Dora Bloch

Dora Bloch (; October 1902July 1976) was an Israeli hostage on Air France Flight 139 on 26 June 1976. Taking off from Tel Aviv, Israel, and destined for Paris, France, the plane soon landed in Athens, Greece, for a scheduled stopover and was subsequently hijacked by two Palestinians from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and two Germans from the Revolutionary Cells, who rerouted to Benghazi, Libya, and then to Entebbe, Uganda, where they received support from Ugandan president Idi Amin. Bloch, who had become ill during the flight, was taken to a hospital in Kampala and was therefore not among the 102 hostages who were rescued when Israel executed Operation Thunderbolt on 4 July 1976.

She disappeared shortly after the hostages were rescued; her status as a British citizen and Amin's complicity in the hijacking resulted in the United Kingdom severing diplomatic ties with the Commonwealth country. In 1979, during the Tanzanian invasion of Uganda, Bloch's body was discovered by Tanzanian soldiers at a sugar plantation near Kampala and subsequently returned to Israel, where she was buried in Jerusalem. In February 2007, declassified British government documents confirmed that she had been murdered by Ugandan authorities on Amin's orders.

Biography Bloch was born in Jaffa in October 1902. along with his brother Israel Feinberg. After her father's death, she was raised by an uncle in neighbouring Egypt and later moved to Jerusalem as an adult. She was fluent in Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, German, Italian, and English. In 1920, shortly after the establishment of the British Mandate for Palestine, she met her future husband Aharon Bloch while he was serving in the British Army;

Air France Flight 139

On 27 June 1976, Bloch, aged 73, was on Air France Flight 139, an Airbus A300 plane, travelling to New York City for her youngest son Daniel's wedding. The flight was hijacked by terrorists after a stopover in Athens and was redirected to Entebbe, Uganda.

Bloch became ill on the plane and was transferred to Mulago Hospital in Kampala. Bloch's son Ilan Hartuv, who was freed during the subsequent Operation Entebbe counter-terrorist hostage-rescue mission, Henry Kyemba, then Uganda's Minister of Health, said that he had allowed Bloch to stay in hospital for an extra night before being returned to the other hostages. As a result of this, Bloch was not with the other hostages, and so was not freed during the Operation Entebbe raid. They spent an hour observing the traditional mourning ritual (shiva), but no longer as she was not confirmed dead. As a result, she was visited by James Hennessy, then-High Commissioner of the United Kingdom to Uganda, Bloch told Chandley that she had been treated well in the hospital, but did not like the food.

On 13 July, Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Ted Rowlands said that Bloch was presumed dead. A suggested motive for her killing was retaliation for the deaths of 50 Ugandan soldiers during Operation Entebbe. The British Government said that the main reason for cutting ties was the disappearance of Bloch, although other events during Amin's leadership had also contributed. In retaliation, Amin declared himself the "Conqueror of the British Empire (CBE)", and the unofficial King of Scotland. He added "Conqueror of the British Empire" to his list of official titles. After the fall of Amin in 1979, Britain recommenced diplomatic relations with Uganda.

In 1987, Kyemba said that Bloch had been dragged from her hospital bed and murdered by members of the Ugandan Army loyal to Amin.

Recovery of body

After the Uganda–Tanzania War, She was buried in Jerusalem's Har HaMenuchot Cemetery.