Bibliography

Wikipedia.The Munich Massacre http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_massacre This page was last modified on 23 October 2011 at 00:25. Accessed on 23rd of October, 2011.


Jewish Virtual Library. The Munich Massacre. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Terrorism/munich.html Last update N/A. Accessed on 23rd of October, 2011.



The Independent. Olympic Massacre - Munich, the real story. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/olympics-massacre-munich--the-real-story-524011.html Last update N/A. Accessed on 23rd of October, 2011.


The Munich Olympics. Hal Marcovitz. Chelsea House Publishers - Philadelphia. Published in 2002. 

The image that shook the world - click the link

The Israeli reaction

So began a siege and a tragedy that remains one of the most significant terror attacks of modern times. The assault, and the nature of the Israeli response, thrust the Israeli-Palestinian crisis into the world spotlight, set the tone for decades of conflict in the Middle East, and launched the new era of international terrorism. Olympic events were suspended, and broadcasters filled the time on expensive new satellite connections by switching to live footage from Connollystrasse. A TV audience of 900 million viewers in more than 100 countries watched with lurid fascination.

The killing of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics by the Palestinian militant group Black September moved Israel to consider measures to deter future similar actions. Soon after the incident, Prime Minister Golda Meir created Committee X, a small group of government officials tasked with formulating an Israeli response, with herself and Defence Minister Moshe Dayan at the head. She also appointed General Aharon Yariv as her Advisor on Counterterrorism; he, along with Mossad Director Zvi Zamir, took the principal role in directing the ensuing operation. The committee came to the conclusion that to deter future violent incidents against Israel they needed to assassinate those who had supported or carried out the Munich massacre, and in dramatic fashion. Pressured by Israeli public opinion and top intelligence officials, Meir reluctantly authorized the beginning of the broad assassination campaign. Yet when the three surviving perpetrators of the massacre were released just months later by West Germany in compliance with the demands of the hijackers of a Lufthansa aircraft, any remaining ambivalence she felt was removed. The committee's first task for Israeli intelligence was to draw up an assassination list of all those involved in Munich. This was accomplished with the aid of PLO operatives working for Mossad, and with information provided by friendly European intelligence agencies. While the contents of the entire list are unknown, reports put the final number of targets at 20–35, a mix of Black September and PLO elements. Once this was complete, the Mossad was charged with locating the individuals and assassinating them. For Israel, the sight of Jews dying again on German soil, just a few decades after the Holocaust, was simply too much. Israel struck back hard. Warplanes bombed Palestinian "military bases", killing many militants, but also scores of innocent civilians and children. Hundreds of Palestinians joined militant groups in response. 

Along with direct assassinations, the Mossad used a variety of other means to respond to the Munich massacre and deter future terrorist action. Victor Ostrovsky says that this included psychological warfare, such as running obituaries of still living militants and sending highly detailed personal information to others.  Reeve further states that the Mossad would call junior Palestinian officials, and after divulging to them their personal information, would warn them to disassociate from any Palestinian cause. More directly, the Mossad engaged in a campaign of letter bombs against Palestinian officials across Europe. Historian Benny Morris writes that these attacks caused non-fatal injuries to their targets, which included persons in Algeria and Libya, Palestinian student activists in Bonn and Copenhagen, and a Red Crescent official in Stockholm. Klein also cites an incident in Cairo where a bomb malfunctioned, sparing the two Palestinian targets.

Purpose of the attack

As previously stated the attack occurred in Munich, Germany. There is no real connection between Black September and Germany, but one could only assume that Black September had to 'act out' on behalf of the Palestinian people. For years, the Palestinians were suffering under Israeli rule, Ever since Israel took over the original land which at the time belonged to Palestine, the Palestinians have endured nothing but hardship. One theory for the Munich Massacre is that since no one was noticing the horrendous conditions which the Palestinian people were living in, since no one was noticing the daily death of Palestinians, someone had to act out; it didn't matter who but they had to get Palestinians on the 'Big Screen.' It was Black September who had strategically planned the attack on Israeli athletes in Germany in order for the world to give the Palestinians some publicity, it didn't matter whether it was bad or good. The attack occurred and suddenly Palestine got the attention it was longing for. Black September's demands for the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons also helped the Palestinian's cause. Now all of a sudden, the attention of the whole world was turned to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - since for years it seems that everyone has just turned a blind eye. Black September had perpetrated that attack strategically, not for pure revenge. The terrorists demanded the release and safe passage to Egypt of 234 Palestinians and non-Arabs jailed in Israel, along with two German radicals held by the German penitentiary system, Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof, who were founders of the German Red Army Faction. The hostage-takers threw the body of Weinberg out the front door of the residence to demonstrate their resolve. Israel's response was immediate and absolute: there would be no negotiation. 

Who would be held responsible for such a horrific act?

Black September - at first notice I would think that this would describe a dark month in a countries history. Yet to this very day this name still lingers on. Black September or as it is formerly known, The Black September Organisation was a Palestinian paramilitary group (which basically means that the group was organized to function both politically and to assist the military, kind of like a militarized sub-unit). It was founded in 1970. This was the very group that was responsible for the horrific attack that occurred on the day of the 5th of September, 1972. It is somewhat of a sub-division of the PLO (The Palestinian Liberation Organization).

Map of Germany with surrounding countries.

The terrorists headed straight for 31 Connollystrasse, the building where the Israeli contingent was staying. Around 4:30 a.m., the terrorists entered the building. 

Terrorism

Terrorism, is it an act of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political and social aims? Or is it an act of martyrdom? The use of violence to gain an upper-hand in any given situation is immoral and evil. Yet why do these so called 'terrorists' continuously do it? From the West's point of view it is an act of war, but from the terrorists' point of view it is an act of jihad. Today we will be immersed on one such act of horror - The Munich Massacre