the rest of his life to negotiating with various governments to make the Jewish state a reality. Steeped in the Enlightenment tradition, Herzl saw the future Israel as a modern, secular state. Herzl is buried on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.

From Quiz Israel: 1948 to 2003

Answer: Chaim Weizmann

Einstein was offered but refused as he believed he was not suited for the job of a president. Weizmann was president from 1949 to 1952.

From Quiz Israel - Important Events and Personalities

Answer: David Ben-Gurion

David Ben-Gurion, known in Israel as "The old man", was the one who pushed forward and made possible the vision of a Jewish state in the land of Israel.

From Quiz Night Raid - Operation Entebbe

Answer: Benghazi

Libya was a logical choice for the hijackers to seek refuge. Beginning in 1972, Gaddafi financially supported and offered military training to militant Palestinian groups fighting against Israel. The plane landed in Benghazi and stayed on the ground for seven hours for refueling. After that it flew to Entebbe. On Sept. 11, 2012, the 11th anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks, Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed in Benghazi in a terrorist attack.

From Quiz Masada

Answer: Herod the Great

Herod the Great was King of Judea by Roman permission. He was rich, smart, and cruel. His subjects hated him, and Herod fortified and furnished Masada as a refuge where he could live in style in case he ever needed to make a run for his life. Included in the community were storehouses, cisterns, barracks, palaces, an amory, a bathhouse, and a synagogue. A large group of people could live indefinitely there.

From Quiz The Entebbe Rescue

Answer: The flight was from Tel Aviv to Paris, with a stopover in Athens

The Airbus A300 took off from the Tel Aviv airport on June 27, 1976, for Paris with a stop-over in Athens. It was in Athens that four hijackers entered the airplane and forced the pilot to divert the flight to Libya.

From Quiz Israel: 1948 to 2003

Answer: 1948

This war resulted in about 6,000 casualties - and cost fewer lives than later Arab-Israeli wars. The war established Israel as a viable independent state.

From Quiz Israel - Important Events and Personalities

Answer: 1948

Israel got its independence in 1948 from Great Britain. It was a year after India and Pakistan got their independence as well.

From Quiz Night Raid - Operation Entebbe

Answer: Uganda

Entebbe is located in Uganda and was once the capital of the Protectorate of Uganda during British colonial rule. The international airport in Entebbe is the largest commercial and military airport in Uganda. Idi Amin allowed the hijackers to use an abandoned terminal to hold the hostages and visited every day. Interestingly, land in what was then considered Uganda and is now part of Kenya was once offered as a homeland for the Jewish people in 1903 under the British Uganda Programme. The Zionist Congress rejected the offer. Also during the first year of Amin's rule, Israel had supplied arms and military advisers to Uganda, but in 1972 Amin ended the relationship and turned instead to Gaddafi and Libya.

From Quiz Masada

Answer: Lucius Flavius Silva

Silva, appointed Governor-General of Judea from 73-81, was the leader of the legion "X Fretensis", or the tenth legion of the sea strait - Rome's elite legionnaires. He ordered that a wall be built around the foot of Masada, and established eight camps there. Typically, Rome would probably not have bothered with the rebels on Masada. However, at the beginning of the Jewish Revolt the tenth legion had suffered humilitation that could not be overlooked - by losing its eagle standard - and the emperor needed to be able to claim the victory. When the Romans were finally able to enter the stronghold, they found evidence of a mass suicide. Later, in 81 A.D., Silva was apointed consul; his fate after that is uncertain. One theory is that he fell victim to the purges of Domitian.

From Quiz The Entebbe Rescue

Answer: The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Baader-Meinhof Gang

Four terrorists, two of them members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and two Germans belonging to the Baader-Meinhoff gang, boarded the plane in Athens. The security at the airport in Athens was so lax that one of the terrorists wore a machine gun under his jacket. The terrorists forced the plane to flight to Libya, where it refueled, and then on to Entebbe in Uganda. Two additional terrorists joined them in Uganda. Idi Amin, who had formerly enjoyed positive relations with Israel, and even took some military training there, gave his full support to the terrorists. Ugandan soldiers were instructed to provide security for the hijackers. The hijackers demanded the release of 53 terrorists held in jail in several countries, including Israel.

From Quiz Israel: 1948 to 2003

Answer: Illegal immigration

Mossad, which was then known as Palmach, had as its original puropse the organization of the illegal immigration of Jews to Palestine while the country was under British rule (1917-1948). The British government had quotas on the number of Jews allowed to migrate there legally. (Note: a range of groups organized illegal immigration from 1934 onwards). (Thank you for that correction-Layla from Haifa, Israel)

From Quiz Israel - Important Events and Personalities

Answer: Menachem Begin

Sadat, the Egyptian president who signed the peace agreement with Begin in 1978, was later murdered because of this agreement.

From Quiz Masada

Answer: Eleazar ben Yair

In 66 A.D., at the outbreak of the Jewish War, Menahem, son of Judah the Galilean, captured Masada with the help of a band of Zealots. Eleazar became the leader after Menahem, his uncle, was murdered in Jerusalem by Jewish rivals. After the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Masada remained the only point of Jewish resistance, and Eleazar served as leader of the 960 people there.

From Quiz The Entebbe Rescue

Answer: The hijackers freed them, but they insisted on staying with the hijacked passengers

After arriving at Entebbe airport in Uganda, the terrorists separated the Jewish passengers (80 Israelis and 20 French Jews) from the non-Jewish passengers, who were allowed to board a plane that would return them to France. The hijackers released the crew, but Captain Michel Bocas insisted that he was responsible for his passengers and would remain with them. The remainder of the crew followed his noble example. In addition, a Catholic nun attempted to remain with the hijacked passengers, but the hijackers forced her onto the plane leaving for France. Captain Bocas was later reprimanded for actions by Air France! In Israel, however, he is considered a hero, and he traveled to Israel on the 25th anniversary of the Entebbe rescue and was warmly received by his former passengers, as well as the general public.

From Quiz Israel: 1948 to 2003

Answer: Isser Harel

Isser Harel resigned due to differences with Ben Gurion in 1963 and was replaced by Meir Amit.

From Quiz Israel - Important Events and Personalities

Answer: 1967

After this war Rabin, who served as the chief of staff, and Moshe Dayan, who was the minister of defence, were considered heroes in Israel.

From Quiz Night Raid - Operation Entebbe

Answer: Red Sea

The four Israeli C-130s carrying the commandos flew down the coast of Africa over the Red Sea at a height of no more than 100ft above the water in order to avoid Egyptian, Sudanese, and Saudi Arabian radar. Once close enough they most likely flew across Somalia close to the Ethiopian border until they reached Kenya. From there they crossed Kenyan airspace to reach Entebbe. In the book of Exodus in both the Hebrew and Christian Bibles, the Red Sea figures prominently in the story of Moses and Israelites travels to the Promised Land.

From Quiz Masada

Answer: Sicarii

The Sicarii, called "violent men" because of their policy of killing Jewish opponents, was an extremist splinter group of the Zealots. They didn't get along with either the Romans or other Jewish groups. In fact, it appears that the Sicarii were in conflict with many of the groups who took refuge on Masada.

From Quiz The Entebbe Rescue

Answer: An Israeli construction company had built the airport

During the 1960s, Israel provided considerable aid to developing nations in Africa. Most of this was agricultural, but Israeli construction companies were also active in many African nations, including Uganda. The fact that an Israeli construction company had built Entebbe airport and still had the blueprints, allowed the IDF to plan the rescue mission in minute detail. In addition, Mosad agents interviewed the released passengers who arrived in France. One of these, in particular, had a remarkable memory, and was able to provide the Israelis with information about the hijackers, their weapons, the terminal, etc.

From Quiz And Then There Was Israel

Answer: 60

The 1922 Census shows a population consisting of 78% Muslims out of the total Palestine population of 752,048. The next twenty years of British rule brought to the region prosperity not seen under the Ottomans; that, together with increased immigration led to a population explosion. By 1945, the census showed a total Palestine population of 1764520, 31% of it Jewish.

From Quiz Israel: 1948 to 2003

Answer: 5 June 1967

Israel wiped out the entire air forces of Jordan and Syria and about one-quarter of the Egyptian Air Force in one day - in all nearly 700 aircraft. This was a significant factor in the Israeli victory in this war.

From Quiz Israel - Important Events and Personalities

Answer: Uncle and nephew.

From Quiz Night Raid - Operation Entebbe

Answer: Lake Victoria

Because Entebbe is a peninsula that juts into Lake Victoria, the planners of the raid considered using boats for the assault. But test runs for dropping the boats from C-130s into water proved unreliable and the idea was scrapped. The teams had no choice but to land at the airport and attack that way. The four C-130s were scheduled to land in seven minute intervals with the initial assault party landing first followed by the other combat teams.

From Quiz Masada

Answer: Vespasian

Vespasian refused to negotiate a peace with the Jews, who asked for time to rebuild their country, for the appointment of a Jewish governor, and for the formation of a Jewish army to keep the peace. Politically he really couldn't; he had already minted coins commemorating his victory at Masada. The incident was a source of great embarrassment to him, due to the length of time it took to end the problem; his enemies used it to spread rumors of his inability to govern the empire. Above all, Rome had to be able to claim victory.

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Last Updated Nov 15 2025 5:48 AM

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