Sayeret Matkal (
Hebrew ????? ???"??,
translation General Staff Reconnaissance Unit) is an elite
special forces unit of the
Israeli Defence Force (IDF). Its main roles are
counter-terrorism, deep
reconnaissance and
intelligence gathering, but the unit is first and foremost a field intelligence-gathering unit, used to obtain strategic intelligence behind enemy lines. Sayeret Matkal is also in charge of
hostage rescue missions outside Israeli borders. The unit is modeled on the
British SAS[1], and organizationally reports to the
Directorate of Military Intelligence. Its IDF nickname is simply "The Unit". Borrowed from the SAS, the unit's
motto is "
Who Dares Wins."
The unit is best known for Operation Thunderbolt, commonly known as Operation Entebbe, in which it rescued more than 100 Air France airline passengers hijacked and flown to Uganda by PLO terrorists, and killed 53 enemy combatants while losing only the assault element commander, Yonatan Netanyahu, and three hostages.[2]
Sayeret Matkal was founded in 1957 by Avraham Arnan (né Herling), a former yeshiva student and Palmach fighter, who served as its first commander. Originally it was part of the Aman Unit 157, but began to operate independently a year later as the General Staff's elite special operations force,[3] modeled after the British Special Air Service. Members of the unit were trained by Bedouin trackers on the finer points of looking and thinking like an Arab.[4] Sayeret Matkal was also formed one year after the IDF's first helicopter squadron became operational and close co-operation between the two allowed Sayeret Matkal to deploy for longer and deeper inside Arab territory than any unit before.
In 1959, a draftee named Ehud Barak was accepted into Sayeret Matkal. He later succeeded the Unit 101 commando Lt. Meir Har-Zion in becoming Israel's most decorated soldier. Whilst with Sayeret Matkal, Ehud Barak participated in many operations, including leading the Operation Isotope (airplane hostage rescue) in 1972 and leading the 1973 Israeli raid on Lebanon. He later progressed in his military career to become the IDF Chief of Staff in 1991 and retired after the end of his tenure in 1995. In 1999 Ehud Barak became the 10th Prime Minister of Israel.
