The Munich Massacre | History of Israel Explained | Unpacked

Summary

The Munich Massacre during the 1972 Olympics marked a tragic intersection of sports and terrorism. While the world watched athletes compete for medals, the event became infamous due to the murder of 11 Israeli Olympians by Palestinian terrorists, an incident marred by Germany's mishandled rescue attempt. This attack raised significant questions regarding terrorism's effectiveness and the ethical implications of retaliatory actions like Israel's Operation Wrath of God. The tragedy highlighted Palestine's cause worldwide and questioned the global response to terrorism.

Highlights

• The 1972 Munich Olympics are infamous for the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists. 🏅
• Germany's response to the crisis was marred by a series of critical blunders and mismanagement. 🚨
• Terrorists used the global stage of the Olympics to gain attention for the Palestinian cause. 🌐
• Israel launched Operation Wrath of God in retaliation, sparking debates on ethics and effectiveness. 🎯
• The incident questioned the efficacy of terrorism and appropriate responses. 🤔

Key Takeaways

• The Munich Massacre put terrorism on the world stage during the 1972 Olympics, highlighting security flaws. 🏟️
• Germany's response to the crisis was widely criticized for its inadequacy and mismanagement. 🤦
• The attack brought global awareness to the Palestinian cause, inadvertently achieving the terrorists’ goal. 🌍
• Israel's response included the controversial Operation Wrath of God, aiming to deter future attacks. 🎯
• The events questioned the effectiveness of terrorism and the ethical grounds of response strategies. 🤔

Overview

The 1972 Munich Olympics, intended to showcase a peaceful and modern Germany, are now remembered for a tragic event—the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists. Despite the prowess displayed by athletes like Mark Spitz, this dark chapter became a historic intersection of global sports and international terrorism, with far-reaching implications. The event exposed significant security lapses and inefficiencies in crisis management, particularly on the part of the German authorities.

The mishandled hostage situation resulted in a failed rescue attempt that was broadcast live to horrified audiences worldwide. This blunder not only claimed innocent lives but also allowed the terrorists to effectively showcase the Palestinian cause to a global audience, thereby achieving their sinister objective. The international response was mixed, with the Olympics continuing shortly after, much to the dismay of the victims' families and many others around the world.

In response, Israel launched the controversial Operation Wrath of God, targeting those responsible for the Munich attack. This retaliatory campaign opened up ethical debates about due process, state-sponsored violence, and the broader implications of terrorism. The events of Munich prompted discussions on whether terrorism, by drawing attention to particular causes, may actually be viewed as 'successful,' underscoring a troubling narrative in addressing global conflicts.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction and Olympic Highlights The Munich 1972 Olympics featured 7,134 athletes from 121 countries, celebrating high-level athletic competition. Key highlights included Mark Spitz winning seven gold medals, Olga Korbut dazzling in gymnastics, and a controversial basketball game where the USSR defeated the USA 50-49.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Terrorism at the Center Stage The chapter titled 'Terrorism at the Center Stage' delves into the tragic events of the Munich Olympics, where 11 Israeli athletes were killed by Palestinian terrorists. It discusses the aftermath of the attack, focusing on the criticized response by the German government, which is deemed one of the biggest failures in counter-terrorism history. The chapter questions how such a tragedy could occur and explores the efficacy of terrorism.
• 01:00 - 01:30: Germany's Image and Security Lapses The Munich Olympics in 1972 aimed to showcase Germany's peaceful and joyful image, contrasting with the 1936 Olympics held under Nazi propaganda. The event was called the Olympics of Peace & Joy, reflecting Germany's desire to promote a non-militaristic and peace-loving demeanor.
• 01:30 - 02:00: Terrorists Infiltrate Olympic Village The chapter discusses the infiltration of terrorists into the Olympic Village, highlighting the lack of security, particularly the absence of uniformed police officers or soldiers. It emphasizes the significance of the Israeli team's presence, just 27 years after the Holocaust, as a statement of Jewish resilience and reconciliation with Germany. The narrative climaxes at 4:30 a.m. on September 5th, 1972, when the dramatic events unfold.
• 02:00 - 02:30: Demands and the Context of Palestinian Struggle Eight men disguised in track suits infiltrate the Israeli team's apartment, killing two and taking nine athletes hostage. They demand the release of 234 Palestinian prisoners, threatening to execute hostages if demands are unmet.
• 02:30 - 03:00: PLO and Black September The chapter titled 'PLO and Black September' provides a historical context before discussing a specific event, Germany's botched rescue attempt. It starts by explaining the founding of al-Fatah by Yasser Arafat and colleagues in 1958, focusing on their advocacy for armed struggle against Israel. Following this, it covers the establishment of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1964, which aimed at the complete destruction of Israel. The narrative touches on the international terror campaign by the PLO and its affiliate, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which was known for plane hijackings and bombings.
• 03:00 - 03:30: Olympic Games Continue Amidst the Crisis This chapter discusses the political tensions and violence involving the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) during the time their headquarters were located in Jordan. It recounts the events of Black September, where Jordanian forces killed up to 15,000 Palestinian fighters and civilians, leading to the formation of the Black September Organization, a splinter cell known for the Munich Olympic massacre. The chapter details how this notorious attack was masterminded by Abu Daoud and reportedly approved by Yasser Arafat.
• 03:30 - 04:00: Failed Rescue Attempt The chapter titled "Failed Rescue Attempt" in the book highlights the events during the Olympics when an attack occurred, leading to the death of two Israelis and nine others being taken hostage. Despite the chaos, Avery Brundage, the then-president of the Olympic Committee, insisted on continuing the Games, emphasizing his determination under pressure to maintain the schedule with typical German precision. The first athletic event was held at 8:15 a.m. However, the hostage situation turned into an international crisis lasting over 20 hours, contrasting sharply with the normalcy in other parts of the Olympics as athletes continued with their leisurely activities.
• 04:00 - 04:30: Botched Helicopter Ambush The chapter titled 'Botched Helicopter Ambush' narrates a chilling event during the Olympics when the Olympics Committee belatedly suspended the games after a tragic incident unfolded nearby. Thousands, including live TV crews, congregated to witness what unfolded - a haunting sight of Jewish bloodshed on German soil. This evoked a sense of helplessness among Israelis and Jews worldwide, with Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir standing firm against negotiating with the terrorists responsible.
• 04:30 - 05:00: Aftermath of the Rescue Attempt In the chapter titled "Aftermath of the Rescue Attempt," German authorities declined help from the Israeli Mossad, who had a specialized counterterrorism unit. Instead, they opted for negotiations with the terrorists, which lacked efficiency. Simultaneously, the German police attempted a poorly planned assault by scaling the building to attack the terrorists. However, a crucial mistake was made as this operation was being broadcast live on television, inadvertently providing the terrorists with real-time updates on the police movements.
• 05:00 - 05:30: Press Conference and Memorial Ceremony In the chapter titled 'Press Conference and Memorial Ceremony,' the narrative describes a hostage situation where terrorists demanded to be flown to Egypt. The German authorities planned an ambush at the airport but their rescue attempt was poorly executed. Six policemen, pretending to be the flight crew, and five sharpshooters were involved. However, the plan fell apart when the flight crew abandoned their mission at the last minute without consulting central command. This resulted in a textbook example of poor management of a hostage situation.
• 05:30 - 06:00: Lack of Commemoration and Continued Games The chapter discusses the inadequacies faced by a group of five sharpshooters who were attempting a rescue operation without proper sniper training, equipment, or communication tools. Despite the presence of Israeli Mossad Chief Zvi Zamir, the German officials leading the operation appeared uneasy and disregarded his presence. This lack of coordination and preparedness led to a poorly executed rescue attempt. The chapter highlights the challenges faced due to the lack of commemoration and the continuation of events without proper oversight or planning, as demonstrated by the helicopters landing at the airport later in the night.
• 06:00 - 06:30: Hijacking and Release of Terrorists The chapter discusses a tense event where terrorists attempt to hijack an aircraft but find themselves trapped upon realizing it is empty. As they flee back to helicopters, a violent confrontation follows with snipers. In the chaos, terrorists detonate a grenade inside a helicopter, resulting in the death of four Israelis and the pilots. The remaining hostages in another helicopter are also killed by gunfire. The tragic incident concludes with a death toll of 11 Israelis, a policeman, and five terrorists.
• 06:30 - 07:00: Operation Wrath of God On the morning after the tragic incident, the Munich police commissioner attempted to justify the situation at a press conference, acknowledging the terrorists' skill and professionalism, which ultimately led to the hostages' deaths, implying a criticism of the German police's handling of the situation.
• 07:00 - 07:30: Ethical Questions and Effectiveness of Terrorism The chapter discusses ethical questions and the effectiveness of terrorism, illustrated by the Munich Olympics incident. During a ceremony, the Olympic and other national flags were flown at half-mast, except for 10 Arab nations that insisted their flags remain at full-mast. The games were temporarily suspended but later resumed without the remaining Israeli athletes who left Munich. The deceased terrorists were sent to Libya for burial where they were honored as heroes. Despite the gravity of the incident, the Olympic Committee still resists commemorating the Munich massacre victims with a memorial or moment of silence.
• 07:30 - 08:00: Palestinian Cause Gains Global Attention The chapter discusses the lengthy and challenging process of establishing a memorial at the Munich Olympic Park for the events that occurred there. It highlights Israeli efforts over 45 years to secure this commemoration. Additionally, it criticizes Germany's handling of the situation, suggesting a history of inadequate responses. A significant event mentioned is the hijacking of a Lufthansa 727 by Palestinian terrorists, which occurred while three terrorists were awaiting trial in German custody. The chapter underscores the global attention to the Palestinian cause through these events.

The Munich Massacre | History of Israel Explained | Unpacked Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 - 7,134 athletes from 121 countries descended upon Munich, Germany for the 1972 Olympics to celebrate athletic competition and healthy rivalries at the highest of levels. The competition was going swimmingly when, no pun intended, Mark Spitz, the Jewish American swimmer, won seven gold medals in a dazzling display of greatness, Olga Korbut, known as the Sparrow from Minsk, mesmerized the gymnastics world with four medals, and the USSR outlasted the Americans, 50 to 49, in what is still considered one of the most contentious ends to a basketball game
• 00:30 - 01:00 in sports history. But above all else, the Munich Olympics are remembered for putting terrorism on the center stage, when 11 Israeli Olympians were massacred by Palestinian terrorists, and just as notorious, the reaction of the German government, which some consider one of the most epic screwups in the history of terrorism, but more on that later. These events raise the questions, how could this happen? And does terrorism work? (lively music)
• 01:00 - 01:30 The Munich Olympics in 1972 were supposed to showcase the new face of Germany. At the 1936 Olympics, held in Nazi Germany just 36 years earlier, Hitler used the event as a propaganda machine to demonstrate the superiority of the Aryan race. The 1972 Olympics were determined to be propaganda of the opposite kind. Germany actually named the upcoming events the not-so-subtle Olympics of Peace & Joy, or Die Heiteren Spiele. They wanted to show the least militaristic, most peace-loving Germany possible,
• 01:30 - 02:00 and this meant a deliberate lack of security. Although there were some unarmed security officers, not a single uniformed police officer or soldier was anywhere in sight. The attendance of the Israeli team at this event, only 27 years after the Holocaust, cannot be understated. The Israeli athletes, many of whom lost relatives in the Holocaust, waved the Israeli flag over German soil only six miles from the Dachau concentration camp. Israel was making a strong statement of both Jewish resilience, and Israel's readiness to accept a different Germany. But at 4:30 a.m. the morning of September 5th, 1972,
• 02:00 - 02:30 eight men dressed in track suits to blend in with the athletes, carrying duffel bags loaded with AK-47s, pistols, and grenades, jumped the unguarded fence and infiltrated the Israeli team's apartment complex. Two of the Israelis initially fought off the terrorists, but were soon murdered. The remaining nine athletes were then taken hostage. The terrorists' demands: that Israel release 234 Palestinian prisoners. If not, the hostages would soon be executed.
• 02:30 - 03:00 Now, before we get into Germany's botched rescue attempt, let's look at the context. In 1958, Yasser Arafat and his colleagues founded al-Fatah, an organization that advocated armed struggle against Israel. In 1964, they established the PLO, or the Palestinian Liberation Organization, with the goal of destroying Israel completely. The PLO and its affiliate, PFLP, or the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, began an international terror campaign of plane hijackings and bombings.
• 03:00 - 03:30 Now, at the time, the PLO headquarters were located in Jordan, where, at the time, 2/3 of the population was actually Palestinian, but Jordan's King Hussein was not really a fan of the PLO, and in a period infamously known as Black September, Jordan killed up to 15,000 Palestinian fighters and civilians. Soon, al-Fatah members founded a splinter cell, and named themselves Black September after this atrocious massacre. Their most notorious attack was the Munich Olympic massacre, which the plot's mastermind, Abu Daoud, said had been approved by Yasser Arafat.
• 03:30 - 04:00 And now, back to the Olympics. After learning of the attack, Avery Brundage, then president of the Olympics Committee, declared that the games must go on, and in typical German precision, the first athletic event of the day occurred at exactly 8:15 a.m. as two Israelis lay dead and nine Israelis were held hostage. Brundage spent his day exerting pressure on German officials to get the Israelis out of the village and allow the Olympics to carry on in peace. As the other athletes were sunbathing and playing ping-pong, an international nightmare lasting more that 20 hours
• 04:00 - 04:30 was happening just a few yards away. Finally, 10 hours later, at 3:51, the Olympics Committee finally suspended the events. Thousands of people filed out of the Olympic stadiums and gathered on the grassy hill overlooking the apartments, along with live television crews. Viewers were horrified to see that Jewish blood was being spilled on German soil yet again. Israelis and Jews around the world felt helpless, unable to defend their people. Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir refused to negotiate with the terrorists.
• 04:30 - 05:00 The German authorities turned down assistance from the Israeli Mossad who, unlike Germany, had a specialized counterterrorism unit, and instead, they began clumsy negotiations with the terrorists. At the same time, though, without a real operational plan, German police scaled the building and prepared to attack the terrorists, but in a tremendous oversight, they realized that their actions were being broadcast on live television to not only a worldwide audience, but also the terrorists themselves.
• 05:00 - 05:30 Later, the terrorists made a new demand that they and the hostages be flown to Egypt. The German authorities agreed to fly them in a helicopter to the airport, where they planned to ambush them. The botched rescue attempt became a textbook example of how not to handle a hostage situation. Six policemen disguised as flight crew were placed on the airplane, and five sharpshooters lay on the perimeter. At the last minute, though, the flight crew voted to abandon their mission without consulting central command, and just left the plane.
• 05:30 - 06:00 The remaining five sharpshooters had no special sniper training, no radio communication, and no telescopic or infrared sights, which, if you've watched any TV or movies in the last, I don't know, 50 years, you know are pretty crucial to the job of a sniper. Israeli Mossad Chief Zvi Zamir was present, but was ignored. It seemed to him that his presence actually made the Germans uncomfortable, and so the rescue attempt continued, lacking basic experience and technical foresight. The helicopters landed at the airport just after 10:30 p.m.,
• 06:00 - 06:30 but when the terrorists entered the empty plane and realized it was probably a trap, they ran back to the helicopters. The snipers, if you can really call them that, opened fire, and a shootout ensued, with the more heavily armed terrorists, during which time the terrorists threw a grenade into one of the helicopters, killing the four bound Israelis and the pilots inside, and then the terrorists gunned down the remaining five hostages in the other helicopter. At the end of the day, 11 Israelis had been killed, along with one policeman and five terrorists.
• 06:30 - 07:00 In the press conference briefing the next morning, the Munich police commissioner tried to explain. "The terrorists were too clever, too professional. "The hostages were condemned to die. "We tried all we knew, but they were not amateurs." Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the German police's competence in dealing with terrorism. Later in the day, a ceremony was held in the Olympic stadium, but it was less about memorializing the victims, who were barely mentioned in the chairman's speech, and more about, in his words, "demonstrating the the Olympic ideal "is stronger than terror and violence."
• 07:00 - 07:30 During the ceremony, the Olympic flag, along with the flags of most countries, was flown at half-mast, except for 10 Arab nations that demanded their flags remain at full-mast. The games were then suspended for 24 hours, and then continued on as planned, but the remaining Israeli athletes left Munich. The German government allowed the bodies of the dead terrorists to be flown to Libya where they were buried as heroes. To this day, the Olympic Committee still refuses to dedicate a memorial or a moment of silence to the Munich massacre victims,
• 07:30 - 08:00 saying that it could alienate other members of the Olympic community, and it took 45 years of Israeli nudging for the city of Munich to establish a memorial at their Olympic Park in 2017. Now, if you thought the series of Germany's screwups ended there, (speaks in foreign language): not so fast. Three terrorists remained alive in German custody awaiting trial, but as predicted by Mossad chief Zvi Zamir, the unthinkable happened. Palestinian terrorists then hijacked a Lufthansa 727
• 08:00 - 08:30 and demanded the release of the three imprisoned terrorists in exchange for the 14 passengers on the plane. The Germans agreed, and quickly whisked the terrorists off to join their comrades. 27 years later, in the Oscar-winning documentary, One Day in September, it was revealed that Germany had colluded with al-Fatah in planning the hijacking of the plane in exchange for a promise not to carry out any more terrorist attacks on German soil. For 20 years, the German government insisted that no documents existed relating to its failures, but then in 1992, a German archivist smuggled a bulging folder
• 08:30 - 09:00 to the wife of one of the Israeli victims. The number of files the Germans had been hiding was over 4,000, and horrible details emerged, that the athletes had been brutalized until their bones snapped, and that one of the Israeli victims was castrated in front of his teammates. The massacre of Jews in Germany left a deep scar on Israeli society. Once again, Jews had been forced to watch the murder of their own without the ability to intervene. So within days, Israel unleashed Operation Wrath of God. The objective: hunt down and assassinate the terrorists
• 09:00 - 09:30 involved in planning the attack. In one operation, Prime Minister-to-be Ehud Barak and his deputy Muki Betser, disguised as a blonde and a brunette woman, entered Beirut with their team and assassinated several key players from both the PLO and Black September. But in a separate mission in a Norwegian ski resort in Lillehammer, an innocent Moroccan waiter was misidentified as Black September Operations Chief Ali Hassan Salameh, known as the Red Prince, and mistakenly murdered. As a result, Golda Meir chose to curb the operation. These events raise a lot of questions,
• 09:30 - 10:00 so let's work our way backwards. The ethical implications of Operation Wrath of God remain controversial to many. According to those involved, the reason for the assassinations was not so much revenge, but more to spread fear throughout the PLO as a method of preventing future terrorist attacks. But should terrorist be entitled to due process? If terrorists operate outside the rules of war by targeting civilians, then, do we still have an obligation to treat them within the rule of law? We also have to ask the difficult question, does terrorism work?
• 10:00 - 10:30 In the case of Munich, the answer seems to be unequivocally yes. Munich was a watershed moment for terrorism, with the Olympics providing an internationally televised audience. The whole world suddenly became aware of the Palestinian cause. Years later, one of the only surviving terrorists looked back on 1972 with pride, saying, "It helped the Palestinian cause enormously. "Before Munich, the world had no idea about our struggle, "but on that day the word Palestine "was repeated all over the world." And it's true: the Palestinian plight did become known to the world.
• 10:30 - 11:00 In fact, only two years after the massacre, Yasser Arafat, who endorsed the attacks, was received at the UN. It seems clear that up until now terrorism is effective, but this begs the question: how should we, as a society, respond? (lively music)