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Idi Amin was one of the most bloody of late 20th century dictators. A African-nationalist general whom ethnically cleansed Uganda of Indian residents, Amin massacred 300,000 of his own people. His eccentric and domineering demeanor was brought to film in The Last King of Scotland.
Amin rose to power in a 1971 military coup where Britain was long-accused of orchestrating the coup to serve its interests in Africa. But recently disclosed information lays the blame for Amin not at Britain, but Israel:
When Radio Uganda announced at dawn on 25 January 1971 that Idi Amin was Uganda's new ruler, many people suspected that Britain had a hand in the coup. However, Foreign Office papers released last year point to a different conspirator: Israel...The first telegrams to London from the British High Commissioner in Kampala, Richard Slater, show a man shocked and bewildered by the coup. But he quickly turned to the man who he thought might know what was going on; Colonel Bar-Lev, the Israeli defence attaché. He found the Israeli colonel with Amin. They had spent the morning of the coup together. Slater's next telegram says that according to Colonel Bar-Lev: "In the course of last night General Amin caused to be arrested all officers in the armed forces sympathetic to Obote ... Amin is now firmly in control of all elements of [the] army which controls vital points in Uganda ... the Israeli defence attaché discounts any possibility of moves against Amin." The Israelis moved quickly to consolidate the coup. In the following days Bar-Lev was in constant contact with Amin and giving him advice. Slater told London that Bar-Lev had explained "in considerable detail [how] ... all potential foci of resistance, both up country and in Kampala, had been eliminated". Shortly afterwards Amin made his first foreign trip; a state visit to Israel. Golda Meir, the Prime Minister, was reportedly "shocked at his shopping list" for arms.
It is hard to explain why Israel would play even a very minimal role in Uganda. Uganda is not a powerful nation that can serve as an important ally - neither then nor now. Uganda does not border Israel and has never played a role in the Arab-Israeli conflict. It would seem counterproductive of a young nation like Israel to exhaust any resources for the purpose of aiding an insignificant African nation without any evident gain. Especially when Israel is surrounded by hostile power. Of course, Israel may have just wanted to increase its allies on the continent as a way toward boosting support for Israel among the southern hemisphere where Zionism has long been viewed as a Western imperial project.
Whatever the cause may be, Israel's support for Amin would be something the country would regret. Amin was a fanatical anti-Semite whom installed a statue for Hitler in the Ugandan capital. Furthermore, Amin once allowed planes hijacked by Palestinian resistance figures land in Uganda. The passengers were mostly Israelis and Jews. The purpose of the capture was to force Israel to trade passengers for imprisoned Palestinians. The Israel, instead, launched a raid on the airport and freed all but one of the passengers (whom was subsequently killed). Israel's current prime minister's brother has one of the Israeli forces to take part in the rescue. He died. There is a lesson in support for Amin: nations should not intervene in the affairs of others for interests are not always aligned and the consequences could be regrettable.
