It was one of the most audacious attacks on Israeli civilians and would not be forgotten in a hurry by either the Israeli intelligence community or the Olympic fraternity. It happened during the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. A terrorist group called Black September had seized eleven Israeli athletes at the Olympic village and demanded the freeing of 234 Palestinian prisoners. The Black September, a militant faction of the Palestinian organisation Fatah, had been driven out of Jordan after an attempt to seize power from the monarch in 1970.
The Germans tried to prevent the worst from happening but they failed as the eleven athletes were killed. The Games were suspended and West Germany was criticised for a bungled rescue attempt.
Former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir
The then Israeli prime minister, Golda Meir, then ordered Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, to track down and kill those responsible for the massacre. It was an operation that was to continue for over twenty years.
The Israelis knew that in order to deter similar future violent incidents against Israel, they needed to assassinate those who had supported or carried out the Munich massacre. The first task was to draw up an assassination list of all those involved in the killing of the athletes. This was done with the help of European intelligence services and PLO staff working for Mossad. Mossad was then charged with the responsibility of finding and killing the individuals.
One after the other, the culprits responsible for the Munich massacre were killed in Mossad operations that lasted about 20 years. However, it is thought that one gunman is still alive but in hiding.
Palestinian Wael Zwaiter was killed in Rome in the first assassination which occurred on October 16, 1972.
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