Murder of Dora Bloch

Dora Bloch
Family members at the grave of Dora Bloch
Born Dora Feinberg
1901/2
Jaffa, Ottoman Empire
Died 1976 (aged 74)
Kampala, Uganda
Burial place Har HaMenuchot
Nationality British-Israeli
Other names Devorah Bloch
Known for Killed on order of Idi Amin after Operation Entebbe
Spouse(s) Aharon Bloch
Children 3

In June 1976, Dora Bloch (Hebrew: דורה בלוך‎), a dual Israeli-British citizen, was a hostage on Air France Flight 139 from Tel Aviv to Paris, which was hijacked after a stopover in Athens and rerouted to Entebbe, Uganda. Bloch was taken ill on the plane and was taken to a hospital in Kampala; she was not rescued with the other hostages during Operation Entebbe, but went missing from the hospital. Her disappearance led to Britain cutting diplomatic ties with Uganda. Her body was discovered in 1979 in a sugar plantation near the capital. In February 2007, declassified British documents confirmed that she was killed on the order of Idi Amin.[1][2]

Biography

Dora Feinberg was born in Jaffa, then a part of the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem, Ottoman Empire and now a part of Israel.[3] Her father, Joseph Feinberg, was among the founders of the Jewish agricultural settlement of Rishon LeZion.[3][4] After her father's death, she was raised by an uncle in Egypt. She moved to Jerusalem as an adult. In 1925 she married Aharon Bloch, a naturalised citizen of the United Kingdom, which gave her British citizenship.[5] They had three sons.[3] She spoke Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, German, Italian, and English.[3] In 1976 she was a grandmother and a widow living in Tel Aviv.[6]

Disappearance

On 27 June 1976, Bloch, aged 74,[2] was on Air France Flight 139, an Airbus A300 plane. She was travelling to New York City for her youngest son Daniel's wedding.[6][7] The flight was hijacked by terrorists after a stopover in Athens and was redirected to Entebbe, Uganda.[2] With her fluency in languages, Bloch served as an interpreter between the hostages and hijackers.[3] Bloch's son, Ilan Hartuv, with whom she had been travelling, was released during the subsequent Operation Entebbe counter-terrorist hostage-rescue mission.[6]

Bloch was taken ill on the plane and was transferred to a hospital in Kampala.[2] She is believed to have choked on food, and Foreign and Commonwealth Office papers say that she was also being treated for leg ulcers while at the hospital.[1][8] During her hospital stay, she was visited by James Hennessy, the then-High Commissioner of the United Kingdom to Uganda.[1]

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.[9] However, she disappeared from her hospital bed, and on 13 July, MP Ted Rowlands said that she was presumed dead.[6] Kyemba later said that Bloch had been dragged from her hospital bed and murdered by members of the Ugandan Army loyal to Idi Amin. The policeman guarding Bloch was also killed.[6][9][1][8] A suggested motive for her killing was retaliation for the deaths of 50 Ugandan soldiers during Operation Entebbe.[1]

On 28 July 1976, Britain cut all diplomatic ties with Uganda as a result of Bloch's disappearance. It was the first time in 30 years that Britain had severed ties with a Commonwealth country.[6][10]

Recovery of body

Bloch's body was discovered in 1979 in a sugar plantation around 20 miles (32 km) from Kampala.[6][7] Visual identification was precluded because her face was badly burned, but the corpse showed signs of a leg ulcer.[1][2] Bloch was given an Israeli state funeral[6][7][11] and was buried at Har HaMenuchot.[12]

Declassified British documents released in February 2007 confirmed that Bloch had been killed on Idi Amin's orders. According to the documents, a Ugandan citizen told the British High Commissioner in Kampala that Bloch had been shot and her body deposited into the trunk of a car with Ugandan intelligence services number plates. The documents also showed that Britain continued to press Amin for information on Bloch's whereabouts, and that Amin continually denied knowledge of her fate.[1][2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Verkaik, Robert (2007). "Revealed: the fate of Idi Amin's hijack victim". The Independent. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Arava, Yael (13 February 2007). "כך הורה אידי אמין לרצוח את דורה בלוך" [So Idi Amin Ordered the Murder of Dora Bloch]. Maariv (in Hebrew). Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Associated Press (15 July 1976). "Hostage 'Auntie' Bloch Loved Kids". Chicago Tribune. p. 2. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  4. ↑ "History of Rishon LeZion". Rishon LeZion Municipality. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  5. ↑ David, Saul (2015). Operation Thunderbolt: Flight 139 and the Raid on Entebbe Airport, the Most Audacious Hostage Rescue Mission in History. Hachette. p. 105. ISBN 1444762524.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "1976: British grandmother missing in Uganda". BBC News. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  7. 1 2 3 "Leaders of Israel Attend Funeral Of Dora Bloch, Victim of Idi Amin". The New York Times. 6 June 1979. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  8. 1 2 "Cruel murder of Dora Bloch". South African History Online. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  9. 1 2 "The Killing of Dora Bloch". Chicago Tribune. 19 June 1977. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  10. ↑ Theakston, Kevin (August 2004). British Foreign Secretaries Since 1974. Routledge. p. 75. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  11. ↑ "Dora Bloch's Remains to Be Buried". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 5 June 1979. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  12. ↑ "Dora Feinberg Bloch". Find a Grave. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
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